I saw a black man running down the street. Every five seconds, he would glance behind his shoulder, but kept calmly running. When he neared the porch of my house, he picked up his pace. Then I saw two white boys chasing after him, and when they rounded the corner, I saw them holding bats. I didn"t know where the black boy came from, or what the white kids were going to do, but I knew this was a time where you had to watch out for yourself. You were never safe if you were black, and if you were white and liked those blacks, then you"d be in trouble too.

I watched those hoodlums disappear into the merging street, and I knew I wouldn"t ever hear about that black boy again. I turned around, opened the screen door and walked inside. The telephone rang...