p kirkes
VIP Member
Usually means having an adverse opinion.
I was following the directions on my GPS to my son's new apartment, a renovated old school building, in the inner city of Saint Louis.
The GPS routed me from the expressway to the city streets and I immediately found myself in an older, poverty stricken, Black residential neighborhood.
My wife and I became very concerned because we are an older white couple in a newer car caught in very narrow streets with cars parked on both sides where only one car can transit at a time. The blocks were very short with a stop sign at each intersection. No escape in case of ambush, or so my past military training reminds me.
Families were on their porches or walking along the sidewalks but what gripped me was at each corner were what I perceived to be a threat. Six or more young black males socializing, on the curb or in the street. Talking very loud and very animated gesturing. Not at us, just between themselves.
Since I didn't know the area or how to exit, I felt it best to follow the GPS instructions. But it seemed to take me through every narrow street, YBM populated intersection, innumerable stop signs, without a thoroughfare in sight.
Was I afraid, you betcha. But why? No one in that neighborhood gave me a second
glance, or made advances or blandishments.
Later, we had occasion to drive Through a white neighborhood, college oriented, also with families on their front porches or lawns, people walking and groups of young white males chilling on the corners or walking along. I wasn't afraid there.
What has led me to believe that somehow the color of the community defines it's character?
Could it be the media reports that one in three black males has a criminal record, that the black people in America are hooked on drugs, that crime rates for blighted neighborhoods are astronomical or that black gangs rule the streets of neighborhoods..
But I prejudged that particuliar neighborhood without any information about it at all.
I was following the directions on my GPS to my son's new apartment, a renovated old school building, in the inner city of Saint Louis.
The GPS routed me from the expressway to the city streets and I immediately found myself in an older, poverty stricken, Black residential neighborhood.
My wife and I became very concerned because we are an older white couple in a newer car caught in very narrow streets with cars parked on both sides where only one car can transit at a time. The blocks were very short with a stop sign at each intersection. No escape in case of ambush, or so my past military training reminds me.
Families were on their porches or walking along the sidewalks but what gripped me was at each corner were what I perceived to be a threat. Six or more young black males socializing, on the curb or in the street. Talking very loud and very animated gesturing. Not at us, just between themselves.
Since I didn't know the area or how to exit, I felt it best to follow the GPS instructions. But it seemed to take me through every narrow street, YBM populated intersection, innumerable stop signs, without a thoroughfare in sight.
Was I afraid, you betcha. But why? No one in that neighborhood gave me a second
glance, or made advances or blandishments.
Later, we had occasion to drive Through a white neighborhood, college oriented, also with families on their front porches or lawns, people walking and groups of young white males chilling on the corners or walking along. I wasn't afraid there.
What has led me to believe that somehow the color of the community defines it's character?
Could it be the media reports that one in three black males has a criminal record, that the black people in America are hooked on drugs, that crime rates for blighted neighborhoods are astronomical or that black gangs rule the streets of neighborhoods..
But I prejudged that particuliar neighborhood without any information about it at all.
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