Michael and I were walking down my street the other night after a neighborhood meeting (there are meetings every night) and we came upon three young African-American men, hanging out by a parked car with the stereo cranked.
A year ago this wouldn’t have been unusual, but very few black residents have returned to my neighborhood, which used to be majority black. So these guys really got my attention.
I went up and introduced myself. The first guy I approached seemed a little reluctant to shake my hand, perhaps because he was holding some reefer. All three seemed very guarded until I explained that I lived across the street.
“Oh! You’re the guy with the bike!” One of the crew introduced himself as Ashley. (No, not that Ashley.)
I said I just wanted to welcome him to the neighborhood. “Did you just move in?”
He explained that he had been living in the apartment for a while now and had seen me around and figured we’d meet some day “but I never thought it would be like this.” (Not sure what he meant by that.)
At this point they even went so far as to turn the car stereo down.
Ashley asked about the Scotch-Irish woman who picked up trash on our block. Eventually I realized he meant Xy. He seemed amazed when I told him she was my wife. He also seemed inspired by her efforts.
“I used to throw paper on the ground,” he said. “But after I saw what she was doing, I stopped.”
All and all it was a good encounter, but they didn’t even offer me any of the herb they were smoking.
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In reference to this and your earlier piece on the death of New Orleans, an article by Tim Wise on the subject of “trash” in New Orleans:
http://www.blackcommentator.com/191/191_louisiana_sheriff_wise_think_pf.html
thanks b for this post. it brought me a little more back to normal. ive been kinda weird the last 10 months for some reason.
when i first started reading the post i was expecting something bad to happen and by the end i had a flash back about how my neighborhood and my psych used to be.
xy’s work affected these guys and yours affected me. thanks man.
What a great story.
Jon- That Tim Wise article is one of the best things I’ve read in a long time. Thanks for linking to it.
Thats cause you look like the ‘Man’ . Totally cool B! You could have just ‘asked’.
Go Xy! I just finished reading “The Tipping Point” by Malcolm Gladwell. For those that haven’t read it, the phenomenon of Ashley being inspired by Xy’s cleanup is a “tipping point” for him (and hopefully others) to stop throwing trash on the ground. His attitude changed from “No ones cares, why should I?” because Xy cares and he realized he should too.
It’s a fascinating book. The whole time I was reading it I was thinking about New Orleans and the people that are working to clean up and take back their neighborhoods. It’s great to read that it is working.
yeah, it’s amazing how far a little friendly courtesy will take you.
too bad some people can’t do that sometimes.