Pepper Spray

785 words | 3 minutes 8 seconds read time

A memory floated in as I drove along the highway one day this week.

I was 14 years old, a freshman in high school, and excited. I probably had on a fresh pair of Reebox classics, uncreased, of course, because the local all-boys Catholic school, Essex Catholic, was having a party. And my friends and I were going.

When people hear the word Catholic school, I think they picture the private schools in movies full of rich teenagers living lavish lifestyles attending even wealthier, lavish schools.

Essex Catholic was not that, and the Catholic school I attended was not that either. They were working-class schools for working-class families. In my neighborhood, Essex Catholic was known as one of the beacons of hope for the working-class parents of black and brown boys who wanted to ensure their sons made it out of the hood with prospects of a brighter and better future.

As a teenager, I wasn't thinking about all of that. My thoughts about Essex Catholic started and ended with the cute boys an…