Bankhead (Read it in the Headlines)

I’ve been up in this camp, Atlanta for a long time. I have seen the highway grow and widen and I have seen at least half of the buildings that dot the skyline built. I was around when there was an Omni that was often described to stand for one million niggers inside as well as the AUC when Clark College and Atlanta University were not merged. I remember the old 112 that required a membership card. Now I am caught in another change that is disheartening – Bankhead highway is now Donald L. Hollowell Parkway.

Now this is not an indictment on Mr. Hollowell. For the record, this man was the truth. He didn’t seek fame, but he handled what he believed in – equal rights for all Americans. In the 1950s and '60s, he was the main lawyer to argue Atlanta schools desegregation cases. With that said, it is difficult for me to call Bankhead anything else, even with the signs proclaiming otherwise. It just doesn’t appease the senses to ask someone from Atlanta to do the Hollowell Bounce in contrast to the Bankhead bounce. I can’t see T.I. singing the praises of Zone one with a punctuated Donald L. Hollowell Parkway.

I may be making an issue over nothing, but Bankhead has been good to me. I have numerous associates who live and own business over in that camp. From my boy Shorty Greg and his carwash to Mook-B and his D4L crew and their studio. No matter what the green street signs read, it will forever be Bankhead – read it in the headlines.