The Formerly White City of St. Louis
April 1, 2014
ALAN writes:
Speaking of savages:
One night last week, a thug fired eight to ten gunshots through a window of a house in south St. Louis. An 11-year-old boy (black) was struck and killed, though he was not the intended victim. The response by “The Law” and the “news media” was the standard mix of evasions, omissions, and ready-made phrases.
The context for that is this: That house is in an area that was occupied fifty years ago only by white men and families. I know, because I was there and walked through that area many times. A miniature golf course was just down the street. I had cousins who lived a few blocks away. In 1962, I had friends who lived one block away. They and I walked throughout that neighborhood that summer as we compared the merits of current hit songs by Pat Boone, Connie Francis, and Jimmy Dean. My boyhood doctor’s office was two blocks away. The Little Sisters of the Poor were three blocks away and had been there since 1902.