Sometimes we need a feel-good story, so here’s one


20-year old Walter Carr was due to start a new job with a moving company near Birmingham, Alabama. But the day before his first day was to start at 8:00am, his car broke down. Since he lived 20 miles away, he decided to walk through the night to get to work on time. When the owner of the moving company heard about the dedication of his new employee from the woman whose stuff Carr was scheduled to move, he drove from Tennessee to give him his own car, a 2014 Ford Escort.

There is another element of this story. Carr is black and he was picked up by a police officer as he neared the end of his journey. A young black man walking at night in the suburbs is, sadly, the beginning of a scenario that often ends in tragedy. But this officer, after hearing Carr’s story, gave him breakfast and a ride for the rest of the way.

It is welcome that everyone in this story comes out well.

Comments

  1. John Morales says

    mnb0, your highlight makes is more a case of “the exception that proves the rule”.

    (man bites dog!)

  2. jrkrideau says

    A somewhat cynical comment.
    “I hope the police officer is not facing disciplinary action for his behaviour.”

  3. jrkrideau says

    @1 mnb0
    Police and common sense can go together, you know.
    Indeed. Reports out of the US are not encouraging but we are hearing the worst incidents in most cases. Still, even as an old, white-bearded, Caucasian I think I’ll stay out of the USA.

    I will say my few encounters with police in the USA have been very positive as my encounters with police have been in Britain, France, Saudi Arabia, and my home country of Canada.

    I was touched by the local police in southern France as they sought to find me a laundromat. They succeeded. Getting picked up as an escaped convict in Canada was interesting but no problem.

  4. says

    jrkrideau, we’re both white so of course we’ve had positive encounters with cops (though being female, I might not have such a good experience with the ones in Saudi Arabia). But if we were First Nations or black, we probably wouldn’t have the same experiences.

    In Toronto, the issue of black people being disproportionately carded has been a major issue. Then there were the “starlight tours” in Saskatoon that are yet another stain on our country’s history of inexcusable racism towards First Nations people.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *