Ex Bibliotheca

The life and times of Zack Weinberg.

Wednesday, 20 March 2002

# 10 PM

So I hear loud hammering from downstairs, and go to look. There are two people boarding up various windows and openings into the basement.

Me:Hi, I live upstairs, I heard the hammering; what are you doing?
Guy:We'll be done in twenty minutes.
Me:I asked what you were working on, not when you would be done.
Guy:The black men.
Me:Huh?
Guy:There were black men living in the basement.
Me:Oh, you're talking about the homeless people. I saw them.
Guy:Yeah, them. They broke down the window. We have to board these up.
Me:Okay. Have fun.

I'm glad there won't be homeless people living in the basement anymore; it was filthy down there, and that was partially their fault. It was more the fault of the landlord being too cheap to have someone clean the basement regularly, but I digress. But c'mon, "black men"? Why is that the defining characteristic of the people who were living in the basement? Wouldn't you be boarding up the basement just the same if they had some other skin color?

I failed to avoid getting into a flame war on the gcc list. Argh.