Last week I was reminded of a story my G-dfather told me years ago.
When J was growing up, it was in the middle on the 1960s- racial tensions abounded, neighbor “gangs” were rampant in the barrio. Respect was an important stock in trade and while it was a violent time, there were boundaries.
Once while he was with his friends, out to cause mischief of one kind or another they were stopped by police. One of the gang started talking shit to the gringo pig- what the fuck were they doing in their neighborhood? go home stoopid foocking gringo. he spat on the cop.
So at point you can imagine what might happen today. But this was a different time. The cop turned to his partner, then back: “you think you’re so fucking tough, eh? you think you can take me you little shit? wanna go?” at which point to cop took off his gun, baton and belt, as well as his badge, handing them to his partner. “come on, you and me”
And they went at it. Mano a mano. The cop gave the kid a sound beating as his friends looked on, stopping once it was clear he was down. Then he put his gear back on and told them to go home and get off the streets.
Which they did. Sure they were back out the next day, reigned in ever-so-slightly, and they had a whole hell of a lot of respect for the police.
