Ugly Scene In My Old Hood Last Night

[XNASA]

I guess it's true, you can never go home.

I got a call last night from an old friend, a friend who still lives in the same house he grew up in, to ask if I'd like to watch the Duke-Illinois game with him. So I said sure.

I drove over to his house around 8:30, and we walked down to the corner bar from there. His house, and the bar, are only 2 or 3 blocks from the house I grew up in.

What a nightmare. I can't believe what happened to my old neighborhood. I've never heard so much racist, sexist, homophobic bar talk in my life. I'm no prude. I grew up in a blue-collar environment, I served in the Navy.......hell, I even lived in Texas at one time.

At one point, some moran told back to back racist jokes, and everyone including my old friend laughed hilariously. It was sick. When the guy who told the jokes said to my friend, "Hey, Kenny, who's your friend?" and stuck out his paw to introduce himself, I gave my name but refused to shake his hand. The moran tried to bait me into an altercation, but I wouldn't go there. I stood my ground and he and his pals backed-off. It helps that my family actually still has some respect in my old hood. In fact, my cousin is the mayor.

Here's the kicker, my old pal, got on my case for not shaking the moran's hand. He said, "Well, you don't have to live around here but I do."

My old neighborhood used to be a great place at one time. Sure it wasn't an intellectual haven, but people, even the people in the blue-collar bars at night were reasonable folk. It's really gotten bad. The new regime in Washington has divided the country along these old deep-rooted hatreds and phobias. I witnessed it first hand last night.

I was shocked, and truly disappointed.

We got our work cut out for us.