I was asked to "Write about a person other than my parents who has shaped my life."
This is no hard task for me. There is only one name that resounds in my head over and over again. Kali. I would say that Kali would be my sister were she still alive, but I harbour no such delusions. If Kali were still alive, I would never have been adopted to fill her place. Of course, if Kali had never died, this nation might have taken an entirely different shape.
My mother keeps pictures of Kali still. She tries to hide them from me, wanting me to believe that I am the only child in her heart. My father carries no pictures, but he makes his preference toward her clear. Kali was everything Esau feared and desired in a daughter. She had skin as dark as mine and hair more beautiful than mine will ever be. When I see her picture, the only word than comes to mind is princess. She is perfect in every imaginable way. It is clear why everyone who knew her was in love with her, just looking at her picture I find myself falling for her. Of course, she would not have been interested. She preferred men, white men.
I can only imagine how maddening that was to Esau. He did not always hold the grudges he does today, but even then he was associated with Black Panthers and though he has never professed a faith, had many friends in the Nation of Islam. Esau has never told me what he was like when he was younger, but those who remember him speak of his fire even then. Esau forbade her to date white men, but that didn't stop her. He swore that it would only lead to bad things. Eventually, he would be proven right.
Kali King was raped and murdered by her white boyfriend and two friends in an apartment in Arlington, VA. Her body was then dragged and dumped in the Potomac. She wasn't found for a month. The boys were brought to trial and found innocent. They just didn't have the evidence, they had had a month to clean up after themselves. The boyfriend was the son of a senator. Esau devoted the movement to his daughter, Kali. A monument of the two of them stands on the National Lawn in DC.
When I die, there will be no monument. There is a good chance no one will miss me for at least a month. If I'm lucky, they may find my body.
So here's to Kali King: my sister, my rival, my secret crush, my princess.
