The Past is Present
Snippet of conversation overheard on the bus this morning, between an elderly lady and a middle-aged man:
Lady: We had to have our own neighborhood back then, you know.
Man: In a lot of ways I think that was better. We were more independent that way.
Lady: Oh yes.
They were talking about segregation.
To me, hearing people wax nostalgic for the days of segregation is like hearing women extoll the virtues of the harem. It’s jarring, disconcerting, to think that there are people who would actually prefer it. I understand that the economic boom in this city is leaving many disenfranchised and discontented, but to prefer a day when your options were even more severely limited? How can that be better?
i hear that a lot in my neighborhood. it’s such a complicated issue for so many in DC.
sad.
All I’m saying is there’s gonna be a planet for the French, a planet for the Chinese…
It’s the same reason why you could leave all the doors open at a prison and there would invariably be some who refused to leave. It’s their comfort zone. It’s the maximum responsibility they can handle.
Barney, sound like you read the Ender series of books by Orson Scott Card.