Ken Berwitz
My wife and I were just in a party goods store, to pick up items for the upcoming holidays.
It was toward the end of the store\’s hours. There were just a couple of customers, and the only employees I saw were three females – two middle aged women and one young woman, probably still in high school.
A Black man walked into the store.
Physically, he looked to be about 5\’10” – 6\’ tall and burly – I would guess somewhere in the 200 – 220 lb. range.
Based on what we overheard (he wound up ahead of us on line) it turned out that this was a soft-spoken gentleman whose sole purpose in the store was to pick up a few things, pay for them, and go on his way. Just like us.
But it occurred to me that a lot of people, both male and female – including a good number of people we personally know, and maybe including the three store employees – might have been scared out of their minds by the mere fact that he walked in.
What a terribly unfair burden to live with.
I write this to get people thinking about that unfairness. Why it exists. And who is to blame.
The answers are not simple.
