The Mayor of Memphis Threatened to kick my ASS!!

December 13, 2007


“I’ll kick yo ass!” is what the newly re-elected mayor of the city of Memphis yelled at me from his mini-van as I stood holding my R. Kelly protest signs outside of the new Westin Hotel in downtown Memphis. For the past three years, I have peacefully demonstrated outside of R. Kelly’s concert whenever he would come to Memphis to perform. The protesting of R. Kelly’s concerts came about after a video surfaced a few years back that showed him (Kelly) having sex with a 14 year old girl. The video also shows R. Kelly urinating on the minor in the middle of the sex act. This past Sunday night on December 9th around 8:30 pm or so, the mayor, Willie Herenton, walked out of the Westin Hotel bar called the Daily Grill, and headed towards his car with a couple of guests he had with him. We all know that the mayor is no stranger to liquor spots throughout the city, so I was not surprised to see him walk of the establishment.
Well, as he was pulling off in his mini-van, he slowed up to read my R. Kelly protest sign, which read, “Some people in Memphis love to support crooked politicians, preachers, and RnB Pedophiles!”

I believe that he read all the up to the crooked politician part of sign and became really guilty or extremely insecure because he immediately took offense to my sign. The mayor quickly rolls down his window and yells, “Are you talking bout me?” I just looked at him without saying anything. Then, he yells, “I know you ain’t talkin’ bout me!” I responded, “Sir, it is just a sign.” He responds, “I know you ain’t talkin’ bout me. I’ll kick yo ass!” When he said that, I went into shock. I could not believe that I was being threatened with an ass kicking by the CEO of the city of Memphis. Oh, he was not done. He yells again, “You talking bout me?” “I know you ain’t talkin’ bout me. I’ll kick yo ass!” This time I responded in anger, “Yes, I am talking about you!” By this time he was making the left turn to leave. Even in his making a left turn, he was still yelling, “I’ll kick yo ass!” This is when I responded very loudly, “The hit dog hollered, Mayor!”
I could not believe what had just happened. I was just threatened with bodily harm by the Mayor of the city of Memphis. Wow! That was so crazy! That dude is obviously crazy!

There was a young, Caucasian female sitting outside of the bar drinking a beer that witnessed the entire exchange in shock and amazement. When the mayor drove off she said, “Oh my God! I can’t believe he just did that!” “How ‘hood’ was that!?” Then, one of the Memphis Police Officers that was directing traffic for the concert walked over in shock and asked, “What did he just say?” We both explained to him that the Mayor of Memphis had told me that he was going to kick my ass because of what he read on my protest sign.

Well, I have to say that I blame the lower level thinking aspect of Black Memphis for this guy. I blame most of Black Memphis for creating this particularly ignorant, disrespectful, thuggish, and uncouth Mayor. A large section of Black Memphis tends to promote and even condones this form of misbehavior in its religious and political leadership. The anger that I felt as the mayor threatened me quickly turned to disappointment once I began to replay the incident in my mind. When I looked into his eyes as he spoke to me his broken English, I saw an old man who was essentially clinging on to dear life. I saw a man who felt that he had to prove his relevance and even his masculinity to a much younger man who was only standing out there that night exercising his right to free speech and the freedom to protest a sick a pedophile.

Has the black community bragged so much on how physically tough this Mayor is and about how he punched-out some judge in a bar back in the 1980’s that he (Willie Herenton) had begun to believe his own hype? All I know is that this mayor needs counseling for his many issues. You have to be mentally ill or just plain stupid to behave the way he did as the sitting mayor of a major metropolitan city. Sadly, some people in Memphis will read this article and wish that the mayor had gotten out of his car that night and attempted to make good on his threat against a much younger, quicker, and stronger man. I am glad he did not get out of his car. It was bad enough that this elder (who is supposed to be extending words of wisdom to me, the younger man) chose to react verbally abusive towards me out of old age insecurity.

Wait, he had just walked out of the bar. Hell, he was probably drunk. That would have been even more disappointing because drunk driving kills so many people each year. I can’t but help but wonder If the mayor would have respected my right to freedom of speech as well as my right to protest had I been a man that was much larger in size, had a few of my die-hard friends with me, or if I was white.

If you would like send the mayor a message please feel free to do so at mayor@memphistn.gov
I am sure he would love to hear from you. Be careful. He just might threaten to kick your ass if you write something he does not approve of.