Protest / Rally Regarding Sex Change Operations for Minors in Tennessee

In January of this year, a protest at a “Gender Mutilation Rally” was held in Murfreesboro, TN. Prior to this taking place, some people never realized that multiple children in Tennessee underwent surgery in Nashville to change their sex from boy to girl or girl to boy. The rally surrounded a proposed law in the Volunteer State to make it illegal for a juvenile to undergo a sex change operation or to begin hormone therapy to begin the process of changing their sex.

Protestors against the proposed law for children to be allowed to make the decision to change their biological sex suggested it would take away their rights. The ACLU argues hormone therapy or sex change procedures are the only solution to saving some children from suicide – if the child identifies as the opposite sex they were born as and is having identity problems.

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In Tennessee, you have to be 18 to get your ears pierced, get a tattoo or go to a tanning bed… but protestors believe a teenager, or a child has a brain that is developed to the point of being able to decide to forever change their biological sex.

According to the National Institute of Mental Health, an adolescent brain is not fully developed until the mid to late twenties.

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“May your choices reflect your hopes, not your fears.”

— Nelson Mandela

Others at the rally highlighted another proposed law in Tennessee that would not allow for a child or teen to attend a show or event where sex acts are performed before the audience.

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Big Machine Music City Grand Prix 2021

A crowd of more than 140,000 spectators were in downtown Nashville for the Big Machine Music City Grand Prix. Fans from all over the globe filled hotels throughout Middle Tennessee. The event reportedly generated over $20-million in revenue for Nashville and the 8-counties that surround the Metro area – and that number doesn't include the funds used to organize and set-up the 3-day race (Aug. 6, 7, 8, 2021).

Winning the Big Machine Music City Grand Prix on Sunday evening was Marcus Ericsson from Sweden. Driving for Chip Ganassi Racing, his Honda powered IndyCar won the race after smashing the nose of his ride into car number 14. 30-Year-old Ericsson finished within 1.5596 seconds of his teammate Scott Dixon.

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Photography and Story by Scott Walker

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Korean Veterans Memorial Bridge during Sunday racing in Nashville, Tennessee - Aug. 8, 2021.

One of the highlights of the race occurred when the 27-cars traveled over the Korean Veterans Memorial Bridge. In fact, the bridge over the river was a first for the IndyCar circuit in the U.S. and one of only a few courses in the world to cross over a river the size of the Cumberland.

Known for their speed, the IndyCars were reported to have hit 185 miles per hour as they traveled 80-feet above the Cumberland River while crossing the 553-yard bridge (1,660-feet in length). The straightaway at the start and end of the bridge, including the roadway leading up to and away from the bridge, was approximately 2,200-feet, which made it the longest straightaway for IndyCar this season.

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Lot’s of wrecks took place on the race course that included 11-turns in the 2.17-mile run. One of those wrecks (above) involved #48, Jimmie Johnson. Evidently, Johnson tweeted that the course was really “bumpy.”

Murfreesboro's MTSU played a role in helping to ensure safety measures were in place. The MTSU School of Concrete and Construction Management helped to design and build the racing barriers along the course and on pit row.

While Walking in Memphis

“When you expect nothing from the world – not the light of the sun, the wet of water, nor the air to breathe – everything is a wonder and every moment a gift.” Michael J. Sullivan (writer)

"I was in Desert Storm," he told me - "Marines." The man then saluted me during our brief conversation. He explained that he has been living on the streets for about 9-months, "It's been tough."

He didn't ask for anything, but we offered him a warm meal at a nearby restaurant, a shopping expedition at a local market, cash... but he refused all. Before we knew it, he slipped away into the night with the sound of another man asking him for a lighter.

Downtown Memphis, TN at about 9PM on a Thursday.

#leica,#streetphotography,#ScottWalker

Leaving the Past

People leave places and memories for so many reasons, some still owning the old and afraid to fully let go of it. Others leave and never need or want to look back.

American sociologist and Professor of Sociology at the University of California, Berkeley Robert N. Bellah stated, “Leaving home in a sense involves a kind of second birth in which we give birth to ourselves."

When you leave something or someone / they leave you and you held tightly to it for decades, you never fully leave and it is always hidden in your grasp... You just quit voicing the memory and that is okay to have that history - just don't live there.

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Photo: Abandoned 55 miles from Nashville in the countryside of Bedford County, TN

One Love

“Good morning neighbor, hello friends,” he said as people passed by failing to notice him or to listen to his music.

Despite the blind tourist, he continued to play, “One love, one heart Let's get together and feel all right...”

His message was simple, yet too complex for the outside world to grasp. Everything from his songs of coming together to his note that was taped to his guitar that read, “Restore the Black Community,” he was all about coming together.

In his old and worn guitar case river rocks held three dollars down that some had carefully placed. The case like his guitar, appeared to have seen better days. Regardless, it held the musical instrument just right and the guitar itself told a story only he knows and remembers.

His name of Yehoshua is often spelled Jehoshua. If you look deeper you will see that even his name has a message.

Jehoshua was a figure in the Jewish Torah and also the central person referred to in the Book of Joshua.

In the Book of Joshua, he gives a speech about what must be done for Israel to live in peace. God commissioned Joshua to take possession of the land and warned him to keep not only faith, but outlined the need for obedience to the law.

“Let them all pass all their dirty remarks (one love). There is one question I’d really like to ask (one heart) - Is there a place for the hopeless sinner - Who has hurt all mankind just to save his own?”

— Bob Marley

The violent memories we hold onto

The descriptions of the Vietnam War from a homeless man sitting on a park bench will give you nightmares, yet what he described is what he saw in the thick of it at age 21.

“I had to kill women and children because the North Vietnamese women were armed fighters and their babies were strapped to their front…” As he talked you could see that pictures as vivid as yesterday were running through his mind.

“They skinned men alive if they caught em’ – can you imagine what that would feel like,” he asked while talking about the pain that was endured by U.S. Troops. As he continued I could imagine the torture and how so many lost their lives while in Vietnam. He went on to describe more of what he saw, “Sometimes, they’d nail em’ to an upside down cross in the woods for other troops to find, alive.”

No one encouraged him to speak of the horrific things he saw or to stir those memories, he wanted to get it out of his mouth and probably his head. Sometimes, it is important to allow those with tragedy in their past to let it out. Sometimes, it is important to remain silent and to remember your words may mean little if anything.

In Vietnam: 

Communist Hồ Chí Minh was once quoted as saying, “You will kill ten of us, we will kill one of you, but in the end, you will tire of it first.”

Hồ Chí Minh was not always his name. He was born as Nguyễn Sinh Cung, but later decided to go with a name that had meaning, Hồ Chí Minh, which means "He Who has been enlightened," became his title in 1941.

He was a Vietnamese Communist revolutionary leader and later the President (1945–69) of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam). He also helped to form the Viet Cong during the Vietnam War.

One execution for every one hundred and sixty residents was the way Hồ Chí Minh moved to reform North Vietnam in the 1950’s. He called it land reform and rent reduction. However, it was the simple slaughter of innocent people. This… this is who U.S. Troops were up against in the Vietnam War.

An unrealistic feeling

In·fe·ri·or·i·ty com·plex: an unrealistic feeling of general inadequacy caused by actual or supposed inferiority in one sphere, sometimes marked by aggressive behavior in compensation.

Murfreesboro, Tennessee square on 10/28/17.

The relax after the ride

“A man went looking for America and couldn’t find it anywhere” - Easy Rider

He is blind and homeless and now recovering after getting hit by a car

My friend Levi, who is homeless and living in the Nashville area, was recently hit by a car along with his mother Debbie. I wanted to post this about a week ago, but he insisted I wait until he gets out of the hospital. After speaking with him tonight he said to go ahead and post it.

Levi who is blind, was walking across a busy intersection with his mother when a car struck the two. It left Levi with a shattered ankle that required surgery. It left his mother with scrapes and bruises, but she too is doing better. She also has a boot on her left leg that she has to wear, although I don’t know how long.

The car that struck the two fled the scene and Metro Police have been unable to track it down. Of course Levi could not see the car which was not realized by officers until several minutes of questioning, according to him. Debbie did not see the vehicle and was likely busy making sure Levi was okay after the incident.

Life changes in the blink of an eye for everyone, no matter the social level. However, when those changes take place when you are already down, it makes it even harder to get up.

Luckily for Levi, it looks as if he will not be on a walker for long. However, being blind, homeless and on a walker won’t be easy for Debbie who is in her sixties or for Levi who is in his mid-thirties.

“Nothing is so painful to the human mind as a great and sudden change.” ― Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, English novelist (1797-1851)

Only One Eye

He told me that he was originally from Chicago, but came to Nashville for a job and never had the means to leave after losing the employment. His long stay started over ten years ago.

“Nashville’s a rough place,” he told me while describing a robbery that occurred in downtown Nashville. “They jumped me,” he said with an irritating look on his face.

As we talked more he pointed to his empty eye socket, “I lost my eye last year. It started out as an infection and when I went to the hospital they gave me eye drops and then sent me on my way. It turned out to be a staph infection and by the time I returned to the hospital a second time, the pain was unbearable. So, I lost my eye.”

His goal is to someday return to Chicago to be with his son and grandchild. “My son looks and talks just like me,” he said with a laugh. “He’s a carbon copy of me,” he suggested.