The Lord Mayor of Los Angeles came over to shake hands, The Chief of police, The Los Angeles Beauty Queen and Stevie Wonder himself, sat on top of an open top car only two feet away from me. These were black Americans, performers and audience alike, spending the day celebrating what they had fought for and become. It’s their country, their day and they know it.   more »

Probably the strangest at  The Martin Luther King Day Celebrations on Martin Luther King Jnr Boulevard in Los Angeles is the hearse. The advertising slogan on the side is Inglewood funeral directors, Thirty years of living the dream. What!?  Bringing up the rear black people on horseback with cowboy hats on. Fantastic. One thing comes to mind  and it isn't the integration of black people into the all american way but the genius Mel Brooks film. 
The police car below is from the time of Walter Mosley novels. The guy in the white jacket is the lord mayor of Los Angeles. Unfortunately Arnold was unavailable in LA. The governator of California was otherwise engaged. But right at the bottom there is Mr Stevie Wonder celebrating a day that he, through his tour in 1980, helped create. It is so good to be right here, right now.