America 1982-Chapter 186 - 70: I Should Be Shot_4
Of course, Tommy still had that blank look on his face as he stared straight at Oprah, "What? I don’t understand what you want me to say, or what I should say."
"Talk about why you act one way on other shows and now present a different facade." Oprah asked.
Tommy’s eyes widened, "Ms. Winfrey, you’re not joking?"
"No." Oprah hadn’t realized the issue and nodded as she spoke.
"Then you should rush back to college and hit the books because any normal person would understand this issue," Tommy said, his expression one of surprise as he looked at Oprah:
"Look at the television, all the viewers are white, I’m no different on that show than I am standing outside my home in Rhode Island. But look around here, all the audience members are black, I don’t know which words could make them feel I’m arrogant, or that I discriminate..."
"Since you anticipated such severe discomfort, why come here at all? Is it to promote your merchandize?" Oprah pressed Tommy.
Before answering, Tommy couldn’t help but let a smile flicker at the corner of his mouth. Seeing that smile, Oprah’s first reaction was that she had asked the wrong question, or maybe this guy was just waiting for her to ask something like that!
Tommy looked toward the camera and the audience and said, "My assistant Sophia, indeed suggested I go to New York, Boston, Los Angeles to participate in those deeper, higher-rated talk shows. Those programs are also interested in my troubles. But I insisted on making Chicago my first stop, not for advertising or selling products. Nobody would think to buy software on a talk show, right? Actually, my first choice was Chicago because my mother’s idol, Bernice Fisher, fought in this city. I came here to see the city where this great woman had battled, on behalf of my mother."
When Oprah heard Bernice Fisher leap from Tommy’s lips, her immediate response was a sinking feeling that this young man was even better prepared than she had anticipated.
As expected, hearing that name from the mouth of a white young man, there were black people in the audience clapping. The applause, granted in part to Tommy for mentioning the name, also represented reverence for the greatness of that name. The audience understood that this white youngster was different from those stereotypical whites who pay lip service to being friendly toward black people but have no real interest in understanding them – apart from Martin Luther King, they scarcely know which important black figure to speak well of in conversation with a black person.
"I’m curious about how your mother in Rhode Island, a place where over ninety percent of the population is white, would know that name?" Oprah quickly posed another question, stirring doubts in the audience.
Indeed, living in Rhode Island, a state with barely any black presence, why would anyone know the name of an African-American social activist? It was certainly not something white people would promote.
"My mother is Italian, Ms. Winfrey, and I remind you, Italians in Rhode Island were called the ’Blacks of Europe.’ Not all white people are as arrogant as those of Irish or English descent, at least Italians aren’t. We have no right to be arrogant. When there were no blacks in Rhode Island, it wasn’t as you all might imagine – white people living in harmony. Without blacks, whites would discriminate against the ’Blacks of Europe.’ Before she was married, my mother once had a job as a sales clerk at a department store but, being an Italian woman, was not allowed to sit while working. Understand this – all the pure-bred white clerks of Irish or English descent had their own chairs, could sit at the counter to work, but my mother had to stand in high heels beside them. Guess why she became able to work seated like the other white workers?" Tommy posed the question but didn’t wait for Oprah to answer, instead looking toward the camera and audience:
"It was because of Bernice Fisher, this great African-American woman, because of her battles in Chicago to gain rights for black women, ultimately allowing all sales clerks in department stores, regardless of skin color, to have seats. Since then, Bernice Fisher became my mother’s idol. She always told me, Miss Fisher fought for women of all colors – she was a great woman, so much greater than those hypocritical politicians. So, I came to Chicago to lay a bouquet at Miss Fisher’s statue, for my mother, for my mother’s children, and for all Italians shamed as ’Blacks of Europe,’ to say thank you, thank you for changing all that."
Tommy’s voice was calm, and it did not carry the passion and fervor he showed while selling software live in Florida, yet it was still profound and resonant.
The black people in the venue were starting to get hyped, clapping vigorously, excited that a white man knew the name of this black woman. At last, here was a white young man who hadn’t been assimilated by hypocrisy. Under his mother’s influence, he understood what African Americans had done for this country.
"And I, as the son of my mother, from my now deceased mother..." Tommy spoke softly.
"Your mother has passed away?" Oprah finally relented, cleverly switching back to a scripted question from her cue cards at this juncture.
As for the pacing, she’d leave it to this actor. A bit of an intellectual spar, a small jab at the guest might make the audience take notice, but if she persisted, it would only make the audience feel that the host was annoying. And clearly, the situation she feared had not come to pass – Tommy had adeptly grabbed the attention of the viewers.
