Arkansas: Little Rock 10/2/17 Clinton Library

We visited the William J Clinton Library located in Little Rock, Arkansas on the advice of a friend. It turned out to be a moving experience. During Clinton’s time in office I was a  Rush Limbaugh fan. A ditto head. At that time I wasn’t focused on his achievements as much as I was on his scandals.  

When I looked over the list of his accomplishments it was a pretty impressive list. Many of them consisted of empowering people and working together with world leaders.  The further I explored the library,  the more I realized that my vision of America looked a lot like President Clinton. I regret that I was checked out while he was in power.

At one end of the library there was a short fifteen video of President Clinton refecting on the past and looking to the future. When the lights came up I was crying. Not teary eyed. Crying.  

Here is a man who is still working to better people’s lives. I wish we could say that about the present administration.

Mississippi: Oxford 10/1/2017 Ole Miss

On our last full day in Memphis we drove across the border into Oxford, Mississippi . It’s the seat of Lafayette county. Founded in 1837 it was named after the British University in the city of Oxford, England. They hoped the state university could be located there, which it was. It is referred to as Ole Miss and is ranked sixth in the nation of college towns. As we walked around, the town square it was lined with trendy shops and restaurants as well as a fair amount of shoppers milling around.

During the Civil War Grant and Sherman invaded Oxford. Andrew Jackson burned down all the buildings in the town square. Reconstruction was slow. During this time African Americans started moving from farms into towns. They founded a district they called Freedmen Town. Even dealing with discrimination, the African American residents exercised their rights as citizens. The hindrance was that in 1890 most African Americans were disenfranchised from voting by the Mississippi State Constitution.

During the Civil Rights Movement, of 1962, Oxford gained national attention with the Ole Miss riot. State officials including the Governor prevented James Meredith from enrolling at the University of Mississippi. After back channel discussions with JFK, they came up with a work around.  But thousand came into town as armed volunteers showed up at Oxford. That evening cars were burned, federal marshals were pelted with rocks, bricks, and small arms fire. There were three thousand segregationists. Order was restored with the help of the Mississippi National Guard.

In 1966 James Meredith, started marching from Memphis, Tennessee to Jackson, Mississippi on his own.  A couple days into the walk he was sent to the hospital from a sniper bullet. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Stokley Carmichael arrived later to complete the march on James’ behalf. James joined them for the last few days.

On September 26, 2008 the University of Mississippi  hosted their first presidential debate.  It was a debate between John McCain and Barack Obama. It was moderated by Jim Lehrer, and focused on foreign policy and national security.

I was struck by how far we have progressed, and realized how far we have to go. What I saw was a sleepy square that was doing great retail business. Reading about the riot felt like it could be the next day’s news. We move ahead with fits and starts, hopefully more starts than fits.

Finding the Spirit on Beale Street

It had been a hefty drive from Plymouth MN to Memphis TN. We were there to spend the weekend with our daughter. As a younger man I could order my bladder to zip it and knock off 300 miles. Now it dictates how long I can go between rest stops on a cup of water.

Needless to say it was a longer trip than planned. Pulling up to our daughter’s townhouse, I was tired and could easily have been talked into a nap.

Instead we checked into our hotel room. The bed in the room called to me as well. I resisted and soon we were heading out into the Memphis afternoon, ending up on Beale Street in the evening.

Walking down Beale street we were assaulted by a cacophony of musical noise from competing establishments. Not really wanting to pay a cover charge we wandered down the the street. My daughter found The New King Palace.

The venue was a single African-American man around seventy, dressed in all black and topped with a pork pie hat. He went by the moniker DLB. We sat in the front row and as the wait staff directed us to the tables, there was no request of a cover charge.

DLB played an 8 stringed guitar and operated a bank of foot pedal sound effects. One of his more intriguing boxes made it sound like he had two or three backup singers accompanying him. His music was a combination of soul, blues, and jazz, smooth and mellow riffs.

He sang songs he wrote as well as the good old oldies. To our left were seven African-American women. They were quietly talking and giggling, having a great time.

In his soft jazzy voice DLB announced that he was going to play one of the sweetest love songs he knew. “Let’s Stay Together”, by Al Green. He slid into the song, and the women could not sit still. They sang along. They swayed to the music and two followed the spirit within, stood and danced between the tables. One was a little less spirited than the other but they both danced.

I am glad I didn’t nap. I would have missed the Spirit at the New King Palace. And DLB. That would have been a loss.