Where Would We Be

Without 
Black People???

This is a story of a little boy named Alex. He woke up one morning and asked his mother, "Mom, what if there were no black people in the world?"

His mother thought about what he said for a moment and replied, "Son follow me today and let's see what it would be like if there were no black people in the world."

Mom said, "We will get dressed so we can start our day." Alex ran to his room to put on his clothes and shoes. A few moments later his mother asked, "Alex, where are your shoes? And your clothes are wrinkled so we have to iron them." She reached for the ironing board but it was not there. Alex asked why and his mother replied, "Alex, Sarah Boone, a black woman invented the ironing board and Jan E. Mazelinger, a black man invented the shoe lasting machine.

Alex sighed and proceeded to comb his hair. To his amazement, the comb and brush were not where they should have been. He asked his mother where the comb and brush were and she replied, "We don't have a comb and brush since the comb was invented by a black man named Walter Sammons and the brush was invented by a black woman named Lydia O. Newman." Alex looked at his mother's hair and said, "Mom your hair care products must have been invented by a black person also because your hair is not done." His mom said, "yes, Madam C. J. Walker invented hair care products for blacks. 

Alex was beginning to understand when his mother said it was time to eat breakfast. Alex and his mother went into the kitchen for breakfast and discovered the refrigerator was missing because it was invented by a black man named, John Standard, the range oven was missing because it was invented by a black man named, Thomas Carrington and the kitchen table was missing since it was invented by H. A. Jackson.

At this point, Alex yelled, "Mom we aren't having much luck today."

Mom said, "Alex its time to start our chores around the house and take a trip to the grocery store."

Mom told Alex his chores for the day were to sweep the floor and cut the lawn. When Alex finished sweeping he looked for the dust pan and to his surprise it was not there. His mom told him it was invented by Lloyd P. Ray, a black man.  Since he did not know what to do with the trash that he swept, he swept it into a corner and went outside to cut the lawn but the lawn mower was not there. Thinking it had been stolen, he told his mother it wasn't there and she told him it was because it was invented by J. A. Burr.

While Alex was trying to figure out how he was going to cut the lawn, his mother washed clothes. When the clothes were finished, she asked Alex to put them in the clothes dryer but it was not there since it was invented by a black man name, George T. Samon. By now Alex was feeling helpless and disappointed that he could not complete his chores.

Mom asked Alex to go get a pencil and paper so they could make a grocery list. Of course he was in for more disappointment because the pencil led was broken and he couldn't sharpen it since the pencil sharpener was invented by a black man named John Love. Mom reached for a fountain pen but did not see one since it was invented by William Purvis another black man. They were both at a standstill since there was no typewriter since it was also invented by a black,  Lee Burridge.

The only thing left for them to do was to go grocery shopping. The got into the car but it would not run since Richard Spikes, a black man, invented the automatic gearshift and Joseph Gammel was responsible for the super-charge system for the internal combustion engines. 

By now, most of the day was gone and it was getting cold outside.  Alex asked his mother why she didn't use the heating furnace. She replied, she couldn't since it was invented by Alice Parker. Alex said, "let me guess, she was also black". Alex's father walked in as he was talking to his mother. He was carrying a hand full of mail and Alex asked why. His mother told him, he had no choice since the letter drop mailbox was invented by a black named Philip Downing as well the postmarking and canceling machines were invented by William Barry who was also black.  

With the wondering mind that Alex had,  he started thinking, if he ever need blood there would be no way for him to get it since Charles R. Drew, a black scientist created the world's first blood bank or if anyone in his life needed heart surgery they would not be able to get it since Dr. Daniel Hale Williams, a black physician performed the first open heart surgery.

For the first time Alex understood what the world would be like without black people since he and his mother were having the final conversation of the night in a dark room. You see, the filament within the light bulb was also invented by someone black named, Lewis Howard Latimer.

If you ever wonder, like Alex, what the world would be like without black people, just think what it would be like to eat in the dark on the floor, walk everywhere you have to go, wear wrinkled clothes,  not be able to write with a pen or pencil, not comb or brush your hair and let's not forget, reading this on the computer would be impossible since the keyboard used to type it originated from the typewriter, get the picture.....?.

Author Unknown

(edited)