First All-Nighter of the Season... Ethnic Tension

So yesterday, all of the different things I am involved in finally caught up to me, and I had to pull off my first all-nighter in a very long time. I spent my time grading, lesson planning, preping my youth ministry lesson, creating progress reports, and analyzing student data. I've learned a thing or two about all-nighters-- the most important of which is the 30 minute nap. I took two of these last night, and it kept me going.


Some of you may be aware that the city just hit 56 homicides for the year. Sadly, people are starting to take it for granted. The other night, I was caught up in the middle of a dispute between two tenants-- one Black lady and an Asian lady. Apparently, the Asian lady had spit on the other woman's kids in frustration. The discussion got a little heated and at one point, one of the women standing by chimed in, saying, "You know if we were in Roxbury, we wouldn't be having this discussion, because we all know that it would been over by now, and you know what I'm talking about." It's sad that some folks in this town can toss that kind of thing around so indiscriminately.

On that note, ethnic tensions in this neighborhood may be higher than I had thought before. I suspect that the reason I got my apartment for cheap was because the Chinese families didn't want to live beside the Black families. And while some of the kids, especially one group of very young siblings, really don't seem to abide by the unspoken color-line, most of the adults seem distrust each other on a deep and sub-conscious level.