The sixties were a sad time, but humor could also be found. In sometimes unlikely places.
After MLK was killed we had a few disruptions in quiet ol' Collier County. Once Sheriff Doug Hendry deputized all the NPD cops and we went to Immokalee where the good citizens were trying to stir up a race riot. Back then, during picking season, Immokalee was mostly black, not Hispanic as it is today.
We didn't know who to trust. The blacks didn't want us there, and neither did the rednecks, thinking we were in some way helping the blacks. Go figure. And some Deliverance type threw a brick and another took a shot at me. Couldn't see who did either, but their aiming mechanism didn't work any better than their brain. (Later we were able to play a little catch-up so the evening wasn't a total loss)
Back in The Elephant's Graveyard, there was trouble at the W.T. Grant store, then in the Naples Shopping Center. A respectable size crowd of black folks had gathered and were beginning to chant and grumble about not being allowed to eat in the restaurant there. The manager, Jim McGrath, came out and asked, "Have any of you tried?" Uh, nope. "Well, where'd you get the idea you couldn't eat here? I'm in the business of doing business. You got a dime, I've got the coffee. Come on in"
Talk about somebody peeing on your campfire. Dropping your gooey marshmallow in the sand. So much for that demonstration. The stately Mr. McGrath was later a Naples City Councilman.
Then, the best of all. On the day MLK was whacked we were concerned there would be trouble in our ghetto, McDonald Quarters. We didn't want to show up in force and provoke an incident so we sent Det Ray Barnett over to have a look-see. A lttle later, one of the cops came and got me. "You gotta see this," he said, laughing.
We went to Miz Lillie's Green Top Social Palace where voices raised in song could be heard from within. A large crowd was singing an impassioned We Shall Overcome. Directing this impromptu choir was Det Ray Barnett. I gave Ray a questioning look.
Ray shrugged, said,"They didn't know the words."
And, overcome we did.
After MLK was killed we had a few disruptions in quiet ol' Collier County. Once Sheriff Doug Hendry deputized all the NPD cops and we went to Immokalee where the good citizens were trying to stir up a race riot. Back then, during picking season, Immokalee was mostly black, not Hispanic as it is today.
We didn't know who to trust. The blacks didn't want us there, and neither did the rednecks, thinking we were in some way helping the blacks. Go figure. And some Deliverance type threw a brick and another took a shot at me. Couldn't see who did either, but their aiming mechanism didn't work any better than their brain. (Later we were able to play a little catch-up so the evening wasn't a total loss)
Back in The Elephant's Graveyard, there was trouble at the W.T. Grant store, then in the Naples Shopping Center. A respectable size crowd of black folks had gathered and were beginning to chant and grumble about not being allowed to eat in the restaurant there. The manager, Jim McGrath, came out and asked, "Have any of you tried?" Uh, nope. "Well, where'd you get the idea you couldn't eat here? I'm in the business of doing business. You got a dime, I've got the coffee. Come on in"
Talk about somebody peeing on your campfire. Dropping your gooey marshmallow in the sand. So much for that demonstration. The stately Mr. McGrath was later a Naples City Councilman.
Then, the best of all. On the day MLK was whacked we were concerned there would be trouble in our ghetto, McDonald Quarters. We didn't want to show up in force and provoke an incident so we sent Det Ray Barnett over to have a look-see. A lttle later, one of the cops came and got me. "You gotta see this," he said, laughing.
We went to Miz Lillie's Green Top Social Palace where voices raised in song could be heard from within. A large crowd was singing an impassioned We Shall Overcome. Directing this impromptu choir was Det Ray Barnett. I gave Ray a questioning look.
Ray shrugged, said,"They didn't know the words."
And, overcome we did.
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