TA-NEHISI COATES brings it.
When I was around 10 years old, my father confronted a young man who was said to be âcrazy.â The young man was always too quick to want to fight. A foul in a game of 21 was an insult to his honor. A cross word was cause for a duel, and you never knew what that cross word might be. One day, the young man got into it with one of my older brotherâs friends. The young man pulled a metal stake out of the ground (there was some work being done nearby) and began swinging it wildly in a threatening manner. My father, my mother, or my older brotherâI donât recall whichâtold the other boy to go inside of our house. My dad then came outside. I donât really remember what my father said to the young man. Perhaps he said something like âGo home,â or maybe something like, âSon, itâs over.â I donât really recall. But what I do recall is that my dad did not shoot and kill the young man.