Prejudice pisses me off

There’s a website called nextdoor.com, where you can post specifically and only to your neighbors. It’s a great way to stay in contact with your local community. You can post anything you want; things for sale, or requests for recommendations, lost dogs, etc.

Today, we got this post:

“Can’t walk down that road any more…

This morning an elderly woman walking her dog on La Puerta Trail, harassed my teenage son (a clean-cut, straight-A student, talented cellist, athlete and member of Las Placitas Presbyterian Church) and told him he should not be walking there. My son had been walking our dog up on public lands and used La Puerta Trail (a private road) to connect from public lands to our home on Tunnel Springs Road. I have taken this same walk hundreds of times. No one has ever ordered me to leave or even questioned me about it. As a neighbor, I mistakenly thought that in the spirit of neighborliness, no one would mind, since we were causing no harm. It’s interesting that the only time my son ever walked on that road by himself he is immediately targeted as “not belonging here” and told to leave. Very interesting. Anyway, I have apologized to my son for leading him to believe our neighbors on La Puerta Trail would be okay about us walking on their private road. I also would like to apologize to my neighbors on La Puerta Trail to taking this liberty. I am very sorry and we will never walk on your road without permission again.”

This post came with a beautiful photo of our neighbors:

Oops, the kid’s brown.

I was really mad. I’ve been irritated by several things today (remodel, dog poop, just stuff.) This was kind of the last straw.

Here’s what I posted in response (after several minutes of cooling down, or I would have said a lot more, much more strongly worded).

“I’m very sorry that happened to your son. Can we hear from another La Puerta Trail resident, who would be comfortable giving access permission to those of us who live within walking distance, for the purpose of accessing the public lands on foot? I am not happy that one of our own neighbors was intimidated to the point where they are no longer comfortable accessing trails from the roads out here. I understand why he might not be comfortable walking on that road alone again, but what if one of us were to accompany him? I’m a neighbor within walking distance. And I happen to be a white, middle-aged, female with a blond ponytail and little poodles (unless it’s too hot, then the poodles stay home). And I happen to be available during weekdays this summer, and would love to have a walking partner. Would your son and dog be interested in walking up La Puerta Trail with me?”

I’m still really pissed.

I think we have a tendency to become numb from all the horrifying news, the insane amounts of prejudice and harassment that we read about every day. Except I don’t read it. Around the time of the election I stopped reading facebook and all news outlets, with the exception of a few, moderate, thoughtful, well-researched hard-copy magazines that are sent to me in the mail.

So I don’t actually know who was shot in the last week, or what was blown up, or what inane thing our president tweeted recently. I figure enough people are reading all that stomach-wrenching shit that I don’t actually have to read it.  I read my in-depth magazines, and I stay in touch with my community. And this happened right here within walking distance of my house, and I am mad.