It’s the night of April 4, 1968.  A 9 (and almost 1/2) year old boy is watching a program on a black and white television set in his home in the mid-town area of Memphis, Tennessee.  Suddenly, the screen changes to the Civil Defense logo and he hears a voice saying:

Will all members of the National Guard please report to the Armory and all police and fire personnel please report to their stations.

Normal programming resumed.  Then, all of the sudden, or so it seemed, President Lyndon Baines Johnson came on the television saying:

I come to you tonight with a heavy heart…

And everything changed.

The year is 1972.  A skinny, undersized, asthmatic kid, new to Wooddale Junior High, is about to be annihilated in a game called Bombardment, a rather sadistic game thought up by the 9th grade P.E. coach for his personal amusement.  Resembling the movie “Dodgeball” on steroids,  two teams (usually the delinquents on one side and their victims on the other), would line up against both sides of the bleachers waiting for the coach’s whistle.  Then, the massacre would ensue.

Sure that I was about to breathe my last, I felt a hand on my shoulder, and a kind voice telling me to stand beside him.  I looked up to see the smiling face of Larry Finch, Senior shooting guard on the Memphis State University Tigers Basketball Team.  He had just taken an Internship at my school!

Of course, that was the year that they lost the NCAA Championship to Bill Walton and the UCLA Bruins.  I don’t think that anyone in the nation hollered at their television set louder that night than I did.

Over the semester, we became friends.  I became a Tiger Fan for life, eventually receiving my degree there  in 1980 in Radio, TV, and Film.  While there, I had the privilege of calling radio play-by-play for the Women’s Basketball and Men’s Baseball teams.

Larry is also the reason that I went on to play and coach basketball, including a 4th grade team and a church team, respectively.  My coaching record is 25 – 4.

You’re probably thinking to yourself, how can you consider yourself a friend of Larry Finch?  You only knew him for a short time.

In the early 80s, while Larry was an Assistant Coach at Memphis State University under Dana Kirk, I was working at Memphis Cablevision.  I was passing through a front office packed with customers, there to pay their bill.  All of the sudden, I heard a familiar voice shouting my last name at the top of his lungs.  It was Coach Finch!

He grinned that big ol’ grin at me, and hugged me until I thought my ribs would bust.  Then he asked me how I was doing, eager to hear about my life, and we talked as if there was no one else in that lobby.

And now, 30 years later, I’m sitting here, trying to write this post, as I grieve for  our hometown.

Just a few blocks west from an affluent neighborhood in what is known as East Memphis, a scene of reprehensible violence took place.

The local Memphis CBS Affiliate,  WREG, reports that

Three people were attacked by a large group of teenagers Saturday night.

The incident happened around 9:15 p.m. in the parking lot of the Kroger at Highland and Poplar.

A store employee caught video of the attack.

A 25-year-old man said he was attacked by the group as he walked to his car. Two Kroger employees, 17 and 18, ran to help the man. Both were repeatedly hit in the head and face.

The teens told police pumpkins “in excess of 20 pounds” were thrown on their heads while they were on the ground.

Police say both teens lost consciousness.

Eventually, a security guard stopped the attack.

Kroger confirmed two of their male employees were attacked in the parking lot, taken to the hospital and released to their parents.

The video has spread via Facebook and other social media sites.

Memphis Police Director Toney Director Armstrong released a statement to the media:

“We are fully aware of last night’s incidents. It is extremely troubling to see how many young people were involved, especially on the heels of last week’s youth forum.

A lot of our citizens are working to provide safe and productive alternatives for our youth. For those that choose not to take advantage of these opportunities, we will work tirelessly to identify, locate and hold you accountable.

Last night’s events clearly demonstrates a lack of parental controls and if warranted these parents will also be held accountable.”

Investigators are working to identify the ones responsible for this crime.

Per other local sources, 100 black “yutes” were involved in the “flash mob”.

Eleven of the “little angels” were caught, including an 18 year-old, who was on “diversion” for smoking blunts and assault and a 15 year-old, who was not even registered with the Shelby County School System.

My beloved Memphis, a (long) Past Winner of “City Beautiful”,  can no longer lay claim to the nickname of the “City of Good Abode”.

I moved across Stateline Road to DeSoto County, Mississippi from Memphis, Tennessee in November of 1997 for a very good reason: I was no longer wanted there.

Former Memphis Mayor, W.W. Herenton , during a push to raise taxes, injected race into the matter, as he always did, and told Memphis’ White Citizens that, if they did not like the absurdly high tax rate, that they should leave town.

And, sure enough, we did.

My beloved hometown of Memphis, has been gutted by decades of poor financial stewardship, brought about by Democratic Leadership, who never saw a dollar they couldn’t spend, or a relative or friend that they couldn’t give a job with the city to.

And now, Memphis is struggling with its budget, and has now drastically cut the benefits of the police and fire department retirees.

What is amazing to me, the Mayor and City Council of Memphis act like they don’t know why this is happening.

Let’s see, Memphis Leadership, you raised taxes on the people who pay your “public servant” salaries, you then tell them to leave town, and you expand your municipal government to the size of a small city.

Obviously, the words “‘fiscal responsibility” don’t mean a darned thing to you.

Now, Memphis’ chickens have come home… to roost…including a failed school system which turned in its charter in a successful scheme to take over the more affluent county school system, only to see the county municipalities start their own individual systems, Memphis’ black citizens murdering each other every night, and gangs of black teenagers beating the snot out of innocent people, simply because they’re bored…and they have no parental guidance.

There will be very little national news coverage about the beat-down at the Kroger Parking Lot. Attorney General Eric Holder will not come down here…neither will the Justice Brothers, Revs. Jackson and Sharpton.

For, boys and girls, black on white crime, quite frankly, is rarely labeled a “Hate Crime”….due to political expediencies.

I may be a “Pollyanna”. but I can’t help but believe that the Civil Rights Leader, whom I experienced being gunned down, all those years ago, and my coach and mentor, who brought the Bluff City together, would be sorely disappointed in those whom they both believed in and sacrificed for, who have assumed leadership roles, both in Memphis and in the nation’s capital.

Because, for these self-serving Democrat Liberal Politicians, as they have demonstrated repeatedly, it is not about the content of the character of those who break the law, but rather, the color of their skin.

Until He Comes,

KJ