I lived in Lancaster, Pa for a time...Amish country...and was told on arrival not to go past King Street, right in the heart of the city....to do so was at your own risk. Interesting was everyone in the city knew this..it was part of the “Tour” to caution people.
Years ago I was headed downtown Chicago to testify in a family court case. I was running late and stupidly took the wrong expressway. I realized my mistake when I saw the California St. exit and realized I was way too far North. I *knew* the neighborhoods I’d be driving through. I *knew* I was a single white suburban female driving through the SOUTH SIDE on CALIFORNIA Ave., and that I was literally taking my life into my own hands. After driving for several miles I noticed there was NO-ONE on the streets. Just liquor stores, gang tags, broken windows, and abandoned buildings. FINALLY I saw the police station and IMMEDIATELY pulled in. When I walked through those doors the black woman behind the bullet-proof glass encased counter looked like she’d seen a ghost. She says to me, “Girl, what in the HELL are you doing here???” After explaining where I was trying to go (the Juvenile Courthouse) she looked at the map in front of her and shook her head. I ended up getting a POLICE ESCORT for THREE MILES until I hit the *Hispanic* gang border - for some reason the police didn’t worry about me after I crossed the *border* the rest of the way to the courthouse.
I thank God everyday that I’m still alive and wasn’t raped or murdered with no-one ever knowing what happened. Stress, pressure of being late, stupid mistakes could have cost me my life. We suburban kids KNEW the ONLY reason to go to that street was to buy drugs. I had known about the neighborhoods I was driving through, but like most suburban kids I don’t think I really understood the risks. I was thinking mostly about the fact that I was a single woman driving alone, and being white would make a me a robbery target - what the police understood and I did not was that just BEING there, and being who I was (white) was the problem.
You may think this all happened back in the late 1960s - nope, it was the summer of 1990. A year later one of my former classmates decided to buy some drugs after prom (he was a year younger than I). He didn’t even get the chance to ASK to buy the drugs before he was shot dead (or so the story goes). I’m guessing it’d be even worse now. And it disgusts me that human beings can’t see past the ridiculous-ness of what they are doing TO THEMSELVES!!!
We should have been rid of ALL of this racial bs when I became an adult. I am extremely disappointed and saddened by this, and I see how far Obama has set this nation back and then I get angry. MLK, Jr. has to be spinning in his grave or crying on Jesus’ shoulder with Him. No-one has a clue what MLK, Jr. was talking about and the scum who speak supposedly, “in his name” have ripped this nation apart at the seams.