"One thing is the Trayvon Martin killing. I can't seem to get over it. When his parents came to town a couple of weeks ago for the Peace and Justice Banquet, my eyes filled with tears every time I was near them. Then there was the Jordan Davis shooting in Florida, where another white guy claimed he felt threatened and shot the teenager. Then there were the shootings at the theater in Aurora, Colo., the Sikh temple in Wisconsin, and now the Sandy Hook tragedy.”

"I have to admit that white guys with guns have been causing a lot of trouble. But looking ahead, it seems like the federal government is finally going to do something about these automatic weapons on the street.”

"We'll see about that. Once they get to horse trading and the lobbyists start pulling strings, who knows what we're going to come up with.”

"Don't you see anything good out there?”

"Not much. I'm curious to see what the next mayoral election is going to look like, with this consent agreement and emergency manager business going on. Not to mention the first City Council election with the new districts. I want to see the unionizing effort at Cesar Chavez Academy be successful. After all, the place is named for a union organizer. I want to see the city get behind urban farming for folks who are not named Hantz.”

Mulenga put his arm around my shoulder. "I guess things are tough right now. Let's go around the corner to 1515 Broadway and grab a sandwich. There aren't any pool or ping-pong tables there, but I like the atmosphere. Besides, it's one of the few buildings around here that Dan Gilbert hasn't snatched up. Not like I have anything against him. I just like to support diverse ownership of business down here rather than monopolies. Besides, they make a good sandwich there.”

"Well, that's a good thing.”

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