Some underhanded crap has been going on in my neighborhood this past week. Since I’ve lived in my particular community (about 5 years) we’ve never had a neighborhood watch program; no one ever saw the need for it. Recently, however, we’ve seen several black families move into the neighborhood. With them they’ve (rightfully, expectantly) brought their traditions and culture with them. This means that on most weekdays after school gets out you can see a bunch of black teens shooting hoops in the street. White kids wouldn’t do this because we suck at basketball, we just sit inside playing on our computers. The black teens spend their time hanging out there. Not everyone is shooting hoops though, the street in front of their houses is simply a hang out. I’ve personally not witnessed or had suspicion of any illicit behavior from any teens in my neighborhood, black or white. They all seem just like normal teenagers to me.
Yesterday a lady came to our house trying to start up a neighborhood watch program because recently, she says, there has been “suspicious behavior” going on in our community. What a crock. We asked her, “What kind of behavior are you talking about?” “Well…”, she paused, “Loitering ‘n vandalism ‘n stuff.” That was as specific as she would be, even when we pressed her for more details. Personally, I’m not interested in racism, thankyouverymuch.
Yeah, I’m jumping to conclusions. Yeah, I’m judging this lady’s motives (I honestly have no idea why she wants to start a neighborhood watch). But the whole thing just reeked of racial profiling. You had to be there to hear the tone in her voice and the way in which she said certain words. It seemed to me that she was always one step away from dropping the “N-bomb.” Racism sucks.
