Sunday, September 07, 2008

Squirrel

At the Detroit Zoo, the free-ranging wildlife were almost as numerous
as the caged animals.

4 comments:

Coffeypot said...

A black squirrel?!!? Well, there goes the neighborhood.

How’s that for a 60’s flashback?

Oh, yeah! You have to be from the South to appreciate that humor.

Mary Stebbins Taitt said...

We've just had two black families move onto our all white block and a few people have made such comments. The people seem to be really nice though!!! I guess it's not PC to even mention it.

The black squirrels seem to be taking over.

Coffeypot said...

My senior year was the last all white year at my high school. Two started the next year; by the time I got out of the Navy the school was 75% black. All the moving out of the county was called 'white flight.'

My first real experience being around blacks came when I was in the Navy. I never understood what the problem was. All of us eat, slept and did the same work and depended on each other for our lives. I did get in trouble a couple of times with some of the Southern whites about me being such good friends with ‘the coloreds.’ But to be fair, some of the black guys didn’t like me being around either. So I just did my job and tried to be nice to everyone. It mostly worked!

It was a different time and world back then.

Mary Stebbins Taitt said...

I taught for 20-some years in a nearly all black school, and people were people. Yes, there were some of the stereo-typical behaviors and conflicts, but there were wonderful people and jerky people just like in any other job I've had. Just as many idiots at museum where I worked where 98% of the staff was white.

The kids, though, were VERY needy! Many of them. They had some rough situations.

I live now in a very upscale neighborhood--but I am only a block (less than a block) from "the tracks" and on the other side is a "bad neighborhood." Some people are genuinely worried that the bad neighborhood is moving our way.

Our neighborhood has an excellent police force and I hope that it stays that way and stays safe and pleasant. It isn't dark faces that make it unsafe, it's unsafe behavior. By whomever.