Deciding to leave Baton Rouge was easy for Wayne, as he had had a couple run ins with less than mannerly individuals of this town. But it left a bad taste in his mouth that unfortunately he had decided to challenge at a later date if he were met with the same type of rudeness by the same type of people. We chose a peaceful route out of town through some beautiful old oaks and stately homes.
As we drove, Ann was actively trying to plan a route towards our next destination that would be pretty and not near big cities.
But, the best route was along I-10. Fortunately, it was beautiful and not very busy.
We were headed in a good direction, but the temperature was getting higher and so was the humidity. We love our air conditioner!!!
Happily, we arrived at our next destination, a Coast to Coast campground dedicated to Yogi Bear and friends. This is a very popular place and we arrived on a Saturday. The place was hoppin'!!!! We were assigned a spot right in amongst 4-5 families that had lots of kids and all were busy. Reminded us of our Loab years. We holed up in our trailer some and soaked up the air conditioning.
Even with the business, we felt right at home and well welcomed by the owner....
....and all his staff.
Wayne felt right at home and much pressure was relieved as Ann did laundry and Wayne played.
By Monday, after going to church and most of the people leaving, we were well relaxed.
We had the place to ourselves.
The other stuff was that when we were in town, Wayne had another experience with reverse prejudice. He had decided in Baton Rouge that if it happened again, he was going to stand his ground and challenge it. Lucky for Wayne, the two guys backed down. But Wayne was still extremely bothered by the situation we were finding here in the south. Later, as he talked it over with the electrician that came to fix his trailer, he realized he must have been extremely lucky. He was told that there is a lot of anger brewing and Wayne was lucky he was not followed out to his car and shot. That seems to be the pattern here lately.
This is really disturbing to us, these carried over thoughts that they are owed something and that the white race is keeping them down.
Later, we went to a Raising Cane's Restaurant and Wayne struck up a conversation with three people and was greatly relieved that they were mannerly and conversant. Good people. We find that the educated people seem to be doing something to improve themselves and are normal people, but the uneducated seem to be the angry ones and have an ax to grind. It is a frightening situation, but we are gratified as we converse with many and find most are as friendly as we are.
We are hoping to go into New Orleans tomorrow, but fear the city. We shall see. Tonight (29th) it is raining.
"This is really disturbing to us, these carried over thoughts that they are owed something and that the white race is keeping them down."
ReplyDeleteThe white race did keep them down for centuries. That doesn't disappear in a couple of decades. This is a group of people whose ancestors were enslaved by our ancestors and whose fathers and mothers were treated viciously with no hope of recourse. I heard several people say while we lived in Virginia that they just couldn't trust white people. It was confusing for me, but it is also completely understandable. It isn't ancient history. The stories that the young people (early 20s) in my classes told were absolutely heart-breaking. They had experienced racism (and were still experiencing it!) and they were hurt and angry about it, legitimately so. This is a culture that you really don't understand and you can't just walk into it expecting everybody to act the same as they do in Texas or California. It stinks, but it is reality.
PS. History doesn't excuse threatening behavior and it is really unfortunate that these incidents happened. I am very happy that you guys are okay and that nothing more happened.
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