Dont' Cha get weary

DON' CHA GET WEARY

Photojournalist Judy Spencer and poet Deanna Blackwell spent a year documenting life along Martin Luther King Drive, a predominantly black neighborhood in Springfield.
They began the project on January 20, 1997, the national holiday commemorating the life and work of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
In 1961, King used the phrase "Don'cha get weary" in an inspirational message to the Freedom Riders. He wanted to encourage those fighting for civil rights to remain steadfast and find comfort in the knowledge the struggle was not in vain.
Spencer and Blackwell wanted to celebrate those who live and work along the street named for King. They could have chosen any street in the state, but their choice of the capital city seems appropriate. Springfield was Abraham Lincoln's hometown. It was also the site of a 1908 race riot that gave birth to a national social and political movement for the advancement of blacks, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
Spencer, a free-lance photographer, is a regular contributor to Illinois Issues. Blackwell is a graduate student in African-American Studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Their work will be shown January 3 through January 31 at Fusion Gallery, 2933 North Lincoln Avenue, Chicago.
Special thanks to the people along Martin Luther King Drive for making the project possible.

A documentary
of life along Martin Luther King Drive
Photographs by Judy Spencer
Poems by Deanna Blackwell

14 / January 1998 Illinois Issues

BROTHER X

there is a black man
on the corner
offering Allah
to his people
he stretches wool-covered
arms and legs into the street
between curbs
up against windows

with newspaper shoved in the air
his solid, from the depths voice
hollers "Final Call"
into every intersected car

the message he sends
is unmistakable —
join together people, now
violence must not win
such an earnest duty
does not make him hostile
instead it is a shield
impenetrable by pessimism
a young boy with a
short black afro stares.
wonders what this
sharply dressed man is up to

he asks, and receives
a firm hand on his shoulder
squeezed to show concern for
the path he will choose to follow
in one afternoon there are
several brief encounters
impromptu rap sessions
waves from familiar faces
eventually, the sun fades behind
the church across the street
Brother X's radiant energy is
absorbed by the winter night.

Illinois Issues January 1998 / 15

EAST END BARBER SHOP

a little boy
sits and waits (the best he can)
for a haircut

he swivels
in the chair that
threatens to swallow him whole

he swivels to face
silver topped jars of Barbicide
lining the counter liquid blue

with tail side up is a
horsehair brush ready to
swat at unattached curls

six hair clippers hang
in a row behind the barber
ready to manipulate kinky
straight
nappy
fine
"good"
afro hair

long legs jet out from
blue-jeaned knees, work boots rest
on the bank of a red leather chair

the customer, patient and faith-full
no longer negotiates a hairstyle
with Yakeema the result is painless and certain

a row of folks sit in chairs
chill out, watch t.v., wait their turn
and talk — mostly talk to keep each other company

at the East End Barber Shop there is
a 30-year-old legacy, an old time coke machine
and a photo of Dr. King looking at Yakeema from the mirror.

16 / January 1998 Illinois Issues

GEORGIA

Illinois Issues January 1998 / 17

JESSICA

She has been in
this town
for only a few
months

from Chicago, she says
came to stay with
her sister, Daisy

just moved into this house
with her eight children

and in her belly
is the Life
that is
Hope.

When folks stop by its:

I should get some furniture
she says
Come back when I look right

but even a mirror
could not capture
the magnificence of the gift
which has claimed the space
that used to be hers, alone

As the evening light
casts its final rays upon her
she wonders if she is
stronger than statistics
greater than nationwide campaigns
more enduring than the demands of the present

and the answer
is yes,
always yes

for in her belly
is the Life
that is
Hope.

18/ January 1998 Illinois Issues

LIKE ME

Today,
in church
we are celebrating
the work
of Dr.Martin Luther King
it makes me glad
to think
that he was
a little brown boy
like me
he would get up
in the morning
and go to school
and on Sundays
put on a tie
to go to church
like me

Dr. King loved brown people
and white, yellow
and red people, too

he also loved God

Dr.King once brought
all the people that he loved together
250,000 of them
to march on Washington

they held hands
and shared stories
about their dreams,

King's dreams

I think sometimes
about what I will do
or be

a brown boy
who goes to school
and church

and has dreams

Illinois Issues January 1998 /19

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