#458: A Black Man and a White Woman Bought a Home
Articles on integration, pet care, the security industry, and
Dear Loyal Readers,
Last week’s issue, “The Female Body,” was a big hit. Thank you for opening it, reading the articles, and sharing your thoughts and perspectives with me. What became clear: This newsletter needs more articles on menopause.
This week, loyal readers, you get “Classic Article Club” — four well-written pieces from a range of publications about a range of topics, focusing on issues of race, education, and culture. The point is to provoke your thought and expand your empathy, while also saving you the time it’d take to discover thse articles on your own.
First up is our lead article, “A Black Man and a White Woman Bought a Home,” by Zach Stanton. It’s right up this newsletter’s alley: a big article about an interracial couple who moves into a Detroit suburb in the late-1960s, and the white rage that follows. It’s also a commentary on the suburbs. I can’t believe I missed it when it was first published in Politico last December. In particular, a special recommendation goes out to social studies teachers.
But if you can’t spare an hour to read the lead article, if you’re really busy this week (as I am — the start of school has been no joke!) — I’ve included three other pieces for you in today’s issue. They’re about:
How we shouldn’t prolong our pet’s life (even though we can)
Why the private-security industry is booming, and what that means
How the challenges of daily life get in the way of romantic intimacy
If you like one or more of the articles, go ahead, hit reply or email me. I’d love to hear from you. Or if you prefer, show your support by becoming a paid subscriber.
1️⃣ A Black Man and a White Woman Bought a Home
Zack Stanton: “Warren, Michigan — On the night of June 13, 1967, Mary Killeen woke from a fitful sleep to see a tank rumbling down her street.
“A phalanx of a dozen or so police in riot gear marched alongside and they were headed right toward her. Directly across the street, a seething crowd of 200 to 300 white people were swarming the house of her newest neighbors. It had been building for days. The crowd trampled the fresh sod. They screamed and shouted at the occupants inside, their faces lit by car headlights and the flicker of gas lamps on front lawns. They surrounded the home, staring in. Some threw rocks at the windows. Some pounded on the outer walls, like a shark bumping against the underside of a life raft.
“The home belonged to the Baileys. Carado, his wife, Ruby, and young daughter, Pam, had moved in on June 5, a week before. There were new people moving in all the time to the Wishing Well subdivision — Mary Killeen, with her husband and two daughters, had only just got there herself. But the Baileys were different from their neighbors in at least one way: Carado was Black and Ruby was white.”
By Zack Stanton • Politico • 67 min • Gift Link
2️⃣ Are We Forcing Our Pets To Live Too Long?
Madeline Leung Coleman: “No loss happens in a vacuum. If cats and dogs don’t have an emotional response to pain, we’re the opposite. ‘These animals mean something to these people that I can never understand,’ says Dr. Dani McVety. ‘I’ve worked with people whose child committed suicide, and this dog is the last thing they have left. Or the cat is the only thing they have left of a sister, or parents, or spouses who have died.’ At the end, cleaving your narrative from your animal’s could be the last, best way to take care of them. Every time is different, yet every time is the same. McVety notes, for example, that the people who wait too long the first time never wait so long again. And nearly everyone tells her the same thing: At some point in the euthanasia appointment, as they’re preparing to say good-bye to their pet, the client will turn to her, full of gratitude, and say, ‘I wish we could do this for humans.’ ”
By Madeline Leung Coleman • The Cut • 14 min • Gift Link
✚ Interested in this topic of how-much-pet-care-is-too-much? Read (or re-read) last June’s article of the month, “How Much Would You Pay To Save Your Cat’s Life?” Author Sarah Zhang generously recorded this podcast interview.
3️⃣ The Thin Purple Line
Jasper Craven: “Eric Rodriguez works in a white-collar office building in Manhattan, but on the day we met he was dressed for battle in Da Nang. He wore a sweat-wicking gunmetal-gray shirt, black combat boots, and brown cargo pants. Knives peeked out from two pants pockets, and a Leatherman sat on his belt next to a small, swinging bottle of hand sanitizer. There was also a first aid kit strapped to his leg under his pants, or so he said. Rodriguez was prepared for bad things and convinced the worst was soon to come. “I have two to three flashlights on me at any one time,” he said. “And I take about forty vitamins a day.
“As a self-professed sheep in wolf’s clothing, Rodriguez was the perfect avatar for an industry built on providing a sense of security and not much more. The security guard is embodied proof of the power of optics: someone who looks vaguely like a cop, stands vaguely like a cop, has a badge that shines vaguely like a cop’s, and can wield power like a cop.”
By Jasper Craven • Harper’s Magazine • 26 min • Gift Link
4️⃣ Sex Boxers
Ben Decter: “It’s been two years since my wife and I have had sex. Between the vicious return of my six-year-old daughter’s daily seizures, financial concerns, my mom’s breast cancer, and my wife Jackie’s work stress, there’s little mystery as to how I have arrived in a sexual wasteland. At thirty-three, I’m distraught by this physical absence, but refuse to give up. Jackie’s working at home today, and I sense opportunity. Slipping out of my T-shirt and jeans, I’m left standing in nothing but my maroon, silk boxers. Their super-soft texture invites touch.”
By Ben Decter • Hippocampus Magazine • 6 min • Gift Link
Thank you for reading this week’s issue. Hope you liked it. 😀
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Great articles, and best of luck for this school year
Great articles as always. Really liked the one on pets.