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@Del at the risk of being repetitive, the community where I spent my formative years is what shaped my identity and influenced my approach to life. The suburb of Chicago where I was born and raised during the Depression was unique in many ways. It was racially integrated to the extent that Whites, many of whom were Jewish, could and did live anywhere they chose, but because of restrictive convenance regulations, Blacks could only live in a certain area, - not by the railroad tracks surprisingly, but in the middle of town; a little black "island" surrounded by a Caucasian "sea", where the interracial population co-existed and where it was not unusual for Blacks to have white neighbors who didn't flee their homestead when Blacks began moving in. This quaint little village had, overa period of time, become the final destination of Negroes leaving the South seeking a better life via The Great Migration. Although ny father was from Missouri and my mother from Tennessee, most of the slave descendants in my hometown had roots in Mississippi, Alabama. and Georgia. Because Colored and Whites observed an unwritten rule of staying in their own lanes, at that time there was very little racial strife in my town. I always suspected that this was because we Blacks were comfortable and content in our own community which could be described as a carbon copy of its white counterpart, and we were secretly amused by the idea that, in our own special way, we could match the white initiatives when it came to any civic or social undertakings. And we did. No separate but equal scenarios when it came to education, however. Whites and Blacks all attended the same high school, which back then had the reputation of being one of the best in the state. Therefore, an excellent education was ours for the taking and what I learned during my 4 years there, benefitted me throughout the rest of my life. Amongst ourselves,we black residents of this town, also had our own codes and customs. Colorism, for instance, was incidental, superceded by achievement and accomplishment. Those 2 assets were what took priority and gave status, and they always remained at the core of my value system. Nor were we deluded about the plague of the racism that sent our elders fleeing from the South. But we had the luxury of humoring our antagonists. We snickered at their notions of racial superiority and this somehow neutralized them, an approach that I use to this day, arguing on Face Book with MAGAs. Incidently the "we" I refer to, consisted mostly of the circle of people I grew up with during the 1950s, an era often described as being "bland", something that may account for the compromises that defined our lives back then. These folk are all dead now but they remained my friends throughout the years, as we always kept up with each other, always finding things to laugh about, always reminding ourselves of the carefree days of our youth, forever marveling at how we somehow managed to circumvent discrimination, always removed from turmoil which is why I do not claim that my upbringing was typical or ideal . It was, what it was.... I cite all these examples of how growing up where I did, influenced how I later maneuvered through a world where I gradually realized that Life is a crap shoot. Sometimes you get lucky. I am truly a child of the 1950s era. I was very much influenced by the music of those times; both the modern jazz and the luscious melodic ballads and the poetry that was their lyrics. I loved the wry intellectual humor of the comedic satirists popular back then and the film noir movies that always had an ironic twist. The fads and trends that followed temporarily captivated me, but they never replaced my affinity for those idyllic times that first enchanted me. zzzzzzzzzzz

My father & mother. Music & books allowed me to see a world beyond my own environment & expand my knowledge respectively. Life experiences & traveling & meeting & kicking it with different people.😎

IMO, POTUS OJ is: 1) making white folks proud of being white 2) enriching his family & friends 3) keeping minorities in check Black people aren't unified to any degree significant enough to effectuate any changes collectively. The system of racism white supremacy has done a masterful job in causing all types of division within groups of people & among them. There are many barrels aka tribes (thanks @richardmurray) & a lot of people hang out in more than one of them.😎