It's funny that this should be mentioned. I was talking about this very thing with my family over Christmas....
I went to the local mall one evening a few weeks ago. It's the "wrong" mall - if you know what I mean - but it's the only one that had what I wanted. I figured that I'd be OK.
I was. BUT....and you knew that the 'but' was coming.... there was plenty of utes there. It wasn't a very diverse group, either. Not too many of them looked like me.
Did I have a problem? Nope. Walked in, bought what I wanted, and walked out.
However, I've never seen so many people standing around and watching. Waiting. Watching and Waiting for what? I'm not sure, but the tension was palpable. No problems - but - there was an awful lot of hoping for some. Just one small spark and the whole place would have gone off.
I felt the same way about 20 years ago, when I was lost in East St. Louis after dark. Dozens of people standing around and watching and waiting, there, too. And, I, I'm certain that I could have been shot, killed, stripped naked, and left in the street....and not a one of them would have seen a thing.
“I’m certain that I could have been shot, killed, stripped naked, and left in the street...”
Ever see that Cornell Wilde movie, “The Naked Prey”?
Funny how some things don’t change.
We used to have a mall called Northridge. I was new here and did not understand how things were there. I remember pulling my little boy into an alcove to protect him when the “yutes” started rushing down the center of the mall. We were upstairs, but I knew they could be up there quickly. Got out of there fast. Only went there a few times after that and without my child. The gangs got their way. People stopped going there and it was razed. Now, all the malls have the under 17 rule. Mayfair mall has had to deal with a lot of these folks. I don’t go there anymore either.