An old working class neighborhood of color, transformed by white landlords into flop houses full of people who never work. This didn't happen in the 60s, the owners died within the last few decades. Take down those statues, but let the actual carnage in once prosperous black neighborhoods go unchecked. One is erasing history we don't want to relive, the other is reliving a history we forgot to soon.
Hispanic men come over to talk loud up close and personal. They fix cars, wash cars, get drunk and high all day. Packed hotboxing in cars and vans for hours, drinking beer, smoking crack, telling lies. Most have wives, children, and parents at home. But they're men and must roam. Their Corona siesta. Not having to admit to themselves that once hard working men now pick up odd jobs to support crack habits, while living off wives and mothers. Mindlessly firing up pipes in front of teenage sons. Why do they hate their teenage sons so much?
A neighbour's sister comes to visit, an older woman who quite possibly has health issues. Porch tarts laugh at her, telling her she looks stupid in a mask. Only rich white people get that stuff. Why are so many black women, poor women, stuck in junior high school mentalities?
Crack hasn't taken a break either. I assume those red hot metal pipes they suck down their lives and livelihoods through, burn up that Rona along with the skin of their lips. People crammed into small apartments all night partying, having sex, fist fighting and scuffling. Rona is scared of this place! Right?
An old bleached blond in her fiery red Mustang and little dog in tow, swaggers up and down the street as her husband's finds out who has the crack. She promises sexual favors behind his back for better and faster service. She's got that Karen face. I'm sure she's a manager, who's set a few managers in her life. I wonder how long they'll hold onto that shiny fast car? Crack has a way of burning through possessions, jobs and homes. I wonder if she'll go dyed black once she hits the bottom? So much cheaper than the peroxide fried hair blowing in the wind now
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Two young guys ask an old man if they can 'chill' in his apartment. Guess they didn't hear that spice kills. It did. Ambulances, along with police know these folks by name, and not from the Rotary Club.
Teens out till wee hours of the night in parking lots. You can tell it's a large crowd, one shouting over another. You hear the moment the energy changes. The buildup to the fight. Red and blue lights bring quiet down once again.
Why are there so many black and brown Corona cases and deaths? Ask why, and thank God there aren't more!
After the young lawmaker accused outside sources of keeping the hood ignorant of what they should do to protect themselves from the Rona. People showed up one day. Informed the community. Handed out bandanas. Once the crowd cleared they all sat in a car and talked, minus face coverings. They got out to box all the leftovers, bandanas back in place. You can tell they're not from the hood, lol. (You can see in the Subaru windows as well as you can see out.) They don't know they're still being watched. "See they're fake. They're all talking in the car without a scarf. They just want us to look stupid." Weeks later, still not a face covering in sight down in the hood.
Seriously, stop blaming everyone else for our own shortcomings. The last pandemic, we were still a self sufficient people. We had our own doctores, nurses and midwives, Most hospitals were whites only then. We had each other looking out for each other, not just the voice of some washed out drunks telling people they are stupid for protecting their health. (though they've always been a fixture of the community) Have we really gotten to the point where we are so used to being provided for as a people, that we have become stunted in taking care of ourselves? Our great grandmothers were the social welfare of their day. Now churches in poor neighborhoods don't want locals to attend, hiding their light and salt under a roof with locked doors. Those women provided more than just a check, they tried to provide for the poor to grow, not just exist on a dole. It's so frustrating listening to do gooders, sitting in luxury apartments and homes, tell the world it is letting minority neighborhoods down. Grown people take care of themselves, invest in their kids. Realize there's a vested interest in keeping you down on the welfare plantation. Realize, what your thinking as playing the man, has got you played in the end. There will be poor with us always, but this age has managed to transform it into a career choice.
