Black Men are Gods Ch. 07

My name is Michael Weston. I'm a six-foot-one, lean and wiry young man of African-American and Mexican descent living in the city of Brockton, Massachusetts. I'm currently a sophomore at Barrack College in downtown Boston and I major in Criminal Justice. Someday I'm going to be a police officer, like my father Leonard Winston before me. In the meantime, I've got to endure the fun and heartache of my college days. It has to be done. No other way. And when you're like me, it's not easy.

My school, Barrack College is considered the most diverse private school in the state of Massachusetts. Thirty one percent of the students are of African-American descent. Hispanics make up nineteen percent, Native Americans make up three percent and Asians comprise nine percent. Caucasians make up the remaining forty three percent. The eight-thousand-person student body is truly representative of the changing face of America as a whole. I just wish there were more people like me out there, and I don't mean because of my skin color, which happens to be light brown.

I'm referring of course to my unique genetic heritage. You see, there are people born with extraordinary abilities out there. And I'm one of them. I'm half human and half Immortal. And I'm far from the only one. We're not the stuff of comic books and science fiction movies. We're real. Where do we come from? There are many explanations. In ancient times, beings of great power roamed this world and other worlds. They looked like ordinary men and women, but they were definitely not human. We've called them by many names. Vampires. Werewolves. Demons. Angels. Mermen. Mermaids. Shape-shifters. Pagan deities. Monsters. Yeah, they're all real. And if you met one of them, you'd never know it.

Take my father for example. In the eyes of the world, he's a tall, burly Black man in his late forties. A high-ranking member of the Massachusetts State Police force. Recently, Dad got promoted to the rank of Sergeant. I wonder what his colleagues would think if they knew that he was a 2800-year-old Immortal from the ancient African civilization known as the Nubian Empire. In his day, my father was a Prince of Imperial Nubia. His people were allied to the Carthaginian Empire, who were once ancient Rome's most fearsome rivals for domination of the ancient world. Yes, my father has seen a lot. And he's had many names. For example, in the Republic of Haiti, he was known as Jean-Jacques Dessalines. The strong Black man who led his fellow Black men and Black women to rise against the tyrannical French colonists who subjugated them. He ended slavery on the island of Haiti in 1804 and founded the first independent Black republic in the New World.

The history books record Dessalines to have been slain by some of his political rivals, fellow Black men in power, after he brought freedom and justice to the newly founded Republic of Haiti. He was assassinated by men who feared his greatness. Well, the history books got it wrong. Dad didn't die that day. He can't die. One of the benefits of being Immortal. My father is a body-switcher. Once the body he inhabits dies, he simply enters that of a new person. Throughout time, he's lived inside the bodies of men and women of varying races. He's been kings and queens, presidents and prime ministers. He's also been a sailor, a merchant, a pirate, a warlord, a scientist, an explorer, a priest and a professional athlete. Presently, he still resides inside the body with which he sired me.

There are body-switchers out there, and they number in the thousands. You'd never know who or what they are when you meet them. They don't simply possess a person's body. They also access the person's memories, gain their talents. Essentially they become that person. A body-switcher is trapped inside the body of the person he or she inhabits until that body dies. They can't hop from one living form to another. The previous body has to die before they can exit it. Once out of the body, they can travel extreme distances as their natural selves, an invisible and intangible, supremely intelligent essence. They can cross thousands of miles that way. Oh, I almost forgot. Once they inhabit a body, they imbue it with their special powers. A body-switcher endows whatever body he or she inhabits with superhuman strength, super speed, accelerated healing powers and the ability to appear and disappear at will via teleportation. All body-switchers can do that. And my father is one of the best.

Any offspring sired by a body-switcher will inevitably inherit certain special abilities. I'm stronger and faster than any ordinary human being on the planet. Stronger than the guy who won the Strongman Competition and many times faster than even my favorite runner, the awesome Usain Bolt. I recover quickly from almost any injury, and it takes a lot to hurt me. Bullets, knives and fire can't do the trick. Certain mystical objects and inhuman entities can mess me up, though. Yeah, I've got to deal with all of that mystical stuff and still can't always get a handle on the life of a Black college man in America. It ain't easy being me.

Life at Barrack College was alright for the most part. During my freshman year I joined the men's varsity swim team. My friend Miguel Sanchez, a Mexican-American collegiate swimmer, asked me to try out for the school team after he saw me in the pool at the YMCA. I've always loved the water and I can swim faster than most people. Being able to hold my breath longer does have its advantages. Along with Jerry Chang, an Asian-American guy from San Francisco, Miguel and I are the only non-white guys on the Barrack College men's varsity swim team. And we're among the best. Hell, Miguel is the team captain.

A lot of people are surprised by Barrack College's athletic teams. We have men's and women's Basketball, men's Football, women's Swimming, women's Volleyball, men's and women's Soccer, men's and women's Ice Hockey, women's Softball, men's Baseball, men's and women's Rugby and men's and women's Wrestling teams but it's the men's Swim team that makes the headlines. I guess the NCAA isn't used to seeing men of color lead a collegiate swim team to back-to-back championships. Especially since the school started fielding the men's swimming team in 2007. I know what you're thinking. We're only NCAA Division Two but so what? Winning is winning! I'm not even twenty yet and I've got fans around the country. I've been interviewed by ESPN, BET and even CNN. How about that?

Yeah, I was starting to get a handle on my college days. My father's pretty far away but we keep in touch. He's dating a tall, kind pretty Black woman in her mid-thirties named Michelle Stanwood. She's a teacher at some prep school in the Boston area. I met her once and she seemed alright. Naturally, since she was dating my Dad, I assumed there was more to her than meets the eye. And of course I was right. Michelle Stanwood was not quite human. You see, she was a Vampire. I'd never met any Vampires before. At least not knowingly. She was not what I expected. Michelle was friendly, charming and very sexy. Like most of you, I always imagined Vampires were a bunch of sickly pale and rather dorky freaks. Hollywood portrayed most of them as bloodsucking Euro-trash. There are exceptions, of course. Those super cool Black Vampire studs like Blade and Blacula come to mind. Michelle was relatively new to the Vampire lifestyle. She'd been turned only three decades ago. This young woman grew up in 1970s Atlanta, Georgia, and was once a disc jockey while majoring in education at Spelman College. To my surprise, Michelle could walk in daylight, eat garlic and touch silver. All of which were things Vampires supposedly couldn't do in the comic books, movies and TV shows. Man, there was so much about the world of the inhumans that I didn't know.

One day, Dad visited me on campus with Michelle. And I was glad to see them both. I'm glad my father is seeing someone he likes. He hasn't been serious with a woman since my mother, and she died giving birth to me. I must admit he and Michelle looked good together. I introduced them to my friends Miguel and Chang. The five of us had dinner one night in a nice restaurant inside Copley Mall. I'm sort of liking my life right now. It's not easy being me. A young man with his foot in two worlds, the world of humans and the world of inhumans. On top of that, I'm a brother in collegiate America. I'm dealing with it, though. I'm learning to appreciate the important moments in life and sharing them with those who matter to me. Having a nice dinner with my father, his new lady and my closest friends on campus is definitely one of those moments. Life is short, even if you're partly Immortal.