(click the picture above for
the high definition
video - but also click
YouTube
for me!)
12:05 AM, Sunday,
February 10th 2008:
Really
dead. Like dead longer than he was even
alive. (wow that's only true like
this year). Remember him with
speeches, pictures - lotsa good video on
the man. Some great books that I read as a
child. But believe me, you don't need to
see the memorial. The man is gone, read a
book or take a look at my video. And
I know it's weak to use the same song
as a few entries back - but it's the
truth. It has been in my head since the
moment I heard it and it's all I thought
of today... as I nearly got mugged.
(sigh)
This
was very stupid. Chris Rock warned me too.
He warned me...
"You know
what's so sad man, you know what's so wild? Martin
Luther King stood for non-violence. Now what's
Martin Luther King? A street. And I don't give a
fuck where you in in America, if you're on Martin
Luther King Boulevard there's some violence goin'
down. It ain't the safest place to be. You can't
call nobody and tell 'em you're lost on MLK. 'I'm
lost I'm on Martin Luther King' - RUN! RUN!
RUN!"
-Chris Rock,
1996
Well triple that
shit on Martin Luther King Blvd in "Martin Luther King
Historical District". Whew. Not the best time to
not bring a bag with me and just hold my
High Def camcorder. I step off the subway (King
Memorial Stop) around 2 pm and there's no real signs
on which way to go. I see an info sign and they
just show the whole neighborhood that's considered the
district. So I just start walking. Very quickly
I realize I'm very lost and very naive.
I see my road ahead that I'm walking down and
witness 3 hookers, 4 "slap your hand" drug deals and
boarded up houses with seemingly "no one" around.
They spot my white ass quickly and there was no
turning around at that point, can't look weak or
scared, I just have to go into "G" mode. My
camera's in my jacket at this point, but not in a
pocket - I'm just holding it with my arm and I'm doing
my best to look as angry as possible. Then here comes
the onslaught. Everyone comin' up to me knowing
I must want drugs or why the hell else would
I be on the street. Difficult to get past 'em as
the sidewalks were very tight. I literally had to
push past them (physically) and keep on walkin' at the
same brisk pace. People yellin', people comin' at
me... it was pretty intense. I gotta say,
I wasn't scared as much as you'd think since
I was intently trying to figure out how I could
fight back and not drop my camera. Of course
I still had a sense of humor about it when one of
the dealers after asking if I wanted crack 3
times finally goes: "Sheeeeit, you want weed
don't you." Heh. That got a bit of a smirk from me
I must admit. My inner Gary seemed to work and
soon I got to a main street and I damn near
walked down the MIDDLE of the street the rest of
the way so I had room.
I finally found
the museum and looked at the exhibits, the movie and
took some video. It was closing in on 4:30 and
somethin' told me to be out of there by dusk. LOL.
I ended up skipping his tomb/eternal flame
concerned I'd waste too much time and still be lost as
how to get back to the subway. I ended up getting
lost again trying to avoid that street but finally
found my way and couldn't have been happier to have my
camera in hand on my way back...
...when
I proceeded to have it taken from me at
"Atlanta Bread Company" (Panera bread in the south) an
hour later. (sigh). This little bitch cashier gives me
a credit card slip to sign and I put down my
camera to sign it and must have looked away for but a
moment when he takes it. I had no idea. After
I finish my dinner and gather my stuff
I notice it's gone and I go up to the register
and ask about it. He sheepishly puts his head down and
opens a drawer and hands it to me. Nice huh? Dick.
So now I'm safe in
my hotel watching the most recent sweep of states by
Mr. Obama. At my count with the percentages he'll be
up in the delegate count 967-906 tomorrow morning. The
pundits are saying he may win 3 straight weeks of
states until the big battles of Ohio & Texas on
March 4th. Of course Hillary got more super-delegates
today. And that's without one state won. It's getting
a little tense. This is possible: he could win more
votes, more delegates, more states... and then Hillary
can broker the nomination in August. Can you imagine.
Can you fathom the anger in this country if that
happens. It really will be the 1968 convention all
over again. A trip to Denver may be in order.
:-)
Listening to him
speak in Virginia was just crazy after seeing/hearing
all the MLK speeches today. What he would've
thought...right? Can you believe we're here as a
country? Can you believe after the day I've had
I still feel this way? Heh. What I went
through today has everything to do with youth and
poverty and nothing to do with skin color. Now it is a
real problem. There is quite a difference between the
races - I've always hated the whole "we're all the
same" bullshit that has been fed to my generation
forever. We're very different and there's
reasons for that. There's differences to celebrate and
differences to try and understand. It's why this
election means so much to me. If a black kid born a
few years ago knows only of a black president for his
first 8 years... what will that do to him/her?
I can't imagine. And what it will say to the rest
of the world is overwhelming. Today I don't
believe there was one person at the museum that didn't
think of Barack a few times. Watching the little
documentary on his life - whew. Chills. We're watching
history again... I just hope it's not exactly
like it was 40 years ago.
Alright - home
again tomorrow (later today actually) and it looks
like the strike may finally be ending. Feeling
very good about the future.
