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September 04, 2005
Century City
Pops came across this old photo of my youngest brother. In the photo he's about 4 years old which would make this about 1972. At the time, the new city center of Century City was just being completed. It was the new headquarters of all of the agents and lawyers in the film and music industry.
I very much vibe with what he was doing at the time, and I often do it myself as a father. That is to take my children to the sharpest places in the city and give them an intimate familiarity with it. My parents grew up in an America that didn't allow blackfolks to shop in the upscale districts without blistering police scutiny, if they were allowed to shop at all. The moment those walls came down, we were all over it. I can even see, in the casual flap of my baby brother's shirt a thumb in the eye of the System. My father's mother was nicknamed 'Miss Madam' because she was so excruciatingly proper. Such slovenly dressing would have never been allowed on a downtown shopping trip in her company. That I very much remember when I met her as a child. What is very well known, but not often said of the Civil Rights Movement was that it was the courage of youth who had not been beat down that gave parents the strength to pursue justice. How often we stand behind babies.
We haven't heard much from young people in the matter of the tragedy of New Orleans. We will, eventually. But I am looking towards the day when there will be new buildings and new faces smiling in front of them. They will give us the courage to get past the ugly past even as they mark our hope for the future.
Posted by mbowen at September 4, 2005 09:35 AM
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