I have never met so many people, who wanted to talk to me, help me, tell me something pleasant as in Memphis. There is a big swath of the city that is very nice and racially balanced, the downtown and a wide strip reaching east for miles. The area is 50/50 white/black plus 10 or 20% hispanic and other. Thats the best part, Memphis is 120% people. Their are people on the streets walking, waiting for bus or street car, and everyone is ready to visit and help.
We went to change titles and register a car at the courthouse, found a parking place but the signs were unclear, I saw near by a black policeman and women, I waved and ran over and they were so nice, no I couldn't park there but they did helped me find one elsewhere. In dozens of visits to get tags and titles I never met anyone that was actually nice until we got in the courthouse in Memphis, that lady all but ask us over for Christmas, that is the way all government offices should be, friendly, cheerful, warm. We went to a Thai restaurant for dinner, by the time we left I felt like I was part owner, the cooks had come out to tell us how they make things, the owner and his wife had found out why we were in Memphis, our names, our likes and dislikes, how they were going to have a booth in a festival, where the Buddist temple was, I would go back there in a minute, oh, the food was great, they like to make vegan dishes, always make vegan the old man giggled, always make vegan. We went to a grocery, hell the stock boys were suggesting things we should try, the black checkout man had the best smile I have ever seen. We ate at a Panera's, an old black man came from the kitchen and started talking to us, when we left we saw an older black women asking at the order counter for directions, the white lady came out from the counter and went outside with her and was pointing up the street explaining where she could find what she was after. At the apartment my family was at we encountered many people, all friendly and ready to discuss the days events and wish us a good visit. We went to the Lorraine Motel Civil Rights Museum, and some black school boys came up to us asking if we could help them find their way back to the entrance (it is a bit of a maze inside that museum), so polite, we walked back with them, they thanked us slipped out quietly. And I could write of a hundred other examples of friendly warm people, and the city was clean, the traffic stayed in it's lane, moved calmly, not like most cities infested lane jumpers.
Now, I know full well there are sections of Memphis that have extremely high crime rates, and further to the north and west are modern burbs with nasty little pasty white sounding walled in areas with artificial names. I didn't go there, I would suspect both those areas would have a different feel.
I look forward to going back. The daughter-in-law loves it, she's been there a month now and she is starting to get into the local culture and casual outdoor feel of all the folks moving about in a very relaxed mood. If they stay there, I would be tempted to move.
In the civil rights museum I talked at length with a black man about 35 who brought his two sons about 12 to the museum. At the bus that Rosa Parks had set on, (you can walk through and they have a statue of her in the seat) they were not believing the story line, he was telling them blacks had to set or stand in the back, give up there seat to whites if ask, get off if the bus was overloaded. One boy said "that doesn't make sense, why would people do that". The father said that when he was a kid he didn't believe these stories much either until some old relatives told him it was true.
ReplyDeleteIgnorance of the past is dangerous, I was glad he was explaining it to his sons. It is also encouraging that as a society we have come far enough from it that those things don't make sense, are unimaginable.
Memphis has been on my list for ten years now. Gotta get there! My friend Steve has been twice in the last year, got to record in Sun studio.
ReplyDeleteMaybe this winter.
Fringe,
ReplyDeleteThe last time I was in Memphis was with a pal from Korea who was stationed at Blytheville AFB in Arkansas. We stayed all night at his grandmother's place in an old Victorian home not far from the Mississippi. She gave Mike the keys to her Caddy convertible - about like what Nick Nolte drove in "48 Hours". We did Beale Street. Barbeque heaven - I swear it....
Good post..
Ron
NAC:
ReplyDeleteIf you go I think you will like it. People said spring is a fantastic time to be there, lots of blooming plants. Oh, the city of 600k sets on the river of course, but across the river (west) its farmland, interesting that you can drive out of the city and boom are in farmland, look back from the fields and the city is facing you. No sprawl or strip malls to the west. Rice. Fields of rice. It is ripe, almost ready for harvest, it looks different than the light yellow of ripe wheat, it has a more bronze hue to it, very rich looking.
Squatlo:
ReplyDeleteThanks but I think I made to many racial references in it for the critical tourist sales people to want to touch. I would be uncomfortable with that. It may sound like I was surprised the minorities were friendly, and that was not my intent at all, I was surprised and thrilled that everyone was friendly and outgoing.