Newspaperman & C.P. Ellis

I started my reading about a boy named Vernon Jerett, an African-American boy who grew up in a small town in Tennessee in the 1900's. All people did in this town was watch the people go back and forth on trains imagining what their lives were like and wondering if they would ever be somebody on those trains. Trains back then symbolized mobility. They had to accept the fact that they were stuck in this town and not everyone had the opportunity to get out. Vernon Jeratt was definately one of these people, he grew up striving the life of others, always wanting to be somebody. When he grew up he joined the navy, just to move to Chicago, to find himself and to prove himself. He finally lived in the city he always dreamed of seeing. He would take the whole city life seriously, sitting on the benches watching people and taking the el. The city really meant something to Vernon Jarett. School was also very important in his life, and he felt that he lost that when moving to Chicago. A school building was very fascinating to Vernon because his parents made education his top priority. Vernon Jarett was always close to his parents, especially his father. His father taught him many things one being which was to cry during funerals. He would cry during funerals when he didnt even know the deceased. As he was growing up people would say "I never really knew i was black,  until i looked in the mirror".(Jarett 54) It was hard to be an African- American back then...they didnt get off as easy as whites. With him now living in Chicago he realized that unless you made it big, there was no point. Was it Vernon Jarett that changed, or the society in Chicago? He says that Chicago was not the city of hope anymore, "every man for himself".(Jarett 62) Just because you might be white, doesn't give you the power anymore. 


It was very interesting for me to read a story about how an average white man who fought with the Ku Klux Klan was able to recover from such an awful life choice and soon make the right one. C.P. Ellis tells us such an extrordinary story of his life. Its not very often that we hear about stories of men supporting the KKK then going agaisnt them. How many people do you think were impacted by this man turning his life around? C.P. Ellis was one of two children with a mother and a father. Unfortunately his father just barely made enough money to support their family.He was very close with his father, but I think secretly he was always  ashamed and embarrassed. His father wasn't the best dressed and had a serious drinking problem. His father learning to give up when it wasn't good enough and drink his feelings away. C.P. Ellis  grew up a little bit like his father did. Struggling to make enough money for the care that his family needs. He grew up with anger in his heart, he was angry with himself, his father, and the world. "You gotta have somethin' to look at to hate". ( Ellis 65)With this in mind, he decided to aim his hatred on specifically  the blacks. This hate kept growing that soon enough it lead him to join the KKK and after that he became the president of this cult. He thought that there needed to be more balance between the whites and blacks. They didn't want to see black people become higher than them. He was uneducated about how blacks, jews, and catholics are people just like him, but his father told him otherwise. It hit him one day that this isn't right, why fight agaisnt people who are you equals? Finally he started fighting for the black not agaisnt them. C.P. Ellis was helping the black community. Makes me wonder if our country can be understanding and change their thoughts about discrimination today.