.......it is clear to me that birds hang with birds, fish with fish, dogs with dogs. There's no crossbreeding between horses and cattle, birds and fish, snakes and lemons. Allowed the natural course of things, Baptists associate with Baptists, Jews with Jews, Swedes with Swedes. When the old folks arrived in this country, they tended to clump up according to ethnic lines. My little hometown had an Italian section, a French section, and Irish section, a 'Newfie' section, each with its own parish church. The Anglo-Saxon, Scots, Lutherans all had their neighborhoods and churches. There was a very small Black community who, like everyone else had their own neighborhood. There was not a lot of interaction amongst the various tribes. Of course, people of all hues and shades worked together on the job, but normally at quitting time, everybody went their separate way.
Now mark this, nobody hated anybody, it was simply free choice and like attracts like. Birds of a feather and all that. Each tribe had its own particular interest; the Italians loved their Bocce, wine, pasta, music, etc, while the Irish preferred politics loudly argued, spuds 'n fish 'n beer; while the French sat down to Chicken casserole and mind numbing philosophical discussions. People socialized, people went to your weddings and you came to ours.At that time and place, all the working men and their families were Catholic, all the liturgy was in Latin and that was a common, but not unifying factor.Jews were suspect, because they were very stand-offish, and had no common basis with the bricklayers, rail layers, coal heavers, stevedores, round about.And they usually owned their businesses rather than work for wages. In a town where the Sign of the Cross was as common as turnip farts, they held themselves aloof. Still nobody burnt them out. There were Jews like there were Swedes. They were the way they were. It just was.So what happened? How do we get back to those halcyon days when it mattered more which team you followed, than what color you were. At that time Baseball was King, the Braves were still in Boston, and any Saturday afternoon game would find Blacks and Whites baking in the bleachers, yelling like banshees. People cheered when somebody caught a foul ball, didn't matter what color you were, and nobody tried to grab it out of your mitt.That was America.Cane pole fishin' from the bank or a bridge; playing sandlot softball or tag football, half rubber on the street, girls were safe, dogs were in plenty, Cops walked a beat and knew everybody personally. The Mob ran the Numbers racket, and everybody played, just as they do the Lottery now.
No conflict, no riots, everybody knew where he stood, nobody hated anybody.
~~4Branch
