Rest in Power Grace Lee Boggs

It is with sadness that I have to write that one of my freedom icons has passed away today.

At the age of 100 Miz Grace Lee Boggs has died leaving behind to cherish her memory black activists, Asian activists and a city that is ready to come back from the ashes.

J and I went on vacation in Northern Michigan this past summer and while driving back to Cincinnati we decided to cut through Detroit just so we could see her center. We drove through the city, surprised at all the empty lots and abandoned buildings. When we got to her street we expected to see a sign for her center but the only thing there was a house. We drove away cursing our car’s GPS system. James typed the address into Google Map on his phone which led us… right back to where we were.

I jumped out of the car and asked a woman in scrubs if she knew where the Boggs Center was. She pointed to the house across the street. She noticeably sized me up and told me to go knock on the door, they’d let me in.

“She lives there, right?” I asked.

“Yeah, she’s there. You know we just celebrated her birthday.”

I thought for a second and then shook my head. We did not know the center was also her house. There’s no way I wanted to go knock on the door of an old woman.

“She’s been sick,” the woman went on. “But they’ll let you in.”

I asked for directions to the school and the woman asked me if I had an appointment. Again I said no. We were just passing through and wanted to see it. She gave us directions and we got lost only once.  We jumped out of the car, took a picture in front of the building and talked to the principal.

We didn’t get a chance to see the center or meet her but we were satisfied for the rest of the drive home.

At least I was. Now I wish I had the courage to knock on her door and tell her how much she meant to me.

If you want to know more about this awesome women listen to her interview on Democracy Now or On Being; check out her obit in the Detroit Free Press; watch her film American Revolutionary on PBS or you can always read her books Living for Change and The Next Revolution.