Richmond was settled by men in suits (more or less).
Yeah, but they probably got a little rumpled. These guys didn’t. Not a crease out of place, not a scuff on their shoes, after hours on a concrete traffic island, in 100-degree heat, no shade, in the middle of an eight-lane street handing out newspapers (to black people only). I sometimes wondered if I should ask for a copy, and if they’d give me one if I did. I never did.
My “favorite” NOI moment, though, was from the late 1980s when I was living outside DC. Residents in one particular Anacostia housing project had been screaming to the city government for months to do something about the drug and crime problems in their area, and nothing had happened (not surprising if you know anything about the DC Metro Police). So they got frustrated and called the local chapter (lodge? tribe? mosque?) of the NOI. The NOI called all the local TV stations and told them to be out there the next day.
Sure enough, the next day, while the cameras roll, here come a couple of vanloads of very large, suit-and-bow-tie-wearing black men carrying baseball bats and similar things. They proceeded to fan out through the complex and open up a Farrakhan of whoop-ass on the local gangstas and playahs, on-camera. The police ended up arresting many of the NOI guys (along with a few of the badly-beaten thugs, on outstanding warrants) but as far as I can remember, they all got off. And that project was, for a few days, the safest place in southeast DC.
}:-)4