photos Al Fenn for Life magazine May 1960/ civil rights rally at Statue of Liberty
top image has a link to one of my favorites/ a Dylan cover
i have, without doubt, played it a thousand times
(it heals+salts most wounds)
i am learning it on guitar.
bottom image has a link to a NYtimes video piece
im getting out of the G train at the metropolitan stop in williamsburg/ this girl starts shouting at me
and for the intents and purposes of this little story, we’ll call her Blanca
BLANCA: Candice, Candice.
i keep walking
BLANCA: Hey Candice.
i turn slightly
BLANCA: (persistent) Candice! Hey, its me whatever my name is.
i stop and look back
Janicza: I am not Candice, I am just some other black girl.
BLANCA: This isnt about race.
Janicza: (aggressive) Oh no? Then what is it about exactly?
no answer
Janicza cont’d: Right.
i walk away
now this exact situation has happened to me loads of times/ i just thought that in a post Obama world id seen the last of its days
i will say that since Obama has won most white strangers look at me with glazed over eyes and a slightly tilted head
(as though i’ve won something)
—
birmingham circa ’87
