A Distant Relative/ A Tribute to Willie B. - Published in February 2000

Dear Willie B.,

Last week when you died the tenderest part of my heart was touched. You were a distant relative who came to Atlanta about the same time as I did, at about the same age. You grew into a powerful silver back gorilla, and I grew into a less charismatic red head.

Our lives paralleled only in the accumulation of years as you remained caged in the unbreakable glass box, and I explored the expanding city during the '60s and '70s.

You were an exotic monster to us.  You lay stretched out on the concrete floor, jaunting from time-to-time to the tire swing and surprising us with your interest in television.  (We should have perceived of your intellectual keenness because simple-minded creatures don't concentrate on television for long.)

Then something amazing happened.  You were freed into a simulated gorillas territory.  Those of us who stared at you in the glass box waited with relief and anticipation.  Will he take the bait?  Will he accept the freedom we denied him for our pleasure?  Will he welcome the sun and trees and space or run back to his television?  Will we have to take responsibility for creating neurosis in a naturally peaceful animal?

Laughing in the face of inhumane treatment, your intelligence and courageous spirit shone through in those days when you embraced your territory. Then you offered us moments of ecstasy when you embraced your mates, and gave the world another gorilla: many actually.

But you iced the cake, Willie B., when you went beyond siring offspring and held and nurtured your children.  You showed us all the tender spirit that was cage in that glass box.

Atlanta owes you a great debt, not for the dollars your publicity image brought us, but for holding on through the boredom,  frustration, and isolation of a prison to show us that it's never impossible to offer patience, affection and nurture.

You are an Atlanta icon and for those of us who grew up with you, you are a courageous spirit.  Thank you for living in our world.  You inspired us to understand yours.