Music in My Heart: My Journey with Melody

Melody isn’t exactly leaping to get the umbrella, so I hang back too. What would we even say to Rosa Parks if we caught up with her? Instead, I tell Yvonne about it, and she says she’ll make sure it finds its way back. As Melody and I return to stuffing envelopes, I keep wondering if we missed out on something big, and our work feels far less exciting until Yvonne says it’s time to move on.

Driving away from the hall, Yvonne says we’re helping with voter registration next, going door-to-door to help people sign up. Like selling cookies or magazines? I was never good at that. Melody asks if this is what Yvonne did in Mississippi, looking nervous, maybe afraid we’ll get arrested the same way. My stomach lurches at the thought.

Melody whispers she’s not sure about it, wishing Yvonne had let us choose something else. Yvonne overhears and asks, pointedly, how it felt when Melody didn’t get to vote on something that mattered to her. Melody admits it didn’t feel good at all. That’s exactly why we make sure people can vote: Daddy always says voting is having a voice, and everyone should have one. Melody points out that Yvonne’s wrist is still broken from her own activism.

Understanding spreads across Yvonne’s face, and she asks if we’re scared. Melody nods and asks why Yvonne isn’t. Yvonne says that sitting in jail, she told herself she wouldn’t let fear hold her back, and she doesn’t want it holding us back either. No matter where we are, we can’t let fear stop us from doing what’s right. Melody sits a little taller.

Through the window, I spot a tall concrete wall stretching for miles across the road. Yvonne explains developers built it to keep White and Black neighborhoods separate, six feet high and a foot thick. An actual physical wall? Melody nods. It’s crumbling in parts now, but Yvonne says the lines it drew are still much too strong, even without walls everywhere.

Melody mentions her cousin Val had trouble buying a house in a mostly White neighborhood before finally finding someone willing to sell to them. When Yvonne asks if Melody helped plant new flowers there, Melody says yes, and suggests we visit tomorrow if Mommy allows it. That sounds fun, and we could use some, after hearing how badly Melody’s cousin and other Black families get treated.