The Good Old Days For Some

I heard a man in Ridgway talking about the good old days and how he wished we could go back to living that way. After his short sermon on the subject another man reminded him about the institutional inequality practiced against women, Blacks and Latinos prevalent in those years.  The exchange cried out for a clear picture that neither of the men could produce since both were born 40 years ago and had never experienced “knowing one’s place”, “colored only” drinking fountains or the belief that all of Latin America was like Tijuana.

It was pretty good duty if you’re a white male in America in the Fifties and Sixties. And now they’re asking you to show a little remorse because some Black people have been treated like shit for 400 years? C’mon.

The conversation grew heated but finally embraced comic relief with reference to Andy of Mayberry and how Sheriff Taylor might have reacted to these recent murders or even how he or Barney Fife would have handled such an incident.

Jim Crow Laws were alive and well in beautiful Mayberry. Gomer was white, Guber was white, Aunt Bea and Opie were white. Even Floyd the Barber (no reaction to George Floyd) was white. At the time that was how things on TV were presented. One never saw a Black person on the street in Mayberry that I can remember. It can be easily argued that if A Black person was about he would be chaperoned by a slew of stereotypes. Nice and white.

Would the North Carolina National Guard have been called if the Blacks rioted or would the good citizens of nearby Mount Pilot have come to the rescue and helped neutralize the perpetrators. Would there have been lynchings?

George Floyd is not a hero. It muddies the issues. Cops are supposed to act like protectors not as racist thugs. Look to your own community. Do you have law enforcers or peace officers? How do you feel about the militarization of the cops over the last two decades?

There is really no crystal clear black and white when it comes to most topics yet impregnable opinions are usually formed in that half-light.

If we plan to survive as a society a level playing field is needed for all from birth to death. That is not what is happening. Right now some vital questions just do not have viable answers.