Detroit's first African-American mayor, Coleman Young, has died. He was 79. Young served an unprecedented

five terms as Detroit mayor from 1974 through 1993. I went to his funeral. And the type of people

in that line were all kinds of folks from academics and, you know, politicians and business people,

but it was mostly working people. And if they're working people in Detroit, that means getting

there's not that easy. As we remember, one of the mayors and the greatest mayors of all time.

There weren't a lot of non-African-Americans in the line, but for those of us folks who have

come as outsiders, the experience is more than welcoming. So it was like if you're here, then okay.

The impossible dream. You gotta remember Detroit was not just abandoned by the white working class. It

was abandoned by the working in middle class black and white. It was just left for the poorest of

the poor. What he represented was a fuck you to the establishment to the white power structure.

And so that's what moved me. One of the things that occurred to me is I wasn't the only junkie in

that line. And being in line, and you know, with a nice mellow high on was, you know, it was a nice

experience actually. It was a communal experience. There were other street people there. There are

other people. There are other outcasts because there was an identification with him. There was an

identification of a guy who went through some shit. I get goosebumps thinking about it now.

Walking past his casket, you know, and seeing him lying there. What did he look like?

Well, he had his mouth closed. I was just rare. We're in full Coleman.

I admired him. And I know that there was a lot of corruption, but here's the thing about him.

Anybody who could stand up to the fucking feds for decades and they never got shit on him.

So they can say what they want. The people can say, you know, Coleman this and Coleman that,

they got nothing on this dude. So I'll go to that motherfucker's funeral. I'll walk by his casket

anytime.

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