Replies

I own a rental house in a former mostly black neighborhood that is “gentrifying.” That means that a lot of really attractive lots were bought and built on and sold to whites. These are stick built homes as opposed to the mostly mobile homes that were there before.

Last year two black men started exchanging gunfire about three houses down from where my house is. According to witnesses, numerous shots were exchanged at ridiculous close ranges. The pair made their way down to the front of my house and proceeded to take a left at the intersecting street. Then (wait for it) they both went into a house several down from mine. No further shots were fired.

I got the story first from my renters and then from my black neighbor, the former air force sergeant, who lives near the house they ended up in. I felt my tonsils drying out as he as he confirmed the renter’s story. I said, “What the heck was that about?” He said, “N****r’s being n****rs.”

There’s something psychologists call “display behavior.” An example of this is when your cat puffs up, hisses and turns sideway to appear larger. When cops fire fifty rounds and none of the human “targets” get hit, that also is display behavior. There is generally a lot of drug trade in the neighborhood, and I notice the cops steer clear.