As promised, when I got to Dallas I was going to look up former president George Bush about the killings of Akha people during the Drug War under his presidency. And that is what the great horse Hampton and I did.
Hampton and I rode east into Ft. Worth amidst hot and humid weather. As we crossed the area just south of downtown, the wind turned cold and hard. By evening it began to rain and rain hard, all through the night, buffetting us as we headed for downtown Dallas. We pressed hard, getting to downtown Dallas by 11Am, more than sixty miles in 24 hours in miserable weather. The only part of us that wasn't soaked was the phone and the camera, wrapped in a plastic bag.
In Downtown Dallas we were picked up by Ch. 8 news, yet to see that segment.
From downtown I got picks of the place where the thugs murdered our President JFK and our country. I was surprised at how small the location was, it was like shooting someone at point blank range, the grassy knoll, the bridge, the roadside drain. There was no hope of escape on that day.
Heading north from the groups of people eager to pet Hampton, we took up position across the road from former President George Bush's lane. Lots of people stopped by to see that. Sitting on Hampton I handed out business cards and told people why I was there. Some posed for pictures.
At one point one of the residents of the lane stopped, came over and met me, and said that he would deliver my message to George Bush.
- Did he know who the Akha were?
- Did he know that during the US supported drug war in Thailand many Akha were murdered by Thai police and army under the guise of the Drug war?
- Did he know that none of those security forces were ever placed on a US required vetting list at the US Embassy in Bangkok?
I was promised I would hear back and thanked the man for an offer of a place to stay for Hampton. Very friendly the people of Dallas.
From there I rode further north as dark dropped in on us, and headed for the home of one of the few Akha women married to an American in the US. Time for the family, the horse, to take a break.