anthony: some time ago something crawled, or slithered, or grew like a fungus. something that started small, got bigger, lurched like a swamp thing out of the mud and moist earth and humid nights of the delta. then, it took over the world. so next time some smart ass foreigner, horrified by our latest ham-fisted foreign policy blunder wonders out loud, what good is america? well, you can always pipe up that the blues, rock n roll, r&b, and soul all came out of this place one state mississippi. i took a walk through this beautiful world felt the cool rain on my shoulder found something good in this beautiful world i felt the rain getting colder sha la la la la sha la la la la la sha la la la la sha la la la la la la geno: right now we re in the middle of downtown jackson. farish street. anthony: it is a street with a lot of history. what did it used to be like back in the day? geno: the street was packed with folks. folks all over, they
is greenwood. a town with a lot of history. most of it of the not good variety. known unfortunately as much for byron de la beckwith, and tom brady s infamous speech after brown v. the board of education as anything else, fairly or not, it s hard to get past that. during all the years of cruelty and struggle from 1933 on, through it all and until today, this place, lusco s, was a beloved institution. once a grocery store, it turned restaurant to the moneyed class, serving them in discreet quarters in the back where one could enjoy an alcoholic beverage in what was then a dry state. still going after all these years. and unchanged. why? john t. edge: this place is like a reliquary of like indiscretions past. you know? anthony: but maybe, to really tell the story of this place, you have to start with the story of its most famous employee booker wright, who had been working at lusco s as a waiter
come back, goodnight, take care. so that s what you have to go through here. but remember, you have to keep that smile. anthony: telling the truth was still risky business in 1966 mississippi, and booker wright was not rewarded for his candor. it was not a good experience for him. it did not make him a star by, you know john t. edge: not within the white community, but even though stokely carmichael maybe first chanted black power here, that was less important to the black community here than what booker said on the nbc news. anthony: yeah. the private dining rooms at lusco s are still here. the menu, much the same. steaks, fish, the famous broiled shrimp. the lusco s special salad with the house italian vinaigrette dressing and a healthy dose of anchovy. onion rings. john t. edge: the salad makes me happy. anthony: yeah, me too. john t. edge: mostly the anchovies make me happy. anthony: yeah, yeah, love those.
since he was 14 years old. booker: thanks to y all. we don t have a real menu. i d be glad to tell you what we re gonna serve tonight. anthony: in 1965, nbc news came to town, making a documentary on race relations. booker s entertaining recitation of the menu at lusco s was famous around town, so they asked him to do his usual routine for the camera. booker: we have fresh shrimp cocktail, lusco s shrimp, fresh oysters on a half shell, baked oysters, oyster rockefeller, oyster almadine. anthony: but at the end of his usual litany is where he dropped the truth bomb that nobody was ready for, right here. booker: now as with my customers, i say my customers, be respecting of me. some people nice, some is not. some call me booker, some call me john, some call me jim. some call me nigga. oh that hurts, but you have to smile. if you don t, what s wrong with you? the meaner the man be, the more you smile. although you crying on the inside. i m not gonna tip that nigga. he don t l
steaks, fish, the famous broiled shrimp. the lusco s special salad with the house italian vinaigrette dressing and a healthy dose of anchovy. onion rings. john t. edge: the salad makes me happy. anthony: yeah, me too. john t. edge: mostly the anchovies make me happy. anthony: yeah, yeah, love those. catfish for mr. edge, the famous pompano for me. john t. edge: it s the kind of mark of being a great restaurant in the delta, if you have pompano. anthony: it s a big damn fish. no way i m finishing this. sitting here, the booths, the curtains, the whole ring bell for service thing, it seems lost in time. john t. edge: we got a real long and ugly history. but one of the things i love about this place is you can t deny the burden of the past, like it s on your shoulder, it s right there. like you know, america chooses to deny its problems. you know, in many ways, you know. i mean, it declares itself a post-racial society. that just doesn t fly in mississippi. you can t you