After going to my friends' Passover Seder this weekend, and then watching the finale of "The Big Give", I decided that this week would be "Benevolence week".
I went to 125th and MLK in Manhattan to hand out buttons to passers by. I figured (correctly), that I would find a better concentration of African-Americans there than on my own Columbus and 97th street!
Although many people ignored me as I tried to hand them a button, there were far more who took one, and more importantly, several people gave me a "Thanks Brutha!", which I really appreciated. In fact, I noticed that I got more attention from someone when I called them "brutha or sista", so "Here ya go Brutha- too proud for the N word" became the opener.
I handed out 2 per person, and after a bit, an older gentleman was so into the movement, he took a bag and started handing them out with me. I felt SOOO proud that this older man (he was at least 65) with a little limp and white hair would stand out there with me handing them out. He gave short lectures and chased people down if they didn't take a button- especially the pretty women! No matter what happens after today (as I gave out all 2500 buttons that I had), I can feel like I really did something.
Now, we'll see if anyone else takes the baton....
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