his Caucasian grandmother was a “typical white person” .... afraid of black people.
Hey, let’s face the facts. What part of town is the most dangerous for a white person to be in, after dark, especially in a big city? Whites have a reasonable fear of black people. Whites are not afraid to walk through the white part of town, the oriental part of town, or even the Mexican part of town, at least, not compared to the black parts of our cities. Despite all the efforts of the civil rights era, all the legislation, the forced integration of schools, the racial hatred of blacks towards whites has not declined in any meaninful way over the last fifty years. After a while, people get frustrated and don’t want to hear any more about how the blacks were treated badly 150 years ago, or how they’re unfairly discriminated against today.
Hey, you don’t want to be discriminated against? Finish high school. Talk English like the rest of us (like Obama does). Dress like the rest of us. Get a job. Hunker down and take responsibility for making a better life for yourself. And don’t kill us when we wander into your part of town at night.
Hands down, Martin Luther King Boulevard, in any of a hundred cities and towns around the country. I've read that some businesses that find themselves on such thoroughfares want the street name changed to improve their business. A sad legacy for a great man.
That pretty much says it.