The Virginia Tech tragedy
The tragic killing on the Virginia Tech campus on April 16th made me think back to my college days. The event brought an irony to mind: Even with a campus police force at Virginia Tech (which all colleges have these days), the horrible killing rampage took place; however, during my years at the University of North Carolina in the 1940's, there was no campus police force there. Any need for police services on the campus was provided by local police; I think the same was true on most college campuses of that era (in 1949-50 I lived near the Columbia University campus in New York City, and don't remember seeing any police force there).
One can perceive that life in general is more dangerous today than in times past--but one who has been around for awhile can also reflect on the vast changes that have taken place during his life span. The evolution from no campus police to professionally-administered campus police forces is just one of those changes. Another reflection: during the time I lived in New York close to Columbia, I would walk back and forth through Morningside Park alone at night to the 125th Street subway station in Harlem. Not only did I do that, but a girlfriend at the time did the same thing. I wouldn't do that today even in daylight.
As I have commented in earlier postings, the widespread availability and use of drugs in recent times, versus a virtual absence of them in most communities in past years, seems to be a principal reason for greater danger today. I can't come up with any reason for this dreadful change in our society, especially when that society was far worse off in the 1930's (when it went through the terrible depression) and the 1940's (when World War II affected everyone's life), and when black people had far fewer opportunities in their lives.
However, there also have been changes for the better during my lifetime. For example, during my entire school years, kindergarten through college, there was racial segregation in North Carolina--I never attended school with a black person until I took some courses at Towson Univerity, in Towson, Maryland, during the 1990's. When I occasionally visit my hometown in North Carolina I have black people eating in restaurants around me, something that never happened when I was growing up there.
One can perceive that life in general is more dangerous today than in times past--but one who has been around for awhile can also reflect on the vast changes that have taken place during his life span. The evolution from no campus police to professionally-administered campus police forces is just one of those changes. Another reflection: during the time I lived in New York close to Columbia, I would walk back and forth through Morningside Park alone at night to the 125th Street subway station in Harlem. Not only did I do that, but a girlfriend at the time did the same thing. I wouldn't do that today even in daylight.
As I have commented in earlier postings, the widespread availability and use of drugs in recent times, versus a virtual absence of them in most communities in past years, seems to be a principal reason for greater danger today. I can't come up with any reason for this dreadful change in our society, especially when that society was far worse off in the 1930's (when it went through the terrible depression) and the 1940's (when World War II affected everyone's life), and when black people had far fewer opportunities in their lives.
However, there also have been changes for the better during my lifetime. For example, during my entire school years, kindergarten through college, there was racial segregation in North Carolina--I never attended school with a black person until I took some courses at Towson Univerity, in Towson, Maryland, during the 1990's. When I occasionally visit my hometown in North Carolina I have black people eating in restaurants around me, something that never happened when I was growing up there.
posted by Mycroft Watson at 10:56 PM
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