Joined
·
6,223 Posts
(Moderators, if I have placed this thread in the wrong section, please move it, thank you).
I pulled up my usual chair in a mall cafe' and nodded to a great guy. He is a middle-aged, black administrator for the UW Madison, and whom I will only name as "Jeff."
Let me set the scene. In the cafe' there is a little nook of deeply padded chairs. I've noticed that the usual 'dregs' hang out there, and once I saw a guy run in, make his 'drop' to one of the usual vagrants and beat feet to the door. This is pretty normal, as that little nook is part of the "L shaped" floor plan, out of sight and blocked by a large column.
As Jeff and talked recently, I asked him why he sat there. He proffered that he didn't know about the "regulars," he just liked a comfy chair. I asked him if he kept any pepper-spray or similar device, since I know the guy to be a real gentleman. He stated he never carried any defensive devices, at all.
I simply pointed to the food court. Once again, Jeff had never heard about the gangs, the female gangs, the chair fights and the issue of handguns. One idiot shot himself in his own thigh.
Now, the reason my wife and go to this cafe' is that we have done so for over a decade, made friends with the staff, and except for one jealous husband who came in and punched out his wife, the cafe' is peaceful. The food court outside is the place we avoid, and the cafe' has a private entrance.
Jeff will probably never change. I mentioned that Jeff is black, but I've also come to understand that there is another rank of urban blacks, that being the upwardly mobile professional blacks. To them, "crime" is for TV shows, not real life.
I will just ask him to sit with us if my wife and I hear yelling from the food court. But in this day and age, there truly are the innocent and clueless citizens. I rather enjoy their company, but I wonder how they make it through the parking lot...
I pulled up my usual chair in a mall cafe' and nodded to a great guy. He is a middle-aged, black administrator for the UW Madison, and whom I will only name as "Jeff."
Let me set the scene. In the cafe' there is a little nook of deeply padded chairs. I've noticed that the usual 'dregs' hang out there, and once I saw a guy run in, make his 'drop' to one of the usual vagrants and beat feet to the door. This is pretty normal, as that little nook is part of the "L shaped" floor plan, out of sight and blocked by a large column.
As Jeff and talked recently, I asked him why he sat there. He proffered that he didn't know about the "regulars," he just liked a comfy chair. I asked him if he kept any pepper-spray or similar device, since I know the guy to be a real gentleman. He stated he never carried any defensive devices, at all.
I simply pointed to the food court. Once again, Jeff had never heard about the gangs, the female gangs, the chair fights and the issue of handguns. One idiot shot himself in his own thigh.
Now, the reason my wife and go to this cafe' is that we have done so for over a decade, made friends with the staff, and except for one jealous husband who came in and punched out his wife, the cafe' is peaceful. The food court outside is the place we avoid, and the cafe' has a private entrance.
Jeff will probably never change. I mentioned that Jeff is black, but I've also come to understand that there is another rank of urban blacks, that being the upwardly mobile professional blacks. To them, "crime" is for TV shows, not real life.
I will just ask him to sit with us if my wife and I hear yelling from the food court. But in this day and age, there truly are the innocent and clueless citizens. I rather enjoy their company, but I wonder how they make it through the parking lot...
