Leonetty

New school, new living arrangement, new friends, all things that come with relocation. New Orleans, Louisiana, in a small rural neighborhood which is predominantly African American. A place where the area is suited for lower income, the adults are working multiple jobs to make ends meet and the kids grow up faster than most kids should. In the middle of this is a new occupant, Leonetty Jones, a quite reserved 10-year-old black boy. He is sent by his estranged Mother to live with his elderly Grandmother in a small house located in this very environment. His Grandmother has been subjected to being bedridden for majority of her days due to her deteriorating health. As a result, Leonetty is left responsible for taking care of the day to day household work; taking out the trash, washing dishes, sweeping floors etc. The time he does get to himself is spent playing with the local neighborhood kids, all of whom are African American but are considerably lighter than Leonetty in terms of skin complexion. The kids, along with Leonetty, typically spend their play days with a game of “hide and go seek”. A game in which Leonetty seems to always be selected as the “seeker”, having to chase and tag the other kids, which is a task he has never been able to be successful in. But when a faithful day arrives and puts Leonetty as the victor, his luck changes as this becomes, in his mind, the biggest accomplishment of his young life. However, the sweet taste of victory quickly vanishes as Leonetty finds himself being ridiculed by one of the older kids (The loser of the game Albert) who is ashamed of being caught by him. Albert verbally attacks Leonetty, the onslaught of the jokes is harshly directed towards his dark skin complexion. He crudely accuses him of running fast “like a runaway slave” saying “the blacker you are the faster you run”. Unable to respond due to fear of more jokes, Leonetty sulks as the kids continue to laugh louder and louder until he is completely embarrassed. The psychological trauma he experiences becomes more than a bad day from a few jokes, it subconsciously becomes his truth. Young Leonetty deals with his dysfunctional home life, his new-found self-hatred and a constant struggle to find himself. As his sense of identity begins to slip away, he begins to evaluate the state of his life - all whilst trying to reconnect with his distant mother.