I Kinda Miss Southeast

When the late, great Honorable Marion S. Barry, Jr., passed away on November 23rd, I realized that I missed more than just the undisputed "Mayor For Life" of Washington, D.C. and one of my most influential mentors.  Seeing so many faces in the crowds as his funeral procession came down Martin Luther King, Jr., Avenue by "The Big Chair" or while attending his public funeral service at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center brought on a bittersweet sense of nostalgia.  In the process, I said to myself, "I love the fact that I grew up in Southeast and that our mayor and councilmember fought for us when no one else was brave enough to do so.  More than that, I love my people."  Then, when two fellow alumni of Mayor Barry's Youth Leadership Institute (MBYLI) decided to run for his seat on the D.C. Council--Sheila Bunn, former chief of staff for the Honorable Eleanor Holmes Norton and the Honorable Vincent Gray, and Christopher Barry, Mayor Barry's son--I was excited for the potential direction in which Ward 8 could head and made me want to be involved somehow, but remembered that my driver's license now says "Silver Spring, MD".  (The differences between the D.C. Department of Motor Vehicles and Maryland's Motor Vehicle Administration could be another blog post alone, but I digress.)  So if you were to put my sentiments to an old Manhattans tune, you might come to the following conclusion: I kinda miss Southeast.  Let me tell you some of the things that I do miss...

Hail to the [Fill In The Blank]: Fight For New D.C.

At the "Racist Stereotypes and Cultural Appropriation in American Sports" Symposium at the Smithsonian's Museum of the American Indian on February 7th, one of the top issues was the nickname attributed to the team that has been in my hometown of Washington, D.C. since 1937: "Redskins".  Apparently, there were many people who walked into this symposium donning team apparel with a sense of pride in their local pro football team.  However, many of those people walked out with heavy hearts and regret once they realized just how "racist" and "demeaning" the term is to the Native American culture.  Furthermore, not one person in the audience stood up to defend the name--including any member of the franchise because no one answered the Smithsonian's invitation to participate.  I would have not only attended the symposium if I knew about it beforehand, but more important, I would've been in the majority of those who had nothing positive to say about this long-standing nickname.