Born a Crime

could be taken. Children were
taken. The wrong color kid in the
wrong color area, and the
government could come in, strip
your parents of custody, haul you
off to an orphanage. To police the
townships, the government relied
on its network of impipis, the
anonymous snitches who’d inform
on suspicious activity. There were
also the blackjacks, black people
who worked for the police. My
grandmother’s neighbor was a
blackjack. She had to make sure he
wasn’t watching when she
smuggled me in and out of the
house.