Reed was the fieriest, most militant and defiant one of us all. He worked as a hack driver for Princeton students. Whenever he heard a racial slur from one of the students, he would jump out of his seat and whip him. He used to always tell me, “Don’t ever take it from them, Laddie—always be a man—never bend the knee.” I always admired him. “Don’t ever take low,” was the lesson I learned from him.

He would use those little jagged rocks he carried when the situation called for it and was always being picked up by the police. After a while, when I was about eight years old, Pop had gotten him out of jail once too often. I stood sadly and silently by as Pop asked him to leave. Pop thought that his example was too dangerous for me. Reed was sent to Detroit. I really hated to see him go.