Whitegirls Like You
Chapter 5 - Ally for Blacks
Trisha fidgeted in her seat, glancing uneasily at the unfamiliar streets flashing past the car windows. "Millie,
seriously
, where are we going?"
Millie kept her eyes on the road, her grip firm on the steering wheel. "You'll see."
Her mother let out an exasperated sigh. "Millieâ"
"
I said
, you'll see."
The finality in her tone shut Trisha up.
For a moment, silence settled over the car, save for the deep thrum of bass from the speakers.
Markus' voice filled the cabin once again, smooth and commanding, the beat rolling beneath his lyrics like an unstoppable force.
"She took my money when I was green,
Made me feel like she was so keen.
Oh, she's a gold digger,
Dreaming 'bout a mansion, not me."
Millie glanced sideways, expecting her mother to tense upâto complain, scoff, change the subject.
But instead...
Trisha sat still, her hands neatly folded in her lap. Her face was unreadable, but her head was nodding slightly, almost absentmindedly.
And thenâ
Millie could barely believe it at firstâ
Trisha started humming along.
It was quiet, almost subconscious, like she wasn't even aware she was doing it. Just like Millie had the first few days following the L.A. concert, finding herself snapping out of a daze after getting lost in Markus' music for longer than she'd thought.
Millie didn't say anything, even refrained from humming along. She didn't want to break the trance. So she just let it happen, with a big smile on her face. It seemed like her mother's shell was finally cracking and something new was getting through to her.
They drove like that for another ten minutesâMarkus' music filling the car, Trisha no longer arguing, no longer resisting. Millie could swear her expression even seemed eager now. It was also the longest time she had spent with her mother without a word between them.
By the time they pulled up near the rally and Millie turned the music off, Trisha blinked like she was waking up from a dream. Millie parked on a side street, away from the main crowd. She unbuckled her seatbelt and turned to her mother.
"We're here. Time to get out." Millie said.
"Um, whereâ where's 'here'?" Trisha asked, rubbing her eyes.
"Downtown. At a
Black Lives Matter
rally," Millie stated firmly. "You're coming with me to see it."
Sure, her mother may have zoned out during the drive, but surely what Millie had said would elicit some kind of fresh protest from her. Instead, Trisha looked like a deer caught in headlights. She was staring straight ahead, her fingers gripping the hem of her dress. For the first time all night, she looked unsure of what to say or do.
Millie smirked. "Nervous?"
Trisha scoffedâbut it wasn't convincing.
Millie stepped out of the car, pulling on her baseball cap and sunglasses for a disguise. After a long pause, Trisha followed her with slow but deliberate steps. The sounds of the rally felt like a roaring lion, vibrating through the ground. But to Millie, it was a siren's song, pulling her ever closer.
They didn't walk directly into the rallyâMillie knew better than to throw her mother into the deep end all at once.
Instead, she led her to the sidelines, near the edge of the square, where they could watch without drawing attention.
The scene before them was electric.
A sea of people stood together, holding signs high, their voices unified in powerful chants. Some raised their fists, others waved banners with messages of justice, unity, and change.
Despite the intensity of the movement, the atmosphere was not chaotic. It was organized, passionate, but most of allâalive.
Even so, Millie noticed the police nearby, standing warily between the BLM activists and some white counter-protesters, who were frankly acting far more unruly than their counterparts. She heard several of them hurl threats and insults at the
Black
members of the protest, ones which should have stirred some kind of response from the officers, but it was plain the police had no intention of intervening unless a BLM member got reactive.
Millie could see the way her mother's eyes darted across the crowd, her expression flickering between apprehension and intrigue.
She was afraidânot in the sense of danger, but in the way that only someone who had never truly stepped outside their bubble could be.
But there was something else, too.
Something like... curiosity.
Millie noted that her mothers eyes continued turning toward a
Black
man standing next to themânot one of the protesters himself, but possibly a family member or friend to one. Trisha was giving the tall, athletic man several 'once'-overs, something Millie could not recall her mother ever having done before.
Millie folded her arms, watching Trisha watch him.
The energy of the rally seemed to be growing ever more electric, pulsing through the streets of downtown Nashville like a living, breathing force.
Millie had never seen anything like it.
The crowd had been large when she and Trisha arrived, but now it was growing, swellingâbystanders, once hesitant, started stepping forward, joining in, raising their voices in unity.
People chanted, fists raised high.
The rhythmic, powerful call vibrated through Millie's chest, and before she even realized it, she was chanting too.
But thenâ
The crowd surged forward like a stampede.