“My time had come”

continued

“Suddenly, three white men jumped out of their seats like popcorn on a hot stove. ‘You sit here, ma’am.’ ‘You can have my seat.’ ‘Sit here, Miss.’ I still remember the surprised looks on their faces . . . that so many of them had the same idea to give up their seat to a black girl at the same time.”

At this distance in time, King doesn’t recall whether or not she took the seat, and she doesn’t think it matters. “I stood up for what was right,” she says, “much the same way others had sat down in protest.

“My time had come."   

[Originally published in January, 2009.]

 

"My Time Had Come"