The Wall Las Memorias, an AIDS memorial in Lincoln Park

Mad Professah (and Governor Bill Richardson) attended the unveiling of a mural at The Wall Las Memorias (an AIDS memorial) in East Los Angeles on Friday. In the picture above, the Governor is surrounded by several ministers. Richard Zaldivar, the exexutive director of the organization, is in profile to the audience, facing the podium. Bill Richardson began his speech in fluent Spanish, and even after he switched to English, continued to include Spanish phrases in his text. He spoke about a friend of his, Billy Griego, who was the son of the Chair of the Republican Party in Santa Fe, New Mexico who was the first person he knew to die of AIDS. This happened within a year of Richardson's election to Congress in 1980. It was a powerful speech, a much better performance than his egregious appearance at the Visible Vote '08 forum sponsored by HRC and LOGO three weeks before.

Here are some pictures of the beautiful murals in Lincoln Park (yes, the same park the rock band Linkin Park is named after) which is about 5-10 minutes drive from my house: