Rainbow Flag at Half-Mast

I showed up City Hall today to fill out paperwork to be an Education Consultant for the NSA (Newark Street Academy). I parked my car on Hill Street and walked towards the gold-domed building, and I think first clocked the banner for Ramadan and then the banner for father's day, and then the rainbow flag at half-mast. I was wearing Tom Ford sunglasses bought two days earlier from Closet Savvy Consignment to accessorize an outfit designed for telling a group of colleagues at a university with a diverse student body that as group of faculty our lack of diversity may be a problem. As the only black person in the room my high yellow and high fashion was double armour. When I saw the rainbow flag in front of City Hall billowing in a soft wind at half-mast, my eyes under those Tom Fords welled with tears. The acknowledgement of my city of solidarity with the tragedy of my community as a tragedy of our nation. Half-mast. It was a moment of rare institutional love. Fleeting. The problem of what some may call over-thinking is the lack of rainbow banner on city hall during pride month. You get solidarity in your horror not in your pride. Steps. I took them down past the guards and metal detectors into the basement of City Hall where I was blessed with the youth farm-stand of the Newark Conservancy. I bought a green juice for my meeting, and when I left, I loaded up on mustard greens, swiss chard, herbs, radishes, strawberries, and jam.