I don't know how the streets really were in, let's say, the 40s or 50s, but according to Hollywood, individuals would square off while their friends watched. People would not interfere. Often, the fighting skills were taught in a boxing ring down at the Boys Club (perhaps by some Irish priest). There was sportsmanship and honor involved. If someone tapped out (or the equivalent) then the fight was over.
Maybe Hollywood was not at all honest about how things really were -- but Hollywood told people how things were "supposed to be". I mean: that's how I was raised.
Clearly the negroes don't operate that way. At all.
Good to remember that.
If my brother or friend is getting the tar knocked out of him, I am not just going to sit back and watch, and I am not going to do it to turn the tables, simply to extricate him.
But I am not jumping into a one one to turn the tables, and definitely not to increase the damage to one who is already losing.
That’s just me.
My mother grew up in San Francisco in the ‘40s. She said the Mexican girls were always armed with knives or razors. They’d hide them in their hair for their boyfriends. She said the girls often would use the weapons as well.
I am 62. When we were kids and someone would fight and a friend would jump it, kids would chant “two on one, that’s n***** fun”. I am not talking serious fights - more just messing around, but even way back then, kids knew and there were no blacks in our neighborhood.
In other words, stayed armed, stay safe. Shoot to kill when your life is in danger of ending at the hands of a mob.
No recourse. No remorse.