From: brs@boole.acc.Virginia.EDU (Blanche R. Steppe)
Subject: ATWT: posting from Babydoll
Organization: University of Virginia
Date: Mon, 17 Aug 1992 13:17:18 GMT

 
Karen Williams <HQSUN1:ski@ivy.Princeton.EDU> writes:

>What is this world coming to?  GnS asked that question.

>I don't have an answer but I'm scared.  I'm scared everytime
>I send my son off to school, to play, to the 7-11 for the paper
>for me.

>I'm scared everytime the phone rings and there's someone on the
>other end but won't talk to me.  I'm scared when I leave my dad's
>house and he's alone, since my mother died.  I'm plain scared.

>Something bad happened between the time I was 12 and now.  I'm not
>sure when it happened.

It's not what the world is coming to, it has always been this way.  WE just
hear about it more now.  

I have been scared all of my life.  My mother is 76 and she has been scared
all of her life.  If you are black, and grew up in the south, you fear people
on all sides of the law.   I don't even care to remember some of the things
that have happened in my lifetime.

However, a few months ago, I was watching the soaps one night when someone
shot my window.  My house is 100 ft from the road, so they had to pull into
my driveway and get out of their car.  I heard a car, but people turn around
in my driveway often.  The police officer (who was really great) found a bebe.
This was a relief, if it had been a bullet I wouldn't be typing this now since
I was in the direct line of fire.  I think that some of my redneck neighbors
did it.

In June, a friend of my son's had an experience similar to Holden's.  He lives
in the N. Va. area.  He was getting out of a car that he had just bought and
had no insurance on.  Two white men approached him and asked for the keys.  
They had a sawed off shotgun.  They pointed it at him and told him to run.
Luckily, he was not shot.  A lot of black men were killed in the past
"running" away from white men.  Now they get killed by other black men.
This guy had to catch a ride to church the next day, because he was getting
baptized.  He still thinks that the police may recover the car!  
 
>Bush is blasting Clinton's stand on pro-choice and yet Bush and Quack
>both say if one of their daughters/granddaughters decide to have an
>abortion they'll "stand by them".  Is there a difference between what
>Clinton is saying and what the Duck Brothers are saying?  if so, 
>clarify it for me because I can't see it.

Bush used to be pro choice but he changed his views to match the party 
platform when he first ran for vice-president.  I hate it when reporters
ask candidates hypothetical questions that concern their family members.
I think Dukakis flubbed this big time 4 years ago.  I think Clinton was
right to not discuss his daughter with reporters.

>If our children aren't safe in school, and they aren't safe in their
>yards playing, and they aren't safe around adults, and they aren't
>safe from stray bullets meant for drug dealers, then where EXACTLY
>shall we keep our children?

When I became a mother, I started to worry and still do.  Now I have a
grandchild to worry about.   A few weeks ago a babysitter killed a 7 month 
old child by throwing him into a playpen.  She has been charged but she may 
not have intended to "hurt" the child. 

I just put my children into God's hands and pray that he will continue to
take care of them.

>GnS:  I also must say your first post appreciating the trauma of
>assault/rape victims so eloquent and gave me pause.

>Thank God there's a few men in America who can be called upon to 
>understand and offer a shoulder to cry on ... it appears all these
>REAL MEN happen to read this network.

>Thanks guys ..

There are a lot of good people of all races and gender.  The bad people
just get more press.

>BaByDolL

Blanche
Newsgroups: rec.arts.tv.soaps