Time Travel Isn't For Black People

Time travel sounded fun in theory. History had never been kind to someone black and brown like me. There was no way I wanted to be trapped in a past where I was someone's property. Nowadays pets were treated better than slaves were back then and the difference boiled down to colour. Humans have improved, but not by much. Think I'm lying? Ask a black or brown person about code-switching or toning down an accent to appear more corporate. Don't even mention the disrespect a black woman received.

Malcolm X said it best "The most disrespected person in America is the black woman."

Malcolm gave that speech in 1962 it's almost 2024 and black women continue to be treated less than.

Sorry, no thank you, time travelling is not for this black girl.

Mina, Aaliyah, Naomi, and Chelsea pushed me into the janitor's closet of the old high school on Jefferson and 9th. There was a gang shootout where several people died, got critically injured and the school never recovered.

We were all chartered to other schools in our district. Senior year had been hell because of it. I wasn't put into one of the new schools with any of my girls. This was our last summer together.

Mina and I were off to Maryland to attend Bowie, Chelsea was living out her, dreams and going to Spelman and Noami would attend Morehouse. Aaliyah wanted to stay in Cali with her grandma. What was supposed to be a bomb year together was rattled with bullets.

We gathered at my house and decided to start a YouTube Channel and podcast together so we got to see one another. What's Up Jupiter? The girls and I believed in the impossible. Ghosts, vampires, alternate realities, different dimensions. Mina and Chelsea heard Jefferson High had ghosts. Naomi and Aaliyah got info from the message board that the janitor's closet allowed you to time travel.

"I told you we shouldn't open the door," I yelled. The solid ground we stood on slipped from under us and we were falling. "Time travel is not for black people."

"People say the same thing about our show. Black folks don't believe in UFOs. That's white people nonsense." Mina shouted over the wind.

"What you girls should be talking about are those poppin curls or those outfits you're in when you go hunting for these ghosts," Naomi added irritation clear in her voice. "This is fun, we're about to discover and uncover something brilliant. I can feel it."

I don't share the girl's enthusiasm about this, ghost hunting is fun, and trying to figure out if Mr Brown is a vampire or he just can't let go of dressing like a pimp is a blast. Time travel is not for us. What if our modern clothes make some slave owners think we stole from some wealthy white person? There's a reason most time travel shows don't star black people. It wouldn't be a very fun show. Being thrown back to any part of American history meant our deaths if we didn't find a way back soon. The girls weren't thinking about black American history. Next year we're all going to college and more than half of us will attend a HBCU. We wouldn't be able to do that without the movers and shakers who came before us. I am not a person who can move in silence. We talk a lot about micro racism and who we were allowed to be as black women on What's Up Jupiter? I fear that living in what was freedom for us will be our downfall here.

"Hello?" I scrambled to my feet after my fall. It's dark and I don't hear any of my friends. "Girls?"

The lights suddenly came on and I found myself screaming along with another girl. I'm too stunned to move. She looked like me or I looked like her since she was older than me.

"Wow," she studied my face. Same full lips, wide-set brown eyes, and a nose that felt too small by chubby cheeks. She wore her hair flat iron bone straight and had it dyed red. I always wore my natural curls in their natural dark black colour. It was an act of rebellion. I hated that people asked more if my hair was real when I straightened it and it reached my waist. There was this narrative that black women could only have long hair if it was a wig or they were mixed.

"I remember this moment. We were so worried about time travelling to the past."

"Wait, you mean I'm in the future."

"This is crazy. I never thought I'd be confronted with my past self."

There were so many things I wanted to ask her. I stopped myself. What if something changed that future me didn't want to change?

"Where are the others?"

"Stay in Cali with Aaliyah and continue to host What's Up Jupiter. You don't need Bowie or Broadway. You have everything you want to spend 4 years in Maryland for right here and right now. Trust me, grow and foster what you've already built."

I was taken aback. Performing on stage as a Broadway star had been our dream since we saw Newsies. Putting together topics and show ideas for What's Up Jupiter? wasn't part of my plans. It was the last hurrah with my best friends.

"Broadway will change and break you. The others don't talk to me anymore."

I got that rug swept from under me feeling again. This time I didn't mind the fall. What kind of horrible future had I fallen into where I'm alone? I felt stupid, humbled, and so many different things. Mostly I felt grateful. Naomi was right. I uncovered and discovered something, and I didn't like what I found.

The girls all looked dazed and I knew they had an encounter with their future selves.

"I should get Nana to make an appointment with the doctor." Aaliyah was already on the phone with Nana.

"I'm staying in L.A.," I announced on the drive back to my house where the girls were spending the night.

"Let's all stay," Mina said. Chelsea and Naomi agreed.

"It's cancer. Nana didn't tell me. She was afraid knowing would affect my grades and I wouldn't graduate." Aaliyah said, after a while from the passenger seat. "I'm glad you'll all be here. How would I have gotten through this alone?"

"Anyone else both frightened and excited about all the things we can discover now that we've been told to keep going?" Naomi asked.

"How are we going to explain this to our parents? We can't say our future selves told us the degrees and jobs we got made us miserable." Chelsea said.

"Our only option is to make What's Up Jupiter? something we and they can be proud of that makes money. Lots of money," I said.

The girls chuckled and laughed.

"I have a feeling we'll do great," Aaliyah said.