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In reply to the discussion: (White) Man Beaten By Mob, In Critical Condition "Justice for Trayvon" [View all]npk
(3,660 posts)I have mixed feeling about my hometown. Parts of Mobile of very beautiful and quite peaceful to spend time around, other parts not so much. There are a lot of very older, very set in their ways people, that can be quite racist pretty much toward anyone that doesn't look and think the way they do. It s sad. When I go home to visit my family, I hear a lot of "coded talk" about how the area is changing and not for the better. Funny thing is when I go out and talk to many of the people that live in my grandparents neighborhood, many older and younger black families that have moved into the area, they always smile at me and take me in and offer me whatever is on their table. I talk for hours with many people and they have never once made me feel uncomfortable or unwelcome.
The sad thing about Mobile is that it is literally a city that has changed very little over time. The city is not very progressive and they shunned many companies that have tried to establish themselves in the area in hopes of bringing jobs and actually reviving what is actually a terrible economy. But these people that run the city just give contracts and permits to "Good Ol Boys" they have known for years, and they have really in some ways run the city and the economy even farther into the ground.
Sometimes when I go home I see things that give me hope, but most time I leave more depressed. It's sad when you see how things could be so much better, but the people in power just want take themselves out of the way.
Back to the story of this OP. I have heard more of the details and I believe this is more of a case of a man in this neighborhood who just couldn't get along with anyone. He may have said and done things that precipitated this altercation. He still didn't deserve to get beat up, but sometimes people go out of their way to not get along with people and sometimes that can lead to problems. If it's true this man brandished a knife, then it changes the complexion a lot. Like I said it takes a lot to get your ass kicked in your own neighborhood, so who really knows.