[rlmorel]

I did appreciate the fact that one or more of the pursuing firefighters was black. Nice to see.

When I was in the USN back in the Seventies, I was jumped by four black guys and beaten, and when I told this to the petty officer who was my supervisor, he asked if I wanted him to get up a team of guys to hunt them down.

He was black. And that made a difference to me. For months after, I scanned the face of nearly every black person I encountered to see if I could recognize any of the assailants, but it was night when it happened, and I was under stress so trying to recognize the faces at the time wasn’t a high priority.

But I think that black petty officer offering to hunt them down contributed to my ability to keep that negative situation from becoming a chronic race-based incident...although for those black guys who ganged up on me, it clearly was a racist thing.

[RedMonqey]

“I did appreciate the fact that one or more of the pursuing firefighters was black. Nice "

I know how you feel. Every time I feel like getting my "Bull Conner' on, I reflect on all the personal good encounters I've had with people who happen to be black. I see people as individuals, not representatives of the evil that others who happen to share their "melanin content.">

I know I don't want to be judged by the evil actions of others who have my "melanin content."

[ought-six]

It reminds me of the race riot aboard the USS Kitty Hawk in October, 1972.