Brooklyn Shane e-mailed me the following account.
I think it is interesting that your Hoodrat Halloween story has these black homeless guys banding together for safety from black youths. It is fascinating to me how some groups of people behave the same from city to city, and also, that sometimes you have exceptions that might be based on environmental factors.
Back in 87’ or 88’, when I was a kid, they had this thing go down on Ward’s Island on Moving Night before Halloween. Ward’s Island is in the East River, and these homeless guys used to sleep there. Well, these young black guys—teens—youths as they say, go out there and attack these homeless guys and kill two of them, stomped them to death; “Happy Halloween, mutherfucker!”
I used to hate Halloween when I was younger because it was just an excuse for certain people to mess you up, to jack you up and attack you for not being like them—no robbery, just the joy of hurting someone.
As with most violence throughout history, those who perpetuate it tend to be better off financially and higher up on the social ladder, than those they target. To me, the saddest example is the black bum, who is rejected by the mother of his child in favor of the largesse of the welfare system, lives his elder years as a cast-off person, and is eventually hunted and beaten for sport by teenage boys equipped with smart phones and the latest apparel. As far as I have been able to determine from eye-witness, video, and photo evidence, in the Baltimore area, the sons of middle class mothers are more likely to launch gratuitous attacks on lone men than are the sons of welfare mothers. I have been the object of numerous such assaults.
Update
"My bad, it was 1990..still technically the 80's."
-Shane
It seems to this crackpot that New York cares more about its homeless than Harm City. I will remember that for when my cardboard box gets soggy and I have to move.
