Black in the Military

What's Ray Saying?

Ray Christian

Blackhistory, Storyteller, Blackculture, History, Story, Storytelling, Arts, Slam, Africanamerican

5 • 625 Ratings

🗓️ 22 November 2023

⏱️ 31 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Ray looks back on his decision to join the army, unraveling a complicated history of Black military service and reflecting on the surprising changes the armed forces made in his life.

What’s Ray Saying? is created, hosted, and written by Ray Christian and recorded in the great state of North Carolina. Mark Pagán is the senior producer. Jonathan Cabral is the associate producer. Story editing by Mark Pagán with development support from The Moth. Sound design by Rebecca Seidel. Original music comes from RJ Christian and Blue Dot Sessions.

To find out more about What Ray’s Saying? visit us on Facebook, Twitter, or at whatraysaying.com.

This series is supported by PRX, The Moth, and listeners like you.

Transcript

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0:00.0	I should have known better.
0:02.0	I should have known better than to own a car meant for the Audubon in the damn mountains of western North Carolina.
0:08.0	All right, big dog.
0:10.0	Come on, how many rims have I broken?
0:13.0	Twice?
0:14.0	I have no reason driving my BMW on the bumpy-ass roads around my house.
0:20.0	This was the third visit to my
0:22.3	mechanic in 18 months because of a rim repair.
0:24.9	It looks like we may have repaired that one before?
0:28.0	Yeah.
0:29.0	The car was my wife's idea. She felt I deserved it. Felt I should treat myself. But my mechanics have been doing
0:39.2	their best to convince me to give up this money pit on four wheels.
0:43.0	You need that you need a should be, my friend. Yeah, I do, but that's, oh shit, man. See,
0:47.3	I want a car that I could get in, program the direction, and just take a nap.
0:53.3	I've been driving for about 40 years at this point,
0:58.0	and I've driven just about every four-wheeler, four-runner, or four-door you can think of.
1:04.0	But the first vehicle I can remember driving driving was a Jeep,
1:09.0	and not anywhere near these bumpy-ass mountains of western North Carolina.
1:13.6	No, this was a green four-wheeler that I tore up on different patches of earth.
1:19.6	The mud ditches, brush piles, and hills and slopes of Fort Dix.
1:23.6	I was 18 years old, and I was in basic training in the Army.
1:28.3	Owning or even driving a car is not something I'd ever really imagined, let alone having someone else fix it.
	...

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