Revisiting The Old Neighborhood | The Real John McClane Revisiting The Old Neighborhood – The Real John McClane

From my upcoming book, “The 21st Century Holocaust…”

On Saturday, July 16th, 2016, I was in Detroit for a business seminar. The seminar took place on the Northwest side of Detroit, just 3 or so miles from where I grew up. So, as before, when I’m so close to the ‘old neighborhood’, I make my way over to the block of Ellsworth where I grew up. The drive thru the block is usually tinged with sadness and a steady stream of memories, as I ‘creep’ through the neighborhood, driving less than 10 miles per hour. The reason for the sadness is the decimated state of the neighborhood, caused by the ravages of triggerization. There are more open fields on my old block than there are houses. And, as far as houses go, there are more vacant and abandoned houses than there are ones inhabited by people. The best-looking structure adjacent to the block is the Baptist Church that I remember attending as a six or seven year old. THAT building is the ONLY BUILDING that still looks the same as it did nearly 50 years ago.

On Fenkell Avenue, in the vicinity where I grew up, even the nightclubs that used to be entertainment hotspots are either closed, or burned to the ground. The hood is in bad shape, when EVEN the party hotspots are torched…

On this particular day, I drove east through the block of Ellsworth from Wyoming Ave, turned north onto Cherrylawn, and u-turned at the intersection of Chalefonte and Cherrylawn. I began to retrace my route, and began to drive westward on Ellsworth with the idea of hitting the freeway once I reached Wyoming and drove north to the Lodge Expressway.

As I began the drive westward on Ellsworth, I glanced up to my left, and saw on Mrs. Sherman’s porch, a vaguely familiar figure from my past. I stopped my car, rolled down my window, and called out the name, “ROD!” He was momentarily startled, and asked, “Who’s that?”, as he started to walk down the steps from the porch. I told him my name, and pointed to where I used to live, and quickly mentioned two or three names of people that we both knew. I needed to put Rod at ease, as it had been nearly FOUR DECADES since I had seen him, and I didn’t know what kind of ‘equipment’ he was carrying…

Rod quickly relaxed, and we engaged in catching up for the next hour or so, while his mother’s groceries sat on the porch…

I asked Rod about Minnesota, and he informed about the sad and sordid details…

How that Minnesota, whose real name was Michael, had become addicted to crack cocaine during the early 1980’s, and killed much of his family because of his addiction. Rod was explaining to me that crack cocaine, back then in the early to the mid 1980’s, was more potent because of its’ purity at that time. Apparently, Minnesota needed money to score some crack, and his mother-in-law wouldn’t give it to him when he asked her. So, driven by the desperation and madness of a crack-induced rage, Minnesota proceeded to kill his mother-in-law AND his own children…

I asked Rod about Bo, and he filled me in about his sad story… How that Bo was released from prison, and sometime later, Bo attempted to rob the SAME bank that he had robbed BEFORE he was sent to the ‘joint’ AGAIN. Well, Bo did not succeed in this, his most recent criminal endeavor, and is now serving LIFE for his repeat offense.

I asked Rod about Craig, Big June, Little June, Ronnie, Dish, Boom-Boom, Pledge, Crazy Hayes, and others.

Rod must have told me that he loved me close to TEN times, (there was healing in this for both of us) and there was a tangible ‘brotherhood’ and bonding that was present, in spite of the very different paths that our lives took. The irony of all of this, was that Rod was one of the ‘fellas’ that gave me a good measure of fear and trauma when I grew up in the hood, UNTIL I gave my life to Christ. THEN, my fear of Rod (and others) evaporated.

 

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