Fog Lights by Nadiyah Ngah D. Windsong

Painting from the private art collection of Nivea Castro.

Nairobi, 1998. MTV. Will Smith’s “Just the Two of Us” filling the living room. And me, ten years old, already knowing that Bill Withers was underneath it — warm and patient, holding the whole thing up. That is my funny superpower: I can hear a song and know immediately what it samples.

I was standing on the field at Truist Park, where the Atlanta Braves host an annual HBCU Night in August.  This event honors presidents at Historically Black Colleges and Universities and salutes the positive impact of HBCUs on our communities. As my name was announced, I walked out and waved to the crowd, trusting that my strength would hold out through the night. But the distance I had to walk from the viewing box to the field, and then back up to the box, seemed infinite. My feet felt like cement blocks.