nice coat

This email from the Indian Village list came in this morning...

From Thursday morning:--gray Jeep Grand Cherokee, driving around, one of theoccupants (black male, mid length new leather coat with decals) alsowalking around the neighborhood, others at times leaving the car andknocking on front doors of homes; no evidence of snow shovels or otherequipment, aside from the question of whether an individual would shovelsnow in such a nice coat.

Apparently now it is suspicious to wear a nice coat.

When this first came I laughed. I believe my comment to Jesse was, "What the fuck is wrong with these people?" It is just so crazy, can they be serious?

On my way home from work this evening I was thinking about what I might write about this email. I started to get sad. And angry. At first I thought these emails were helpful. It was good to know what is going on in the neighborhood. It has become painfully clear that these emails do no such thing. These emails show me that racism is a huge problem in this city. They don't tell me what is going on in the neighborhood because nothing has ever come of the suspicious black person walking down the street. The emails instill fear of black people. They tell me to fear black people carrying garbage bags and black people wearing nice coats and black people driving cars and black people walking down the street. They are a constant reminder to me to make sure the alarm on the house is armed when I am home alone. They remind me to be sure to lock the security door and the regular door. The emails also are a clear reminder that black people are not wanted nor welcome in Indian Village.

I know I need to speak out on the list and make my opinion known. But I have to admit that I am afraid. I'm not sure why. Maybe because I don't want to start any drama with the rich white neighbors. Maybe because this is all a reminder that I'm not white and I'm trying to deal with my own stuff. I need to think about this more before I do or say anything to the list.

It was a shitty downer of a drive home. But I felt better when I was flipping through the radio stations (I lose NPR about 4 miles from home) and Centerfield by John Fogerty started to play. Jesse and I will fly to Florida for spring training on March 12. Put me in coach, I'm ready to play!!