[null and void]

And you really think people fearfully watch black men like hawks in stores in other parts of the country?

Some do.

Maybe nobody even glances up here any more.

Just out of curiosity, where is "up here"? Your home page is strangely mute on that point...

A lot depends on the store, though. Jewelry stores are different from K-Mart, probably wherever you go in the country.

The staff at a jewelery store is more apt to watch everyone like a hawk. They're usually well enough trained to not make it obvious, though!

[x]

I'm in New England. I figured you were a Southerner from your nick -- nullification and all that -- but I notice from your page that you are in California. I don't know how qualified either of us is to make generalizations.

People tend to assume that 50 years ago in the South is ancient history and 30 or 40 years ago in Brooklyn or Boston or Chicago is the present. But change happens, in the North as in the South, and young people growing up now are different from what we were at their age.

I don't doubt that people are friendlier in the South or that Black and White people are more cordial with each other. Big cities are cold places and cities in the Northeastern states are colder still. But I do object to the way we get turned into stereotypes.