That was then…
Aside
I was chatting to a young friend about the American elections and he recalled visiting his uncle in Washington in 1986. He had time to spare whilst his uncle was at work and he walked in a park and sat at a large bench. He lit a cigarette and realised that he was being watched by the other occupant of the bench – a black man. Mike (not his real name) offered him a cigarette and the man said,

‘We don’t do that here.’

Mike asked why not and the black man said,

‘Because you’re white and I’m black.’

Mike said he was English and offered him a cigarette again, and this time the man accepted.


They chatted and the man told him he had fought in the Vietnam War and when he returned he couldn’t get a job and ended up joining a gang. He showed Mark a hideous scar on his leg from an axe wound he got in gang warfare. He said he was waiting for the soup kitchen to open which did a mean peanut and jelly sandwich and offered to take Mike along but it was time for him to meet his uncle. The whole experience obviously made a deep impression on him. I was surprised that this would have happened as late as 1986.