We are all oblivious to things going on around us but I felt felt especially so when our new neighbor told me he was seriously considering not buying their house because the police in this part of town had a reputation for racism. It was shortly after they moved in when this story made the news.
So with some new found awareness this little sign near the corner of Titus Avenue and Culver Road caught my eye. Almost too small to be seen as you drive by it easily catches the eye of bike riders. I hope it has nothing to do with the nearby Art Deco house with the nautical theme but I suspect it is the work of a nearby neighbor. Irondequoit is the wrong town to be trying to take this meager campaign away from those whose lives are affected.
The sign, as seen above has had a few incarnations in the last few weeks. It started as “Police Lives Matter” in a lighter font. Someone scratched out “Police” and added “Black.” The originator came back with a bolder “Police Lives Matter” and pasted right over the amended sign and then shrink wrapped the whole sign in plastic.
Yesterday afternoon I wrote the word “Black” with a Sharpie, just above “Police Lives Matter” creating this confounding black police message. You see, I not only manage the Funky Signs website I am also a customer. Peggi and I rode by today and the sign was gone.
Apparently people feel left out by Black Lives Matter slogan because I keep hearing people say, “all lives matter.” Well, that wouldn’t be much of a campaign and it completely sidesteps the issue.
3 Comments
Good for you! I Unfriended an Irondequoit neighbor on Facebook just yesterday because she posted something that I felt was racist! And a writer friend of mine in Webster told me he just “doesn’t know any black people.”
A very significant number of white people, both in the burbs and the city, don’t know or socialize with any black or Latino people. At a recent dinner party we quite coincidentally had three African American friends. At least one white attendee was obviously uncomfortable. He was older and I honestly do not think he had ever been in an intimate social situation with black people. These were middle age folks with advanced degrees. And we wonder why our community has so many intractable issues with race and poverty.
down here in South Carolina where there is obviously some measure of racism (Dylan Roof et al.) it is truly Ray Nagans’ chocolate city. Interracial children abound, it is a majority black city, blacks and whites work together, eat together, live together, make babies beautiful and brown. we are in the future as far as race relations go. and still there are problems. but racism is uncool with the millennials, progress is being made.