Riding with Huey Newton

I received a request from a friend in Taos, NM who doesn't have a computer (as mentioned in my blog this past weekend) to send a few of my blogs to read. It is with that request in mind I went in search of something to send her. My apologies, but below is the first entry ever entered on this blog in June, 2005, after it's initial dedication entry to our very beloved, departed greyhound, Cooper, for whom this whole effort was begun.

I reprint it here as historical, yet still very pertinent, for all Americans in light of Bush's recent State of the Union and even more recent 2008 budget.

Here then, from Saturday, June 18, 2005......
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With the advent of Juneteenth, I was reminded of the first time I wore my Black Panther Party, "The struggle continues" tee-shirt (from Urban Profile) out in public a couple of months ago.

While adorning it, stopped at a red light, Huey Newton scared the shit outta me when he suddenly appeared in the passenger's seat beside me. He wasn't wearing his seat belt. In place of it was a broad leather belt across his chest holding shot gun cartridges. He reminded me of Pancho Villa.

Smiling, he turned to me and spoke. "There's a huge majority of you rapidly becoming the new minority of this country," Huey said, extending a pack of Marlboros in my direction.

That sounded a little strange to me, but I thought about it til the car behind me honked, signaling the light change.

"For Christ's sake, hide that shotgun! You wanna get us both busted!" I pleaded.

Emptiness once more overtook me as I glanced over at his fading smile--and shotgun. I'd have to do the shopping alone sans armed escort.

It was somewhere in front of the butcherless Wal-Mart meat counter before I got to the beef of what Huey had said. No longer just a racial struggle of thug booted cops in black and brown neighborhoods, it's now blacks, browns, Muslims, uninsured, under-insured, poor whites, the middle class, teachers, the sick, atheists, unions, soldiers, retirees, veterans, young folk, immigrants and aliens, librarians, soldier's families, United Airline employees, Wal-Mart butchers (whoops, forgot, they're "extinct" for organizing) etc., etc. under assault. (My apologies to anyone left out--it wasn't an all inclusive list).

So I guess I'll pause a moment tomorrow to remember the significance of June 19th; and be reminded "The Struggle Continues" as Huey so nicely put it. Maybe I'll wander down to Wal-Mart; ask to speak to the butcher.