Dock Drops

I was raised in and out of Atlanta. This is my pops. He’s from Techwood.

Zone 6 to Marietta. Different houses. Move in around all the time until setting in the suburbs. I think my pops moved to ATL when it was for the poor and moved us out to the country when the A got taken by the rich again before the 96 games.

Mid-’80s through the early 2010s.

Before it got curated. Before it got safe.

It was loud, dangerous, and beautiful in its own way.

You learned early how to walk, how to wait, how to speak when it mattered — and how to survive when it didn’t.

That kind of upbringing doesn’t leave you.

It sharpens you.

And it teaches you how to move through places where most people would rather lock the doors and look the other way.

Now I run freight through five of the most violent cities in America:

Memphis. Cincinnati. St. Louis. Louisville. Indianapolis.

You don’t have to take my word for it —

just read the data.

Year after year, these cities land in the top ten for homicide rates in the entire country.

Memphis was number one not long ago. I’m

St. Louis held the top spot for years.

Louisville and Cincy stay hovering in that top tier.

Even Indianapolis — cleaner on the surface — has quietly climbed the charts.

We’re talking about major American cities where the murder rate rivals international war zones.

And still — the show must go on.

Trade show freight doesn’t pause for gunfire.

Labor calls don’t reschedule for neighborhood shootings.

The rig still rolls in.

The dock still opens.

The freight still lands — on time.

Because it has to.

I don’t run freight through quiet towns and polished markets.

I run it through cities that are breaking and rebuilding at the same time.

Where mayors hold press conferences while crews patch bullet holes in the loading dock wall.

You think that’s dramatic?

Ask anyone who’s worked a show in North STL.

Ask a dock boss in South Memphis.

Ask a steward in West Louisville.

This ain’t fantasy.

This is business in 2025 — in America.

And this business?

It doesn’t care about your comfort.

It only asks:

Can you deliver in a city that’s falling apart?

Because if you can’t — someone else will.

Someone tougher.

Someone local.

Someone who knows how to lead not in theory, but in chaos.

There’s nothing polite about these cities.

Nothing predictable.

But I don’t run from that.

I run toward it.

Because someone has to.

The show has to open.

The freight has to move.

And the city — no matter how bloody it gets — still needs the work.

So no, I don’t operate in sanitized environments.

I operate in statistical murder capitals —

with real risk, real labor, and real lives on the line.

And still, we get it done.

Every. Single. Time. Oh yeah BUY A SHIRT in the store!!!

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#RunTheDamnDock

#Hammerdown

#BuiltInTheFire

#WhereFreightDon’tFlinch