When my husband was in Erlanger about 20 years ago, we had to detour due to construction and they took us through Alton Park and other low-income projects. We kept going in circles so when we saw a cop we stopped to ask how to get out of that maze. There was a homeboy sitting on the hood of the cop car. He plainly told us that we were the wrong color to be in that neighborhood and he advised us to leave. He told us how to get out and we went. There are certain neighborhoods in Chattanooga that you don’t go.
We were both carrying but we were horribly outnumbered.
I drove through Alton Park when I first moved to Chattanooga from Cleveland in 2001. Just cruising around, getting a feel for the area. In a white, 4-door Chevy rental car. Very “cop-ish” looking, which was probably good. People waved, I waved back, and kept moving.
We had similar in Cleveland, and I was a meter reader for the electric company. An unwritten rule was if you had a meter reading route in the ‘hood, you ran your route and got out by noon, before the bad people got up.