My friend's parents' house had one of those jockey statues at the end of their driveway. It was black-faced and was holding up a lantern with it's left hand as though it was tending to a horse early in the morning or after dark. It was just one of those things they'd bought to decorate their front yard. "Very cool", I thought and it never occurred to me that it could be indicative of racists having lived in that house. They not racists and were very nice people and so is my friend, whose parents are long dead now. After the house was sold, I happened to be driving past one day and noticed that the face of the jockey had been painted over in white. I didn't really know what to make of that except that perhaps it was a case of white guilt since the house is in a nicer neighborhood about 25 miles north of Detroit. These white-flight bedroom communites had all been vilified by the most racist mayor in Detroit's history. His name was Colemen A. Young, a liberal democrat.
My friend's parents' house had one of those jockey statues at the end of their driveway. It was black-faced and was holding up a lantern with it's left hand as though it was tending to a horse early in the morning or after dark. It was just one of those things they'd bought to decorate their front yard. "Very cool", I thought and it never occurred to me that it could be indicative of racists having lived in that house. They not racists and were very nice people and so is my friend, whose parents are long dead now. After the house was sold, I happened to be driving past one day and noticed that the face of the jockey had been painted over in white. I didn't really know what to make of that except that perhaps it was a case of white guilt since the house is in a nicer neighborhood about 25 miles north of Detroit. These white-flight bedroom communites had all been vilified by the most racist mayor in Detroit's history. His name was Colemen A. Young, a liberal democrat.