By Mike Clemens
COVID-19 has limited travel, so I’ve not been able to have random chats with strangers, like the one I had with the attorney for the late Rosa Parks, but first let me tell you about some others.
The Mendenhall Glacier attracts international visitors. Anyone who has joined the summer crowds at our most famous, local, tourist destination soon encounters groups with a designated photographer taking pictures. Carefully observing, I selectively offer to take their picture, thus allowing everyone to be included. While targeting those who seem to be foreign as a gesture of common humanity, there will usually be at least one in the group who speaks English. My small gesture has always been gratefully accepted, but probably appreciated more after they get home and realize that they have at least one all-inclusive photo.
When no photo-op presents itself, my engagement with strangers sometimes hinges on a sports logo or other conversation-starter. Overnighting at Sea-Tac isn’t uncommon for locals taking a cross-country flight first thing in the morning, so one time I had a nice chat with a young Black man wearing a Delta Airlines coat. Having breakfast, I motioned for him to join me; he obliged. An apprentice A&P mechanic, he’d overnighted near the airport himself because bad weather made Seattle-area commuting almost impossible. During our chat he mentioned touching base with his dad. In my book, his dad did a good job raising him.
Juneau’s Jazz and Classics brings musicians to town; one year I encountered two of them browsing shelves at Rainy Day Books. You might recognize their group by its headliner, Booker T. Jones. Both guys affirmed that they’d been treated well by their hosts and had been out to the glacier. Since they’d been there, I said sometimes I went to the glacier just to watch tourists. The drummer found that funny and said so. Both these young Black men revealed that they had fathers who served in the military; maybe that helped them become successful adults.
If you know Oprah, you probably know Stedman, whom I encountered in Anchorage while flying to Chicago. While I didn’t have the guts to approach this celebrity in the waiting area, I did have a flight attendant verify that it was really him. Earlier I’d emailed Oprah about helping the pioneering civil rights attorney for Rosa Parks, but didn’t hear back. Sadly, I muffed follow-up.
Rosa Parks had a major role in the bus boycott chronicled in “Bus Ride to Justice” a book written by her lawyer Fred Gray, whom I got to see at Pepperdine University’s Bible Lectures in 2006. After his book signing and presentations, I didn’t have questions of my own, but just listened to what people asked while in awe of this gentle person and his accomplishments.
Gray grew up without a father, but found a surrogate in his preaching mentor. After college, his Mom was OK with him becoming a lawyer if he didn’t stop preaching. While he had to leave for law school, he returned to Alabama, made history and has been portrayed in several movies.
After one class, we walked to the cafeteria and its lunch line. As a guest speaker, he didn’t have to pay, but his wife was allowed no such privilege, so I jumped at the chance to buy her lunch. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have bothered them further, but we ate lunch together. Kind, engaging and helpful, he recommended a useful book that I hadn’t yet encountered.
Because we skipped the main morning lecture by eating early, we had a nice leisurely meal with relatively few people around. But then the cafeteria filled up and we were soon surrounded by well-wishers. While folks wanted to shake his hand and say hello, this famous civil rights lawyer made sure to introduce me to the first guy who wanted to meet him. Wow!
At the end of his evening lecture, I collected leftover brochures advertising the Tuskegee Multicultural Center he helped establish for posterity. After picking up remaining hand-outs from empty tables, I gave them to his wife so they could be used again. It was the least I could do for him after what he’d done for so many others.
• Mike Clemens is a longtime resident of Juneau. Columns, My Turns and Letters to the Editor represent the view of the author, not the view of the Juneau Empire. Have something to say? Here’s how to submit a My Turn or letter.
