Silver Spring is a high-crime city, and in many areas it’s not safe for anybody of any age or any racial background to be walking around alone. Other areas are quite bucolic and peaceful, with actual farmettes and large gracious houses. It would be interesting to know what part of Silver Spring this took place in. Georgia Avenue reaches from the nasty parts of DC up to the historic houses and forested beauty of Westminster, so it makes a difference what part of Georgia Avenue the kids were walking along.
Check out my #31 post.. Wouldn’t the high rises, office complexes etc., indicate that it was a business district and not a place with historic houses? I’ll look for the video that was attached to the like thread a few months ago. Not an intersection I would have sent my kids to walk in.
I can’t find the video but found the below link and it speaks about Woodside Park and children being picked up near the Discovery Building which would indicate to me again that this is not a residential area. You both seem to be aware of the area so this should be sufficient for others. If I find the video, I’ll post it to convince the others here that it was not a neighborhood residential street they were on and not a matter of walking to/from school.
I was ALSO a “free range kid” but that was on a farm in New York State - with not a commercial business district or intersection in sight. Trips to the big cities like Ithaca or Elmira were cause for staring up at buildings and getting a stiff neck. LOL