If MLK Were Alive, He Would Have Shot Himself
I know that sounds like a harsh title, but it’s appropriate for what I’m about to write. In order to get a feel for the second Saturday night of Indiana Black Expo I worked the door at my favorite downtown establishment, Nicki Blaine’s, just south of Monument Circle. I originally planned to work from 9 to 11:30 p.m. but ended up there until 2:0 a.m. because I could not believe my eyes.
Let me preface this by saying, I am all for Black Expo. The health fair, business fair, corporate luncheon, celebrations of faith and other events all go off very well. I even played master of ceremonies for the Governor’s Reception on Tuesday, but all that goodness gets tossed because of a bunch of knuckleheads who come out on Saturday night.
By working the door at Nicki Blaine’s I got a “front row” seat on all the action. First, I have never seen so many young men wearing nightgowns and young women wearing floss and both calling them t-shirts. I saw so many young girls, many under 17, dressed like hookers that I thought I just got off a ship in Thailand.
The only thing worse than how they dressed was how they acted, as exemplified by the shooting which I had the privilege to be near while taking a walk at ground zero, otherwise known as Illinois and Maryland. All I could think of was “this cannot be the future of Black people.”
I honestly didn’t know which was worse. The pregnant woman with the white leotard outfit and pink bow around it; I’m not sure whose present it was. Or the four-year old boy with a grill that lit up like a lite-brite. He was out running around at 10:30 p.m. But I have to say the moment to end all moments was the young girl who hit on me while she had her baby in her arms. I wanted to give her daughter a shirt that said, “By my mom a drink! My Dad did!”
When I think of what people like my parents and grandparents fought for to allow me to be a full participant in the American dream, I just wanted to go home and set my law degree on fire because it meant nothing if these kids were the future. We are definitely losing a generation and I honestly don’t know if they’re worth saving after what I saw.
I cannot believe that when Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X and Medgar Evers were fighting for civil rights, this is they were fighting for. This is sad to say, but I guess the silver linings in their assassinations was that they didn’t live to see last night in downtown Indianapolis, otherwise they would have put the gun to their own heads. And I can’t say I blame them for doing it.
