"Dr. Martin Luther King once said very eloquently that an individual has not started to live until he can rise above his own individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity. Tonight I want to preface what I want to say about Wendell by saying this.... This community...there's a lot of people that pick up the mantle and run with it. We have Coach Ron in the audience. We have our dear brother Lucky. Our dear sister Rose. And there's other individuals in this community.... Make no mistake about it, this is a community...a community of very talented intellectual individuals. It's a community that wants the things that every other community has and gets. But as we know, we talk truthfully, this community has been neglected for so long. It's been marginalized, dehumanized, criminalized, and totally neglected and that starts at the Mayor's Office, the City Council, the LAPD, and also DLANC. I just want to say this: DLANC has found it their budget to give $5000 for a poop bag, for dogs, for people west of Main, but our dear brother right now who's trying to put on a job fair and he's been told a couple of times...of getting less than $600 to put on a job fair in Skid Row. So we understand why...that we are basically in this thing alone. And that leads me to the point even talking about Wendell. He does what he does. He's been doing it for fourteen years literally on a no string budget. Literally with no funds. No help from anyone. With no media coverage. Downtown News does not cover Skid Row and if they do it's only something about the criminalization going on in this area. We continue to rise. We continue to do. And this gentleman has been doing for fourteen years. As my dear friend Lucky says, "You know what he's going to do seven days a week." ______________________________________________ Eddie H. pays tribute to Wendell Blassingame. Watch the entire live event, Mr. Blassingame, at vimeo.com/ondemand/mrblassingame. ___________________________________________ #SkidRow #dtla #dlanc #cd14 #MrBlassingame #innercity #unhoused #blacklivesmatter #mayorericgarcetti #mlk #SkidRowPositiveMovement #nofunding #skidrowfolk #documentary #dtla_everyday
