The Nigger Factory. Gil Scott-Heron

       O’Jay’s

      Earl found Odds and Lawman engrossed in conversation when he joined them at a back booth in O’Jay’s, the most popular off-campus hangout. He slid into the booth casually.

      ‘Earl!’ Lawman exclaimed. ‘What in hell’s happ’nin’?’

      ‘A whole lotta bullshit,’ Earl said disgustedly. ‘Lemme get a beer an’ I’ll fill you in … where the hell yawl been?’

      ‘Nowhere. That’s the point,’ Odds grumbled, picking up his glass.

      A waitress came over with a pad and pencil.

      ‘Black Label,’ Earl said.

      ‘I’ll take one mo’,’ Lawman told her. She didn’t bother to write the orders down.

      ‘C’mon, man. Whuss up?’

      ‘MJUMBE iz up. My gig iz up. The jig iz up.’ Earl replied smiling wryly.

      ‘Start at the beginnin’,’ Odds said impatiently.

      ‘That iz the damn beginnin’!’ Earl said raising his voice irritably. ‘The beginnin’, the middle, the … Look, uh,’ he paused to light a cigarette, ‘I jus’ hit campus a l’il while ago, right? I don’ know shit.’

      The waitress arrived with two bottles of beer and one glass. Odds put a dollar on the tray. The waitress pulled thirty cents out of her apron pocket and laid it on the table.

      ‘I got a call ’bout seven,’ Earl continued. ‘It wuz King from MJUMBE. He sed they wuz havin’ some kind a meetin’ an’ they wanned me t’come over to the frat house.’

      ‘Thass where you were? We jus’ called an’ Zeke sed you wuz gone.’

      ‘Well, I wuz.’

      ‘What happened?’

      Earl was making patterns from the circles left on the rough-grained surface of the table by his beer glass.

      ‘This,’ he said sourly, ‘is what happened.’ He pulled a mimeographed sheet of paper from his pocket and placed it before Odds and Lawman.

      We, the student body of Sutton University, request that:

      (1) The Pride of Virginia Food Services, Inc., be dismissed.

      (2) Gaines Harper, present Financial Aid Officer, be dismissed.

      (3) The head of the Chemistry Dept. be dismissed.

      (4) The head of the Language Dept. be dismissed.

      (5) The men of the present Security Service be forced to leave all weapons (clubs, guns, etc.) inside the guardhouse while making their rounds.

      (6) The supervision of the Student Union Building be placed under the auspices of the Student Government.

      (7) The book store be placed under student control.

      (8) The Music and Art Fund for Visiting Artists be placed under the auspices of the Student Government.

      (9) A Faculty Review Committee be established consisting of students and the heads of the remaining departments (exceptions being Chemistry and Languages) to review the performances of the present faculty. This committee’s findings would be honored by the university and all decisions forthcoming would depend on their decision.

      (a) A Faculty Interview Committee be established in order to carry out whatever necessary changes be recommended by the members of the aforementioned Faculty Review Committee.

      (10) A Black Studies Institute be formed at Sutton including courses in Racism, Black Literature, Black History, and Negro Politics. The head of this Institute would be hired by the committee mentioned in request 9a.

      (11) The Comptroller, Financial Aid Officer, Treasurer, Music and Art Department Head (of funds), Maintenance Staff Coordinator, and Student Union Director be forced to open their books to an auditor hired by the Student Government Association with Student Government funds.

      (12) The present medical staff be reorganized and made larger in order to facilitate the Black people within the Sutton University Community.

      (13) These demands be responded to no later than noon tomorrow.

      Lawman whistled and turned the paper over after reading the demands through. Odds slapped himself.

      ‘Noon tomorrow?’ Odds asked aloud.

      ‘In black and white.’

      ‘Thirteen demands,’ Lawman said to no one in particular.

      ‘How many of these things had you done research on?’ Odds asked Earl.

      ‘All of them and more. These are practically my words. I had a few more things jotted down with notes, but the whole damn thing is like a muthafuckin’ gypsy turned them on to my shit.’

      ‘A gypsy?’

      ‘Hi ’bout a gypped-up bitch?’

      Odds’s question smacked Earl in the face. ‘I donno,’ he coughed.

      ‘D’you think whut I think?’ Lawman asked, swallowing half a glass of beer.

      ‘I donno what in hell you think,’ Odds squirmed, ‘but I think that lazy bitch in Earl’s office turned Baker on to all the shit we had been tryin’ ta get together. I think that!’

      Odds’s voice was carrying like unleashed thunder. All three of the men seated in the booth turned to see who was watching and perhaps listening to their conversation. There was no one in the black half of the bar with them except the waitress who appeared to care less what happened.

      ‘Yes – it must have been Sheila,’ Earl said softly.

      ‘What’choo doin’ when you leave here?’ Odds asked nervously.

      ‘I’m s’pose t’be goin’ ta Calhoun’s wit’ these,’ Earl said shaking the paper.

      ‘I think it might be hip if you … look, when wuz the las’ time you wuz in yo’ office?’

      ‘Monday night,’ Earl said.

      ‘Did you check the papers we had written out?’

      ‘No.’

      ‘When wuz the las’ time you took a look to see if everything wuz in order?’

      ‘What?’ Earl lit another cigarette irritably. ‘Man, I don’ check on no goddamn papers every day. I ain’ got time fo’ that kinda shit! I’m runnin’ aroun’ this deserted muthafuckuh like a chicken wit’ no goddamn head already … I saw the papers las’ week. They wuz all there.’

      ‘Las’ week when?’

      ‘Las’ Thursday or so. Yeah, las’ Thursday.’

      ‘So, fah all you know Baker an’ MJUMBE could a had yo’ work since las’ Thursday? Right?’

      ‘For all I damn know, longer than that. They coulda been makin’ copies a all the shit fo’ a month.’

      The friends fell silent. Questions were appearing from nowhere and going nowhere. If Baker and MJUMBE had gotten to Earl’s notes inside the SGA office there was no telling how much of the information they had. Earl, Odds, and Lawman had been placing pieces of information in a filing cabinet in the SGA office since the beginning of September. There were five keys to that office that Earl knew of. Odds had one. Lawman had one. Earl had one. The maintenance staff had a fourth. The fifth key belonged to Sheila Reed, the SGA secretary. The demands listed by MJUMBE resembled so closely the things that the three men had been working on that they could not help but suspect that they had somehow been betrayed.