MtheGM rightly understood that when I wrote that The Pedestrian was about "waking" in America I really meant "walking."

I guess it was back in early spring 1965 that I ended up in Scottsboro, Alabama with some friends in a car with New York State license plates. We parked in the center of town and in less than five minutes the local cops had bundled us down to the police station for an extensive background check (mostly focused on determining if any of the women with us were underage, or if we were there as part of the Civil Rights movement). We were really polite about it and everything worked out OK, which is not what I suspect would have happended if we'd given the cops any lip...or if any of our crew had been black.

There have always been extensive limits placed on so-called Constitutionally-guaranteed rights in America. That doesn't mean the limits are correct, or that enforcement of the limits isn't determined in great part by race or apparent social class affiliation.

By the way, what was Bobby wearing when he got stopped? I'm guesing it wasn't a three-piece suit!