The Era of Confrontation (2)
New Year’s, 1862.
The public sentiment was frozen even more solid than the chilly Mississippi winter, leaving people’s hearts filled with unease.
“Leo, shall we have a bit more fun this time?”
Ben, a proud executive of Seuret Cotton, slapped Leo on the shoulder with a grin.
“Sounds good. Shall we grab some whiskey?”
“No, we did that last time, didn’t we?”
Leo and Ben had reached a status where they earned several times the salary of an average laborer. They were executives of Seuret Cotton, a name known to everyone in the South. Yes, despite being Black, they were undeniably executives of the company. It meant they were now the kind of men who could drink whiskey whenever they felt like it.
“Besides, we’ve already had whiskey at company dinners, so that’s nothing new. Let’s try enjoying the life of the upper class—a bit more freely.”
“The life of the upper class, huh…”
Truth be told, even saying it like that, neither of them truly knew how the upper class lived or played. Leo had watched every move Seuret made from the sidelines, but strictly speaking, Seuret wasn’t just a typical member of the upper class. To live like that, one would need to earn not just several times more than an average person, but dozens of times more, and they weren’t quite at that level yet.
“Let’s think about it for a moment. Didn’t the Chairman tell us to carry ourselves with dignity?”
“He did say that. We are executives of Seuret Cotton, after all.”
“Then why don’t we try some ‘dignified consumption’ for a change?”
Dignified consumption. Doesn’t the phrase alone make your heart flutter?
“First, let’s get a nice suit tailored. A proper custom suit from a real tailor.”
“A custom suit?”
“Yes. The Chairman always says it, doesn’t he? That an executive should look like an executive.”
They had suits they wore when serving Seuret, but those were suits Seuret had provided. It was a fact that neither of them had ever gone to a tailor and had a suit made with their own hard-earned money.
Ben thought for a moment and nodded.
“I was thinking it would be nice to have another suit anyway. That’s perfect. Let’s go.”
Once they decided what they wanted to do, they left without asking for anyone’s permission. This was the life of the upper class! The two of them headed straight for the most famous custom tailor shop in Natchez. As they arrived in front of the store, Ben puffed out his chest and smoothed his hair.
“Leo, why am I so nervous?”
“I am as well.”
Buying a proper item with their own money. How thrilling it was. It was a high-end suit that average laborers wouldn’t even dare to try on because of the price. Leo took a deep breath and pushed the door open.
Clang. A clear bell sound rang out. The shop was tidy, and various fabric samples were neatly hung along the walls.
“Welcome…”
The tailor, who had looked up from the back to greet them, saw their faces, and his expression soured instantly.
“…What is this? It’s just some darkies.”
“We have the money, so don’t worry about that. We’d like to have a suit tailored; when would you be available?”
It was insulting, but that level of mockery had been a daily occurrence for a long time, so they could laugh it off. Leo asked as politely as possible, but the tailor sneered and shook his head.
“I don’t have the materials.”
“…Excuse me?”
“I said I don’t have the materials. I can’t make it for you.”
What kind of nonsense was this? It wasn’t a restaurant; it was a tailor shop. To hear that he couldn’t even take their measurements because he lacked materials made even Leo want to curse.
“We aren’t buying something off the rack. We’re asking you to source the fabric and tailor it for us. What do you mean?”
They argued logically, but if the man were the type to listen to reason, he wouldn’t have made such an excuse in the first place. The tailor, momentarily speechless, soon revealed his true colors with a scoff.
“There are no suits to be tailored for darkies.”
“……”
“So get out. This is a whites-only shop.”
“You little bastard…”
“Ben!”
Leo grabbed Ben’s shoulder as he clenched his fists and tried to step forward. They had to endure it. If they started a brawl here, they would be the ones dragged off to jail, no questions asked.
“We have enough money. We will pay a proper price, so please, tailor it for us.”
Even if the other side was being base, they had to maintain their dignity. But no matter what, it was hard to suppress the boiling emotions churning inside.
“Do you darkies think that just because you have a little money, you can order a white man around?”
“……”
“Go find some darkie tailor. Oh, wait, can darkies only make crappy suits?”
“We are…”
“And another thing.”
The tailor crossed his arms and let out a final sneer.
“There’s no law saying I have to sell things to darkies, is there? I haven’t done anything wrong.”
“We are people who work at Seuret Cotton. And not just as laborers, but as executives.”
“Ah, right. You were, weren’t you?”
Leo wondered if the name of their master—no, the Chairman—would carry some weight, but it was a pipe dream.
“If it’s a Seuret farm, there must be plenty of white people there, right? Then tell the white people to come. I’ll tailor suits for them anytime.”
“……”
“In the first place, what’s with a darkie wanting a high-end suit? You don’t even know your place.”
The tailor waved his hand as if he had nothing more to say, shooing them away.
“Now, get lost. If you keep this up, I’ll report you for disturbing the peace!”
Leo took a deep breath and turned his back. Ben was trembling, his eyes bloodshot with such resentment that he was grinding his teeth. Yes. It was a delusion to think that just because slavery ended and they could earn money, everything would change overnight. Hadn’t the Chairman said as much? That after liberation, they would see things that would make them lose their minds.
Being treated in a way he had never experienced while standing beside a planter named James Seuret, he was forced to realize it once again. This society hadn’t changed one bit. Leo cooled his boiling heart and steeled his resolve, leaving behind the tailor’s sneer, which was full of the belief that he had taught some darkies who didn’t know their place a lesson.
‘You bastard, you’ve messed with the wrong person.’
Leo slowly closed the shop door.
“What? What happened?”
“They said that no matter how much money we brought, there were no suits to be tailored for darkies.”
“That damn bastard… You told them you were from Seuret Cotton, right?”
“Of course. Then he told us to send white people instead. He said he’d tailor clothes for them then.”
I had already heard plenty about how legal discrimination and mockery were beginning to boil over in every corner of the South. In fact, just looking at the eyewitness accounts brought by Owen and Rockefeller, who were sitting next to me, the discrimination Leo and Ben faced was on the milder side. At least they weren’t pelted with filth for daring to show their faces.
Still, it felt like shit.
“So, they said that even after you told them you were executives of Seuret Cotton?”
“Yes. It really hit home that this is the ‘dog-like treatment’ the Chairman spoke of.”
“I didn’t know our Dixie friends were so well-versed in the law. So, as long as it’s legal, they can do whatever they want, huh?”
Owen, who had been listening to our story bitterly from the sofa, shook his head.
“But as he said, refusing to sell goods to Black people is not illegal. There is no law that can force someone to provide a service they don’t want to.”
“For people who love the law so much, we have to treat them according to the law. Owen, you can go out with me tomorrow, right?”
“Yes, I’m fine, but… are you going yourself, Chairman? But as I said, that’s not illegal…”
“It’s legal, right? That’s fine. I have a plan.”
If I were to run around screaming that they racially discriminated against my subordinates, there was little chance the Southern courts would take my side. It didn’t really fit the image I had built up so far, either. But that didn’t mean I had no way to crush a guy like that.
There was a reason I had established the policy that whenever they faced such things, they should identify themselves as employees of Seuret Cotton.
The next morning, I headed back to the tailor shop, accompanied by Owen, Leo, and Ben.
Clang. The bell rang out, clear as a funeral knell.
“Welcome…”
The tailor, who had been about to smile brightly at me, saw Leo and Ben standing firmly behind me, and his expression stiffened subtly.
“Ugh, you’re back. So, did you come to ask me to tailor suits for these darkies, too?”
“No. If you don’t want to tailor them, I can’t force you. I just came to confirm a few facts. You said there were no suits to be tailored for darkies—is that true?”
Perhaps surprised that I wasn’t asking for a suit, the tailor hesitated for a moment before nodding.
“Ah, yes. That’s… it’s our shop’s policy not to sell suits to Black people.”
“That’s your freedom, so I don’t care.”
If the law says so, what can I do?
“However.”
“…?”
“I need an apology for the insulting remarks made to my executives.”
“…Excuse me?”
“I heard you insulted them even after they mentioned the name Seuret Cotton. So, apologize. To my executives.”
I meant he had to apologize for mocking the executives of Seuret Cotton, not just Leo or Ben. It was a clear-cut logic, but perhaps he hadn’t grasped the situation yet, as the tailor looked at me with an incredulous expression.
“Are you… trying to play word games with me right now?”
“Word games? I’m being perfectly serious.”
“So you’re seriously asking me to apologize to a darkie?”
“Do I have to say the same thing again? I’m telling you to apologize to the executives of Seuret Cotton, not a ‘darkie’.”
Our Dixie friend really needed everything spelled out from A to Z to understand, didn’t he?
“You insulted the executives I have under contract. That is the same as insulting me and my company. Do you understand?”
“Th-that’s an absurd logic!”
It was ironic to hear the word ‘logic’ from the mouth of a Dixie, but if he wanted to compete with logic, I had no choice but to accept the challenge.
“I haven’t done anything wrong! Is it illegal to curse at darkies? Is it illegal not to sell them a suit?”
“So you’re saying you won’t apologize?”
“Of course! Go ahead and sue me or whatever!”
The tailor crossed his arms and tilted his chin up.
“I haven’t broken any laws. See you in court!”
In martial arts novels, they say that’s when you refuse the wine of honor and choose the wine of punishment, and I could finally understand that sentiment. I, in my benevolence, had given him a chance to apologize, but since he insisted on refusing, what could I do?
“Then I, too, must restore the honor of Seuret Cotton, which has been insulted, in my own way.”
“Ha, I told you to go ahead and sue!”
“Leo.”
“Yes, Chairman.”
Why would I bother with a lawsuit? I could just exercise my rights to the fullest extent within the bounds of what’s legal, just as our friend likes.
“Contact all the artisans who supply fabric to this tailor shop. Tell them all to cut off their business with him.”
“……!”
The tailor’s face turned deathly pale.
“Tell them I’ll buy double the amount they currently supply to this shop.”
“Understood.”
As Leo bowed and turned to leave the shop, the tailor’s desperate voice rang in my ears.
“W-w-wait! What the hell are you doing!”
“What am I doing? When you say it like that, it sounds like I’m doing something wrong.”
“Th-this is interference with business! Clear! Interference with business!”
It’s scary to hear about business interference when I’m just trying to run a sound enterprise. Of course, I had brought a lawyer for times like this, so I had nothing to worry about.
“Owen.”
“Yes, Chairman.”
“Is this illegal?”
“If the purpose is not to interfere with this place’s business, but to purchase fabric that this place’s suppliers would have sold for unavoidable reasons, it is not illegal.”
“I see. We needed to prepare uniforms for our employees, so we were in a situation where we needed a large amount of fabric, weren’t we? It’s an unavoidable matter.”
There, you heard him. That’s how it is. He says it’s not illegal.
“Th-this… such wordplay…”
“If you’re unhappy, you know what to do, right? Go ahead and sue.”
He had been screaming about the law so much, wasn’t it time he finally got some help from it?
I sincerely encouraged him, his lips trembling.
“You said we’d see each other in court earlier, right? I hope that happens, so please, do sue.”
Ah, right. If I leave it like this, he might try to find other suppliers, so I should tell him now so he doesn’t waste his effort. In my benevolence, I made sure to nail it down one last time so he wouldn’t be disappointed for no reason.
“From now on, there won’t be a single artisan in Mississippi who will do business with you. Congratulations. As you wished, you won’t have to sell suits to Black people anymore.”
“Y-you…”
Was he so happy about the fact that he wouldn’t have to sell a single suit to Black people from now on? The tailor glared at me, his body trembling with joy.
“You were a model planter! How can you draw a sword against a fellow white man for the sake of Black people!”
“What the hell are you talking about, you idiot.”
I was about to walk out the door, but I turned my head slightly and let out a cold sneer.
“When did I say I was tormenting you because I insulted Black people? The reason I’m doing this is one and only: because you spat on the name Seuret Cotton.”
A declaration that I would mercilessly trample anyone who tarnished the value of my company’s name. This was merely the beginning, not the end.