Crazy John the sign man?
This afternoon I purchased a bottle of bleach from Harba Market on the corner. The owner,from Bangladesh, is a nice guy to talk to. He has a photo of the man who stands at the 95 exit with different signs. I ask if he knows him and he knows John very well. The photo was taken by a photographer from the Miami Herald. He then tells me that John use to be an important talk show host of a Christian radio station many years ago. Then he was drafted and went to Vietnam.
In the aftermath or maybe during that period in his life John went a little crazy. Today he stands outside with placards that say things like: DON’T TRUST THE BLACK SISTERS or THE WHITE MAN’S ICE IS COLDER..”
So after I talk to the owner of the Harba Market I use the bleach to wash some clothes and then I take a quick walk to the post office. It’s only about fifteen minutes walking and more than likely the wait in line will exceed the travel time. When I cross the street at NW 9th I walk right past John. I say “How is it going today?” and John answers me “that is the right question that you should be asking a person – you understand me? Now most of these Southern folk around you, like that man over there, would not greet a man with a interogative such as How is it going? A question like that makes the Southern black man nervous cause he will have to answer you with a truth or a lie that is not the usual rote like “What’s up; whas up; or the brain not functioning head nod – do you understand me?” I was shocked by the burst of words and I just smiled and nodded. He went on by asking me to hold his cardboard. It was damp on the edges from perspiration and it curled under the weight of my hand. Then John proceeeded to tell me his opinion of all Southern blacks; the lingering effects of slavery; why Mike Tyson’s face tattoo and Janet Jackson’s floppy breast were more important than the black doctor who opened her office in Overtown. He asked me if I knew why young folk were proud to say that they were from the ‘dirty South?’ I told him “no, why is that?” He launched into another high pitched diatribe about how boys raised by single women were sexually disfunctional and were the male equivalents of whores. He grabbed my arm and said “Morality is far beyond the psychosis of the dirty south..” And in a whisper he says these men secretly want to destroy women, “just keep your eye on them you’ll see that I am right bout that..” When he started to jumped into yet another opinion I injected that I have to go, and “maybe we can sit down and talk sometime..”
In passing we shook hands and I handed him the poster board and John says “You look like a man of your word – I look forward to that talk.” As he walked away I watched him hail a group of men that sit in the field near the Channel 2 store. They were handing him money.
*6/704/13*
