Middle Passage

Occupying Arthur Whitfield by Charles Johnson

Occupying Arthur Whitfield by Charles Johnson

On the back seat of my cab, there was a copy of The Seattle Times left there by a fare I’d taken earlier to Lake City. I only went as far as high school, but I did a year of community college before my money ran out, and I still love to read so whenever somebody leaves a magazine or a book on the back seat I save it so I can have something to look at during my lunch break. I put the cab in neutral, clicked on the ceiling light, and reached for the paper. The front page, above the crease, was filled with a story about the Occupy Seattle protesters, who had taken over Westlake Park, speaking truth to power. Even though I hadn’t made it to that demonstration, everything happening there hit pretty close to home for me.