A High Five for Glenn Burke

In their ELA class, Silas and Zoey’s teacher, Ms. Washington, tells the students how proud she is of all their presentations on famous inventors. Then she brings up Glenn Burke and asks the class why they think he did not get credit in his lifetime for inventing the high five. Silas panics as he realizes that Ms. Washington must know that Burke was gay. He worries that she will share this with the class, making them suspicious of him.

Instead, Ms. Washington tells the story of Lamont Sleets, who is often credited with inventing the high five in the 60s, almost a decade before Burke. Silas protests that the story is not true. Ms. Washington agrees, explaining to the class that the story about Sleets was a hoax. A girl in the class asks why someone would make up a story like that. Ms. Washington looks at Silas like she is expecting him to explain why, but Silas does not want the class to find out that Burke was gay. Rather than answer outright, Ms. Washington invites the class to think about how, too often, lies drown out the truth.