sunday bloody sunday...

"The universe is so vast and ageless that the life of one man can only be measured by the size of his sacrifice."

- a handwritten quote attributed to no one in particular, that sam taped onto the mirror of the bathroom, he and i shared in indianapolis, indiana.

This is Derry, Northern Ireland, site of the sunday bloody sunday massacre known worldwide by the famous U2 song. When my pops and I visited Sam in Northern Ireland (two years ago), he walked us around both the protestant and catholic neighborhoods of the city. During "the troubles" the protestant barrio was called London Derry and the catholic area, just Derry. When I visited for three days two years ago, the city was peaceful yet extremely segregated. Although integration has occured within the northern ireland police force, it is still dominated by protestants. Sam and I went and hung out with his friends at bars throughout the city, still more or less delineated by religion.

Leaving the bars late at night, police patrolled the streets and cobblestoned walkways. To my disbelief the police were harassed like i have never seen in my life. Slowly patrolling with an armored car similar to what the police force in south africa used during apartheid, drunk men and boys would go within inches of these police officers, chastising them, mocking them, cursing them, intimidating them.

As Sam said, "The police can't do shit. If they so much as lay a finger on one of these guys there is bound to be a riot."

This is Sam and Pops over looking the Catholic neighborhood of Derry.

December 2004.

Love and health to all...