I got this alert in my Nextdoor inbox today. I feel like I have a fever...I am so HOT!
Have you ever heard of "Nextdoor"? It's an app that allows you to share information between your neighbors. You put in your address and zip code and instantly you can communicate with the people that live within a certain radius of you. Louisville is divided into neighborhoods or little mini cities if you will. I live in Crescent Hill. It's a swanky little historic neighborhood, and people are EXTREMELY picky about it. Just to clarify things, the majority of the black people in Louisville live on the West End of town, with only a few sprinkled throughout. Actually, there's a good little group of us that live in Clifton Heights, which is right next to Crescent Hill.
Now...This post. I will not be biased, but my initial reaction to this message was "fire and fury like this world has never seen". Seriously?!? It's December. It's cold and there are a LOT of leaves in people's yards. This sounds to me like somebody trying to make a few dollars raking leaves.
We are living in a time where everybody is afraid of EVERYBODY (particularly Blacks and Muslims), and it makes me sick! I feel sick because there are some things we should legitimately be afraid of (don't get it twisted, people are crazy). However, I also think we have become so OVERLY fearful of each other that the FIRST thing we think of when we see a black man with a rake is a criminal and not somebody that might be there to just do a favor and rake your nasty yard.
Both of these realities make me sad.
Before I go any further... this was the entire post.
Turns out this woman was afraid this guy was doing something suspicious. He was allegedly peering in the windows of homes that did not have cars in the driveway. Why didn't she mention this in her initial "alert" to the whole neighborhood??? I was not there so perhaps she right! But...perhaps...she is wrong.
Have you ever been caught off guard by one of those house centipedes, or a spider, or some other bug that found its way to a place where you did NOT want it to be? You might scream, and run, and even call somebody to kill it.
As a matter of fact, when I was preparing to be a living statue I took my clothes to my brother-in-law and sister's house to paint them. I left them outside to dry and picked them up the following day.
When I went to pick up the pants, a GIGANTIC black bug crawled out of one pant leg and up the other. I screamed and called my brother-in-law to kill it (as if men aren't afraid of bugs too). So, he came outside ready to kill the poisonous-flesh eating monster-bug that invaded my clothes. He was armed with bug spray and a broom. When he shook the pants, a small cricket ran out and into the grass. He gave me the, "girl, go in the house and sit down" look. I laughed and said "oh, it looked a LOT bigger before!"
Turns out I was caught off guard and I might have been a tad bit dramatic. I PROMISE at first glance that cricket looked like one of those huge roaches Andrew Zimmern eats on Bizarre Foods. It did! It really did! But, the truth of the matter is I was wrong. It was just a cricket; a small one. That doesn't change the fact that I was genuinely afraid. It doesn't change the fact that it REALLY did seem larger than it was. But at the end of the day I was wrong.
Back to Julie and the "Peeper". I wasn't there, she could be right and she might have prevented us all from being harmed or robbed. Nevertheless, let's not forget that sometimes we're wrong and while we are legit scared, sometimes fear alone can make us see things differently from what they truly are.
PLEASE NOTE: I am not saying she was wrong, in fact, If she's correct I hope the situation is handled.
Comment below and let me know your thoughts. Is my disgust out of line?
(This is not the guy)