W. AFRICAN RESTAURANT & CARRYOUT

DISPATCH TWO

This is where Joe and I found ourselves after the March For Our Lives today.  A small business near Howard University, with seven tables - packed with people ordering take out and sitting for service as well.  Run by husband and wife, Amara and Isata Sumah, we were made to feel at home immediately.  They are from Sierra Leone, but as we sat and listened to the chatter around us - we realized that we were hearing all kinds of African dialects.  A large screen tv had on MSNBC and  Joy Reid was reporting from the Mall as the march wound down. (More about this later).

Mr. Sumah, asking if we were first-time visitors brought us a sample plate of rice with the various sauces they serve on top of it - so we could taste them all before we ordered:  okra, egusi, peanut butter, potato leaf, kale, spinach and krain krain (jute leaf).  He also told us that we wanted to try the ginger beer - which was homemade.  Everything was incredibly delicious, and he kept returning to make sure we were happy and taking our time to enjoy it.

The march itself I am still processing - probably will be for days.  But as I sat in the restaurant looking around, I couldn't but wonder what people were thinking.  People from different countries, people of color...as these young white people, spoke from the stage.  They (the young people) were aware of it - and it was also spoken about at the prayer vigil last night.

"We recognize that Parkland received more attention because of its affluence," Jaclyn Corin, a survivor of the Parkland shooting, said in her speech. "But we share this stage today and forever with those communities who have always stared down the barrel of a gun."

Checking their privilege, there were also powerful speakers from Chicago, LA, DC, and NYC.  Violence is not located in any one country - but the kind of gun violence we experience in this country is (among developed countries) higher than anywhere else. 

One of the most powerful speakers of the march was Emma Gonzales.  She stood silently on stage for six minutes.  The length of time it took the shooter to kill each of his victims at Parkland.  It was painful to watch.  It was eerily as painful the second time when it was replayed in the restaurant as we sat among the other customers.  Two minutes in - everyone in the place was silent - or speaking in hushed tones.

Like I said, still processing.