Marguerite Duras MARGUERITE TELLE QU'EN ELLE-MÊME

The quiet gardener

My alma mater 30 years or so ago named a building for an African-American freshman who had  accidentally drowned in the college swimming pool.

James Paroline, a Bronze star Vietnam war veteran, died as a result of one sucker punch which caused his head to hit the ground.  He had been tending a traffic circle garden and refused to move his garden hose as a group of young African-Americans had demanded he do.

The City of Seattle did not do anything to honor his memory, not so much as rename the traffic circle garden in his memory.

There were no protests, no calls for justice.  The young man was sentenced to 11 years in prison.  This was 9 years ago.  His two female friends, who had called him on their cellphone to "deal with" Paroline were not charged as accomplices.


https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/man-sentenced-to-11-years-for-fatal-blow/

Thoughts on race, again: Between black and white, there is a middle ground

I can't help but think that the Black Lives Matter protests are an extremely effective way of stoking racial fears among African-Americans (and liberal whites), no less pernicious--if not actually more, than stoking racial fears among white Americans.

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I hope my two white neighbors, both women, will not be tempted to have "another go" at me:  their harassment of me based on their racism--racial assumptions and prejudice--was very effective in meeting their personal needs.

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