Lynne Moffitt,
Virginia Beach, VA.

When I was living in Louisville, I came home from work and was mugged when I got out of my car. I had looked around before I got out and this nice young man was walking down the sidewalk. He looked like a typical University of Louisville student which was only blocks from my apartment. He didn’t speed up or slow down but we just naturally intersected when I got to the sidewalk. He told me not to say anything and I knew then I was being attacked. I screamed and he hit me in the face, knocked me down and stole my purse. Many of my neighbors came out to assist me and some even gave chase to my attacker but didn’t catch him. I noticed whenever I told the story I didn’t mention his race as it was not relevant but many people wanted to know it. As if that made any kind of difference. Mostly they asked, “was he black?” I don’t think anyone has ever asked if he was white or Hispanic or Asian. And were visibly disappointed when I would answer no since they wanted to talk about how afraid we should all be of black young men. So I discovered that those who asked usually turned out to be racist. So now I use my story as a quick way of weeding out those I don’t wish to become closer with.