Fayetteville native: Attempt to change a tire leads to harrowing confrontation, gun shot
This Saturday was different. I woke up, again.
I had it all planned out. From 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Drop daughter off at Girl Talk. Meet with men’s group to work on community initiative. Buy supplies for winter storm. Prioritize the honey-do list. Check in with my son who was at a sleepover. A well-set plan.
It all changed with one call from my son.
“Dad, my tire just popped!”
I immediately sprang into action. My son needed me. My son, like many teenagers, has it all figured out, he believes. But we have not had the flat-tire scenario yet. It was time to have a teachable father-son moment.
“I will be right there,” I told him.
When I arrived, the car was leaning on the side of the road, definitely not the place to repair a tire. We needed to get it to flat ground. It was a fairly busy street with houses spread along the road here and there. My son slowly drove it to the first patch of land that was flat. To drive any further would mean much more damage to the car.
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I wanted my son to do it all himself. Park on a flat surface. Remove the tools from the trunk. Set up the jack. Use the lug wrench. Put the doughnut tire on the car. He was doing it and I was proud of him. The car started to rise from the turns of the jack.
Then I woke up, again.
We thought we were in a common area of grass along the road, but as it turns out it belonged to someone who did not look like us. Uh oh. I could see the man from the distance come out of his home. I thought he was going to check to see if everything was okay.
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Instead he began to shout foul language to get off his property. I quickly responded and apologized and stated that my son had a flat tire and we were fixing as quickly as possible. To this he responded with even more foul language. He seemed to get more agitated and continued to scream as we lowered the car to move it further down the street.
Then it happened. A gun shot. Up in the air.
I guess he wanted us to move faster. I told my son to jump into my car and drive down the street, park and I would call him when I found a different location.
The man, now joined by a lady, continued to yell obscenities and racial slurs from the porch with gun in hand. I continued to say that I was sorry while tossing things in the trunk, hoping not to lose anything including my life. I was both afraid, angry, confused and sad at the same time.
This was supposed to be a lesson in how to change your first flat tire. Instead, it turned into a lesson about being a Black man. This was a reminder that there are some people who are just filled with hate and evil. This man was one of them.
When I felt secure, I called my son back. As we finished, we started processing what had happened. Did this man just shoot a gun? Did he feel threatened? What could we have done differently? How bad is racial tension? Once he realized we were just changing a tire, shouldn’t that have made a difference?
I spent the day in a fog. It was clear that it bothered me. The entire day was in slow motion. I began to calculate every step. Process every move. Slow down.
I am angry that a flat tire on the side of the road is subject to a gunshot in the air. I am sad at people who take their anger and hatred for others to the grave.
Dr. King once said, “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”
Today I speak about what matters. I will continue to dedicate my life to mentoring young Black men.
Woke. Again.
Dr. Daniel J.J. McEachern, is Vice President for Student Services at Mitchell Community College in Statesville. He is a native of Fayetteville.
This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Attempt to change a tire leads to harrowing confrontation, gun shot
