Nassau 1979 Part 2

Thatched umbrella on white sand

Nassau 1979 part 2

IV

We start calling the airport for our luggage. It opens at 10 but it is after that time. No one answers when someone answered, there was no news. Oh well, the weather is absolutely beautiful. Perfect to walk to the beach after the dolphin show.. Palm thatched umbrellas for shade. Brilliant white sand.

No swimming suits, so we take a bus that circles the island. Driver announces “We don’t go sightseeing. We provide transportation!” You must say where you are going and he will take you there. Not knowing where to go, he suggested the Cloisters, which is where he is going. We paid the exact fare (50 cents). It was a very short ride to the next hotel, gardens, and Cloister. Terraced gardens toward the Bay. Statues dot each level . On the left side is Franklin Roosevelt, right side, Stanley Livingston). They are enormously tall.

Flowers are in bloom and it is late November. Temperature low 8@s. We thought of not going to the highest level, We continued to followed the pillars. It was similar to J’s replica made with dowels and ivory soap, a school project.
We met a much younger couple, American blacks, They asked us to take their picture by the Cloister. Many weddings are held here. Walking back, we passed an apartment hotel with a kitchen @$30 a day.

At dinner time, I go to the lobby and find our suitcases on a dolly. Dressed up, dined at Villa d.’Este, Italian. Filling. Very filling.Spend time losing money in the slot machines. They can be played 24 hours. He wins $20

We cannot believe our good fortune to be in Nassau, and call it a night. Tomorrow is a big day.

Edited from my journal. (To be continued)

Note: Trip, at the invitation of Board President, Fisk University, to John S. Harwell, who, at a critical time, brought skills in managing University student loans (used as comptroller, Harvard University) to put Fisk in a solvency position.

Who knew?

I did not know it would take me so long to blog again. Thanks for following.

You can  quick sketches to see something new done by your hand.

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Nassau Thanksgiving 1979

Nassau – 1970

I

Flight from Nashville to Miami on Sat, Nov 17. 1979 on Republic Airlines. Eventful only because on it left at 7:30 a.m. John bought more film and I looked at fruit to send – typical tourists – until we arrived at Eastern Airlines – to learn I “do not have a birth certificate or voters registration card, needed to re enter USA.”

We were told to go to the cigarette shop for an affidavit. The girl was off duty. See ‘Frank’ in the main shop on Concourse D. Frank was off. Get a notary in the hotel, a part of airport….7th floor, door 2, wait, pay $2.

Out of breath! We return, fill out a Bahama Entry card. We make the plane because it was delayed. One person too many. Someone takes the $39 and we are in the air. We barely had time to drink the apple juice before we land 45 minutes later. No radar so we were in a holding pattern before beautiful Nassau.

II
Long immigration lines! I select the one with the most problems. We are entertained by a Davy Dicks Trio playing native music. The affidavit is not accepted but drivers license gets me in. Handsome officer laughs at me being ripped off.

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Left to Burn

We were living in Chicago when Dr. King was killed. The news came over the car radio, crackling enough to cover my tears. By the time we got home and huggged our four children, the rioting had started. It was concentrated on the West Side of Chicago. My old casework area. The poorest of the poor, the most overcrowded.

The desparation and hopeless anger broke out in burning the rat-roach infested buildings where they lived on top of each other.

The President of the United States declared Sunday would be a Day of Prayer and that no work would be done.

At that time you could get the Sunday paper on Saturday night. It was a special edition with a huge headline. The area of the riot and fires was to be a wonderfully developed housing and university. area. Inside the chairman of the Chicago Housing Authority included the drawings of how this area would look.

I have remembered this irony knowing how long it takes to get plans and approvals through state and federal agencies. But here, within a few hours of King’s death, we had precise plans for a mile square area. It turned out that Chicago police had ringed this area after the fires started. Their presence prevented the people inside from leaving and let the fires begin urban removal.

In the small fine print, the Chairman was quoted as saying, “Of course, those displaced by the riot will get first priority in the developed area. [Really?]

To future Fergusons
Beware of burning your neighborhood. Look at Detroit. Homes and businesses still abandoned years after rioting. The Chinese are buying up whole neighborhoods at $39 a house.

Think hard. Two years from now, Ferguson may be upscaled, gentrified, gated. It is only ten minutes from the best of St. Louis. It has been planned to force you out. Look at the inner circle in Boston that never was built after the buildings were destroyed. Buildings gone, people gone. You are not in charge. Send a team to travel coast to coast. See the evolution returning people to your neighborhood. The abandoment to the suburbs is not the solution they had hoped for. Wake up! Buy not burn! Live! Do not be the last person standing!

Sent from my iPad

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