The Kind of Light that Shines on Texas

The story written by Reginald McKnight called "The Kind of Light that Shines on Texas" takes place in a Texas public school where a young African American man deals with the rigors of the newly implemented integration policy within his education. He remarks about how he now gets ten white kids to himself as well as his other fellow black students. Only two others are in the class. Ah-so, the only girl, sits in the front and keeps silent save for the remote times when she might read aloud in class. Marvin, a big guy who spits on his arm and sleeps all day, never moves or attempts to participate. The narrator makes some semblence of trying to answer the teacher's questions despite a barrage of racist jokes she passes day in and out.

The primary part of the plot deals with a larger but poor white boy by the name of Oakely that sits behind the narrator. He constantly threatens him from behind his desk, taunting and gesturing. Oakley likes to tell stories about how his brother died in Vietnam and how he needs to get all the practice he can before being sent to the country so he can kill. One day the narrator turns and asks the boy after a threat that he thought his brother was dead so why did he keep bringing up a dead brother that couldn't teach.

Later, in the story the two get into a dodgeball match. Both come to the end untouched while the other kids in the gym class were put out. The coach decides that they must have a death match. Using volleyballs, they take turns slugging at the other. The narrator finally beans Oakley in the face and even goes so far as to draw blood from him. While in the locker room Oakley and the narrator again face off about a fight after school. The white boy picks on him because he believes his is "richer" than him and for the fact he talks like a "city" kid as well as the fact that he is black. The narrator becomes exasperated and asks why Oakley doesn't attack Marvin, who happens to be more his size. Marvin gets up and leaves the room quietly and this doesn't dissuade the bully's decision.

At the end, Oakley begins pushing the narrator around once more outside of the school. The boy seems to snap and starts telling the bully to call him a nigger. Refusing and only slapping him, Oakley continues to pester the boy until Marvin finally socks the perpetrator in the face. After standing and staring at the narrator, some teachers come and haul both Oakley and Marvin away.

Going back to class the next day, the narrator remarks how despite never having really been noticed before the two boys' presence was felt more keenly now that they were not back in the school. He looks a moment at Ah-so who turns around and smiles at him briefly before staring at her desk once again.

Ironically in the story, the narrator described Marvin as being the one person who he seemed to dislike the most. He constantly brought up that he did not want to be like him in that he never did anything in class and seemed to take the labels that the white class or "society" put upon him. In the end, it was Marvin who saved the narrator, never saying why he did it. Marvin simply wished to be Marvin.