Some older African Americans are torn now that racism in America has disappeared. They are finding it hard to relay to their Grandchildren "The Bad Old Days" and are finding it difficult to instill in their young ones that there is a scapegoat for their woes, as there is no longer a scapegoat, as one elderly woman told me "When there was a white devil to blame we had an excuse for being downtrodden, now, with personal responsibility comes, erm, responsibility, so who the hell we going to blame now?"
Jessie Dustin stares out onto Main Street, Anytown, USA and sighs.
"I remember when I had to sit at the back of the bus, when I couldn't use certain sections of the restaurant, I remember not being able to go to school. It gave me an excuse and a valid excuse for being a lazy ass bum with a chip on my shoulder but today? Hell, we black folk get the same opportunities as the whites, Hispanics and Asians. We have no excuse for being "left behind" - one of ours is in the White House, black kids today are disadvantaged as they have no excuses for being angry. What we need is segregation back and our kids to have an excuse for being left behind."
The old man shakes his head as he points out where the Blacks only water fountain, the Blacks only bathroom and the Blacks only bar used to be.
"I miss them days" he sighs "Now we have to eat at IHOP and go to bars that charge $5 just for a beer, I miss them old days, I really does."