Close to the epicenter

[sofadoc]

In light of the racial tension in Missouri combined with a few recent events locally, the KKK is rumored to be planning to riot downtown Greenville, Tx. tomorrow morning.

A few weeks ago, a black man was shot to death by a white attorney in the wee hours of the morning. Then last week, 2 young black men were stabbed to death outside a skating rink at 3 AM. The attorney is out on bail. The other killer remains at large.
This has caused tension in the black community, so the KKK plans to flex their muscle.

All this is scheduled to go down in front of the Court House, just a little over 1 block from my shop.

Hopefully, cooler heads will prevail.

[JuneC]

As you say - hopefully cooler heads will prevail. 

About 35 years ago (yeah, I was 6 ;-)) a man I worked for was stockpiling MRE's and guns and ammo saying that America was a tinderbox and that there was going to be a major race war in populated areas.  I still, to this day, hope he was completely paranoid and just plain wrong.

Stay safe.

June

[kodydog]

It all seams to be much ado about media hype to me. Ferguson would have been just a blip on the screen if it weren't for the media and all their second guessing. And next week they will be on to the next great news story. The KKK would not be planing their event if they thought the media would not be their with all the cameras.

[Darren Henry]

Might be a good time to take a weekend off. Stay home and watch it on the news!

so the KKK plans to flex their muscle.

Goes to show how naive I am sitting way up here. Because they never make our news, I thought they were all but extinct.

Keep your head down Brother and check in often.

[Mojo]

Several years ago I owned a race team. We had a big weekend long event in Columbus and the driver and team had the car and hauler at the hotel with them. I drove seperately and was to meet them at the track early Saturday AM for safety inspections and our first round of tech. I got to the track and no team, driver or car. I waited and waited and finally two hours past schedule they come pulling in.

I asked them where they were at and they said " We got hung up at a KKK rally ". HUH ???? Turns out they left the hotel, made a wrong turn onto a one way street and ended up smack dab in the middle of a KKK rally. It took the cops forever to clear an area and get them turned around and out of there.

We ended up getting DQ'ed that weekend because of an illegal engine. :)  Opp's........... !!!

Chris

[SteveA]

Kody,
Media hype or not " A young man died "  !  Another here in NY as well. We shouldn't take it lightly.    I hope that education is looked at closer in this Country and improved so these types of things will be eliminated.  I'm a Father of two cops - it's not easy thinking about the dangers -
always hoping young people find better ways of being part of society - maybe being craftsman and start a business like many here.  No time to be out in the streets - trouble finds you there.
SA

[kodydog]

Agreed Steven. What I can't stand about the media is they try to make it sound like white cops go around shooting young black adults all the time. This is simply untrue. The sad thing is this case now has to go to trial whether the police officer is innocent or not. No judge in his right mind would absolve this case. No matter how you look at it the officers career is over.

[SteveA]

Kody,
You couldn't be more right - this cop has trouble - win or loose because the media is always looking for a way to attract our attention. Race sells !   I wish folks wouldn't take the bait especially when race issues are put before them. 
Lets give the judge a chance to look at the facts before we say uncle -
SA

[MinUph]

Sofa how did it go?Any trouble for you?

[bobbin]

It's really, really easy to "blame" the media.  Too easy, in fact!  I guess that depends entirely on how you opt to view the media, however.  Take a good long look at the FIRST amendment to the Bill of Rights... what do you see?  Last time I checked "freedom of the press", was included.  And it's the same one that allows idiots like the KKK to don bed sheets and spout (IMO) whatever perverted, bible-based garbage they so choose.  It offends me deeply, but I'm smart enough to understand that they have that right.  I will stand up in opposition, because it's my right.  More importantly, it's my civic duty!  People put their lives on the line for that right and I will never take it for granted. 

Kody,.  A few years ago you landed on me like a ton of scornful bricks and you commented that magazines like Vanity Fair and Rolling Stone were nothing more than "pop culture".  I didn't bother to reply.  Did you know that Tom Hetherington (a photographer for VF) died in the Middle East? he was trying to get the story out to people like you and me; that sure defines "pop culture".   So far (by best estimates) 32 journalists have been killed in 2014; well ahead of the pace of killings in 2013 (70) and 74 in 2012.  Does the loss of journalists "in the line of fire" make their deaths less important than James Foley's grisly on-line murder? maybe so if you don't read their reports, look at their photographs.  I don't pay for TV.  I watch network news and PBS (and yes, I'm a member!) and I read... Pulitzer winning "pop culture". 

I am appalled by the mayhem that followed Michael Brown's death.  There is no excuse for rioting and looting.  But am I sympathetic to the sentiments expressed by the non-violent protesters? you bet your ass I am!  There was a great story on NPR about a local football team in the Ferguson area struggling with the aftermath.  Scope it out on line.  But a big part of the story involved "Eyes On The Prize" (Public TV!) and how to cope with and effectively address incidents that are as revolting as Michael Brown's death. 

[sofadoc]

Sofa how did it go?Any trouble for you?

Even groups like the KKK don't have as much fervor as they used to. Back in the day, they wouldn't have waited until the weekend to plan a violent protest. They would've taken off right smack dab in the middle of the work week if need be.

About 20 motorcycles circled the court house for 3 hours this morning. When they saw that they couldn't stir up any trouble, they got bored and left.

[MinUph]

Thats good news.

[Mike]

When i was a small boy i grew up in california. And visiting some of my relatives i visited placed like stored in watts ect and after seeing the riot of the 60s on tv i was  bit scared when i saw black people  in great numbers as in my neighborhood and shool there were none only spa ish were a cew of minorities.  Then when i was 10 i moved to massachusettes And maybe one  black kid in school. And in myadt life in new hampshire i can only think of 2 customers i had.
Then io ed to florida  and  i was shocked when i corst got here i had a a few customers who were from the south carolinas i think one came right out when talking to me using the "n"  word. I  just did t say a word and took there money.  But i havent seen that sence most of my customers are all  northerners   New jersy. Midwest.  New england. Never a minority customer yet except maybe a german. Or Brit.

[sofadoc]

From 1930-1968, this sign hung over downtown Greenville Tx:

It finally came down when I was 10 years old. My present-day shop is just out of view in this photo.

"The Blackest Land" referred to our soil, but there has been a lot of local debate recently about the meaning of "The Whitest People".

Old-timers in town insist that it never had a racist meaning. They contend that the word "whitest" meant "purest". I certainly don't remember hearing that definition when I was a kid.

All I know is, I was not allowed to play with black kids. They had their own separate elementary school. They weren't allowed to play Little League baseball, or high school sports. Public buildings had separate rest rooms.

And if you were to have asked my Grandmother back then what the sign meant, she wouldn't have minced any words. She couldn't put 2 sentences together without using the n-word.

Given my upbringing, there's no logical explanation why I didn't grow up to be a racist.

But locally, the real debate about this photo involves the white car.........Edsel or Bonneville?
Notice the driver right behind the white car. He has his hand out the window to signal "Stop".

[Mike]

All I know is, I was not allowed to play with black kids. They had their own separate elementary school.

though there were no black kids in CA as a kid my best friend on the street was Ernie Valdoven.

Notice the driver right behind the white car. He has his hand out the window to signal "Stop".

be hard to do now with the AC on