Hi, I'm Lovar Burton and this is Lovar Burton Reads.

In every episode I handpick a different piece of short fiction and I read it to you.

The only thing these stories have in common is that I love them and I hope you will too.

Hey, y'all, if you are new to the podcast, check out Lovar Burton Podcasts.com for a great playlist of some of my favorite episodes.

Or you can just begin here because I'm always honored to read one of the greats on the podcast.

Getting to read Tony Morrison a few seasons ago is just magical for me and I'm so pleased today to be able to read something from one of her friends and colleagues.

The writer, filmmaker, professor and civil rights activist Tony Cade Bambara whom the world lost to cancer back in 1995.

Miss Bambara grew up in Harlem in Bedstuy in Queens and in Jersey City and her greatest influence and inspiration was her mother who was in civil service and whom she credits with allowing her to daydream and explore her mind.

It also can't hurt that she grew up in Harlem in the 1940s reading in the library next to Langston Hughes.

Her work explores collective change, it centers the voices of other black women and it uplifts the voices of all members of a community including children.

Miss Bambara wrote a novel called The Salt Eders and a number of short stories including the collection Gorilla My Love.

The piece I'm reading to you today comes from a collection of essays and stories that was published posthumously and was edited by Tony Morrison.

The collection is entitled Deep Sightings and Rescue Missions published by Vintage Books an imprint of the Knapp Double Day Publishing Group.

The story is called The War of the Wall. It's written from the perspective of a child, a smart, opinionated, feisty child who sees an outsider enter his community.

Miss Bambara described herself as a child who loved talking to strangers and spent a lot of time listening to the folks in the barbershop or the beauty parlor talk.

It really shows in this story the specificity of the characters that she draws.

If you're ready, let's take a deep breath.

And begin The War of the Wall by Tony Cade Bambara.

Me and Lou had no time for curses. We were late for school, so just flat out told the painter lady to quit messing with the wall.

It was our wall and she wasn't even from the neighborhood.

Sturing in the bucket, she mumbled something about she had permission to paint on it from the owner of the barbershop.

That had nothing to do with it as far as we were concerned. It was our wall.

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