About halfway through my daily 8000 steps, walking along the St. Joseph River between the Farmers Market and Howard Park, I spotted a man up ahead sitting near the top of the Depression-era WPA stone steps that decorated the riverbank and provided work for some very needy people. As I came near, the gentleman happened to rise up, and he turned my way and we said hello. Bit of a conversation followed.#
I would say that he withheld answers to some questions I asked, but I had no rights to demand answers and I hope I didn't seem to be doing so. We touched on the election, on economic pressures, on racism, and more, and ended with a handshake.#
He said he was in the business of pouring concrete but that in the winter there is not much work. He was in town from Denver, seeing a family member, and eager to get back. I asked if he was hopeful about the coming week, and he dodged a little and also expressed some preference for what he remembered of economic conditions during Trump's term. I didn't try to argue. Maybe where he was in his life then it seemed to be true.#
We talked a little about Colorado. He felt that drugs had damaged the state, and he expressed a general commitment to people taking care of themselves. He said his wife was not taking care of her health. People sit around and watch entertainment and eat, he said. #
He asked who I was voting for and I said Harris. This choice did not interest him. Because he looked to be of Hispanic heritage I said, "But Trump is a racist." Racism is everywhere, he said, including in his homeland of Mexico. He claimed heritage not from Spain but from the indigenous peoples of Mexico, who he said are often very low in society.#
Racism is everywhere sounded like an observation from experience that implied, Hey, let's not pretend we can draw bold lines between these politicians and those, these business people and those. Racism was less interesting to him than economics of everyday life.#
We agreed that most people want the same things, if they can get them. Decent schools for their kids, chances for jobs and health care, a safe place to live. He seemed to be saying that a fair portion of the discourse about politics here is irrelevant to him. #
I couldn't tell if he was mainly reserved and discrete, if perhaps he felt a need to be cautious in an unfamiliar place talking to a stranger, if perhaps his English was a little shakey and he backed away from the occasional sentence because he wasn't sure he caught the meaning. I don't know. But for sure he said that racism is everywhere. That was his experience, plainly reported. It seemed naive to base all of one's decisions on that word, he implied, because you couldn't hope to be free of it. And we agreed that people have a lot of common ground concerning what they want and need on a daily basis.#
We shook hands. I'm heading off to have breakfast, he said, and I thought about my next meal too.#
About halfway through my daily 8000 steps, walking along the St. Joseph River between the Farmers Market and Howard Park, I spotted a man up ahead sitting near the top of the Depression-era WPA stone steps that decorated the riverbank and provided work for some very needy people. As I came near, the gentleman happened to rise up, and he turned my way and we said hello. Bit of a conversation followed.#
I would say that he withheld answers to some questions I asked, but I had no rights to demand answers and I hope I didn't seem to be doing so. We touched on the election, on economic pressures, on racism, and more, and ended with a handshake.#
He said he was in the business of pouring concrete but that in the winter there is not much work. He was in town from Denver, seeing a family member, and eager to get back. I asked if he was hopeful about the coming week, and he dodged a little and also expressed some preference for what he remembered of economic conditions during Trump's term. I didn't try to argue. Maybe where he was in his life then it seemed to be true.#
We talked a little about Colorado. He felt that drugs had damaged the state, and he expressed a general commitment to people taking care of themselves. He said his wife was not taking care of her health. People sit around and watch entertainment and eat, he said. #
He asked who I was voting for and I said Harris. This choice did not interest him. Because he looked to be of Hispanic heritage I said, "But Trump is a racist." Racism is everywhere, he said, including in his homeland of Mexico. He claimed heritage not from Spain but from the indigenous peoples of Mexico, who he said are often very low in society.#
Racism is everywhere sounded like an observation from experience that implied, Hey, let's not pretend we can draw bold lines between these politicians and those, these business people and those. Racism was less interesting to him than economics of everyday life.#
We agreed that most people want the same things, if they can get them. Decent schools for their kids, chances for jobs and health care, a safe place to live. He seemed to be saying that a fair portion of the discourse about politics here is irrelevant to him. #
I couldn't tell if he was mainly reserved and discrete, if perhaps he felt a need to be cautious in an unfamiliar place talking to a stranger, if perhaps his English was a little shakey and he backed away from the occasional sentence because he wasn't sure he caught the meaning. I don't know. But for sure he said that racism is everywhere. That was his experience, plainly reported. It seemed naive to base all of one's decisions on that word, he implied, because you couldn't hope to be free of it. And we agreed that people have a lot of common ground concerning what they want and need on a daily basis.#
We shook hands. I'm heading off to have breakfast, he said, and I thought about my next meal too.#