Martin Luther King Day in DC
Monday — 06:00 am (DC time)
This mural in "China Town" of Obama with Dr. King in the background caught the attention of quite a few tourists
After a few hours of sleep, I’m getting ready to go out and brave the area’s intimidating Metro system.
I felt like a zombie when I finally arrived at my motel here in Silver Spring, MD around midnight.
My flight out of Lambert went smoothly. Board of Alderman President, Lewis Reed, former State Rep. Rodney Hubbard, high-profile real estate broker, Mary “One” Johnson and Kevin McDermott, a reporter at the Post-Dispatch Springfield bureau, shared the flight out of Lambert International with me.
Wild horses couldn’t have kept her from the inaugural celebration, Johnson told me. Barack Obama, she said, is a reflection of the struggle African-Americans have made in this country.
After a brief layover in Charlotte North Carolina, Hubbard and Reed singlehandedly held up the flight. They were concerned that Johnson hadn’t re-boarded the plane. It was a touching gesture but it turned out to be unnecessary. The men apparently didn’t know that Johnson, McDermott and I were taking a different plane on the second leg of our trip.
Thank goodness McDermott knew a few people in the area. According to local news reports, there were over 500,000 trips on the system. It’s funny how locals give directions as if everybody understands the intimidating Metro rail system’s Red, Blue, Orange, Yellow and Green lines throughout the region.
After arriving at Washington/Dulles Airport, McDermott was able to determine the best route to Silver Spring.
We took a shuttle to the Metro station and after about an hour we arrived at our destination.
It seems citizens are heeding Obama’s call to volunteer on Martin Luther King’s birthday. Local news organizations are reporting on the hundreds of thousands who plan to participate in charitable events today.
My plan is to catch some of their efforts today.
It’s almost 7:00 am here. I’ve studied the maps. Supposedly, the Red Line will be my friend today.
We’ll see. I’m off to test that theory.
Check back. — Sylvester
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Sylvester Brown, Jr. often refers to himself as the "accidental columnist." He enrolled in college almost 25 years ago to pursue a career as a cartoonist. He ended up starting an award-winning newspaper and falling in love with journalism. Today, as a writer for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the "accidental columnist's" love affair continues. 
After a brief layover in Charlotte North Carolina, Hubbard and Reed singlehandedly held up the flight. They were concerned that Johnson hadn’t re-boarded the plane. They didn’t know that Johnson, McDermott and I were taking a different plane
Leave it to a couple of elected officials from St. Louis (one current, one former) to screw up an otherwise uneventful scheduled airline flight
The DC Metro isn’t rocket science, either, especially on a Sunday. Been there, done that. Sly’s account makes we question either the veracity of the tale or the competence of those making the journey.
What an impressive group of ambassadors you make.
MLK Day in St. Louis
Today seems like the perfect day to join the conversation about race in honor of The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., President-elect Barack Obama, and my father, who worked tirelessly for decades to bring about racial equality, justice, and civil rights.
My father taught a course on race in America. He used to ask his students to write down three words that described themselves. For nearly all the black students, one of those words was “black.” It struck me because “white” would not have been one of my three words. I guess I never defined myself by race. Maybe I never had to because I am white. Maybe I never thought about it.
But when I came to Missouri from the Northeast as an adult in the early 1990s, race suddenly became an issue. One of the first things I noticed about St. Louis was the number of mixed couples. I didn’t see a lot of that in New England, and it surprised and pleased me that an area I considered “southern” would be so open and accepting.
But in contradiction to that observation, I also witnessed segregation and racism on a scale I hadn’t seen in the Northeast. There were few blacks in my graduating class at MU and only one I can recall working with during my career here. The news seemed overrun with stories of young black men being shot. People told me, “Don’t go to North St. Louis.” “Never venture to East St. Louis,” I heard. “Don’t buy a house in that neighborhood, it’s going black,” I was told. I even met a guy who was trying to buy the empty house next to his so he could control who moved in.
At first I was shocked. But now, I worry that I am becoming inured to it, that my gut doesn’t clench like it used to when I hear the “n” word (something I rarely heard back East). That bothers me. And it has made me more aware of how environment and surroundings can shape a person.
I know racism exists everywhere and maybe some areas are just more subtle in the ways it is expressed. But I’ve also talked with many native St. Louisans who say they know the city has a race problem.
I love St. Louis and mean no disrespect to the city and its fine people. I just hope having a black president who serves all the people will help disprove the negative stereotypes and quell some of the racial discord. And for myself, I hope I have the strength to remember — and act on — what King and my father stood for, not just today and tomorrow, but every day.
Be careful, those escalators in the Metro can be pretty intimidating the first time you get on one.
Have a great trip.
MK