From threats of violence to a hug

A woman hit me and I dropped to my knees before her

My friends and I sat outside at a cafe while we waited for our food.

A woman walked up to us.

She was somewhere in her seventies and walked with a rollator.

She began to share her story, saying that the police abused her at the bus stop the previous day.

After sharing her painful experience, she asked for money to buy a soda.

One of my friends denied her ask using a harsh tone, "We are eating. Would you leave us alone?"

She did not receive this cold response well and began engaging with my friend directly.

Their verbal exchange grew more heated until she said, "I am mama crip and you are a dead man."

"You are a racist and you are going to get killed for your mouth. You better watch yourself walking around the streets." She continued.

She walked away talking about how this is what is wrong with white people.

She walked 20 feet around the corner of the street.

Angry and hurt from my friend confronting her, she continued exclaiming that people were treating her wrong.

Feeling her anger from around the corner, I told my friends I wanted to go buy her the drink she asked for.

I walked up to her as she stood in the middle of the sidewalk, and I touched her on the shoulder amid her distress.

She impulsively swung her hand at me.

I did not even register whether it hurt or not.

"Get away from me!" She spurted.

I dropped my right knee to the floor in front of her and placed my hands palms down on the sidewalk.

She looked into my eyes and told me what my friend said was not right.

I told her I agreed with her.

She said she was trying to tell us to be careful at the bus stop because the last time she was there the police kicked her in the back and handcuffed her.

After the police hurt her, an ambulance came to the bus stop for her.

The same police told the ambulance driver to let her go.

When she returned home from this experience, her blood pressure plummeted and she called an ambulance to go to the hospital.

She told me how she brought a cake to the police last week and she brings them donuts on a regular basis.

She said she was going to pray for my friend.

“The evil is controlling his mouth.”

She asked that I pray for him.

“The only thing that I desire is God and God’s name is not God, but Yahweh.”

She told me how her grandpa was white, which led to her never seeing color as a child.

This made the racism she faced at the hands of white people so much harder to handle.

The treatment at the hands of my friend and the police reminded her of why Martin Luther King did his work.

She told me God had sent me to her at that moment to calm her down.

She said how she felt my spirit.

She felt her energy cooling down.

“You have a beautiful spirit.” She said.

She extended her hands and asked me to place my hands in hers.

I placed my hands palms down into her hands. She prayed that what I had been praying for would come true.

"It is done," she said as she finished her prayer.

"It will not be in your time, but in the lord's time", she said.

"What is your name?" She asked.

"Evan. What is your name?" I said.

She told me her name.

"Nice to meet you." I responded.

She told me about all of the tragedies she faced in her life over the past few years with the death of many dear people and how she cared for them on the way out.

As she asked for money to buy soda pop earlier, I offered to go buy her a drink from the cafe.

"Thank you. But what I really need is some liquor for all this pain from your friend and the police." She said.

"I do not have any cash." I told her.

"Would you walk with me to the bar?" She asked.

"How far is it?" I asked.

"I do not know." She said.

"Let me double-check my wallet. Maybe I have some cash, although I never carry cash." I said.

I looked into my wallet, saw nothing but old receipts and 20 Mexican Pesos, and told her, "I do not have any cash."

She spoke about how she would sue the police and she would use the settlement money to create a place to live for the homeless and generate jobs for people to run the center.

She asked if she could give me her number.

I pulled out my phone and saved her name and number.

"I will give you a call." I said.

We walked back over towards the table with my friends, stopping in the exact spot six feet from them where she had stood before.

We hugged goodbye and she walked back in the direction she came from.

I sat back down with my friends.

"What happened?" They asked.

"Anger is terrible. She needed someone to listen to her. To hear her suffering. To give her space." I responded.

This is the gift we can give others.

To listen with an open heart and hold space.