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Juneteenth Memory Remembrance: Life Is Complicated.
I wrote about this memory, first as a condensed, tweet thread last Juneteenth.
I worked part time for a black business owner, as I attended Brown Institute for radio in Minneapolis from 1983–84.
Initially, I was one of only two workers. Both of us were white.
And why was that? Race in America is complicated.
Later it was myself and two black workers, one of them worked directly with Bill on reupholstering.
Then one of the black employees was working with me after the upholsterer left. The remaining worker had been in the Navy. We became quick friends, being the same age; he even invited me to come with him to a party Prince was putting on.
My last coworker was a 4th generation Latino Minnesotan; a great guy, too.
Finally, after 10 months it was just the boss and me.
Then one day…
“Bill” stood in front of me…
.
He had arrived here via the The Great Migration from 1950s Alabama.
He ran his own, small upholstery shop for 30 years by 1984, in a mostly white area of south Minneapolis. He and his wife had no children as far as I know.
Always a serious man, he…
