Neighborhood by Night

I've been walking a lot lately. It is part of my goal for better overall health, and has helped me lose sa quarter of my body weight to date. If the destination is close enough, and weather and time permits, then I'll walk there and back.

Sometimes, there doesn't need to be a destination. Sometimes, I'll walk for the pleasure of it, or to shore-up some daily goals. You see, I wear an Apple Watch that monitors how many steps I've taken, calories burned, hours standing, and heart rate. Sometimes, on days where I haven't quite met all my goals, I will head out of the house for a bit, taking a walk around the neighborhood to burn more calories and get some additional steps in.

A few months ago, one of the aforementioned days occurred, where I wanted to take a walk toward the end of the day in order to meet some walking goals. Ashley and I headed out around 10:30pm, and began a stroll around the neighborhood. Halloween had been earlier that week, and houses were still adorned with decorations for the holiday, so we slowed our pace, or stopped, and admired the decorations. Also, I'd been away for a few days on a work conference, and one of the neighborhood houses had erected a fence during those days, so I also noticed that.

My partner, Ashley, is white, and I am biracial (black and white). That evening was a little brisk, so Ashley wore a hoodie, his face obscured in the darkness. Though I, personally, consider myself biracial, I am alway aware that most people will look at me and think, 'black,' and that's fine. Except, I know the issues that perception can sometimes cause in certain circumstances. On that particular night, I believe one of those issues arose.

I love my (predominantly white)  neighborhood, but as we made our way through it that night, walking on the sidewalks under the shelter of the autumnal-colored leaves, all of the stopping and slowing down to admire Halloween decorations and new fences began to make me realize how potentially problematic that could be. Just as the thought began to enter my head, is when it happened.

As Ashley & I were walking south on one side of the street, a (white) woman was walking north on the other side. I dunno, something about her made me uneasy. Out of the corner of my eye I could see her looking at us and, after she'd walked a few meters further north, she crossed the street over to our side (not at an intersection), and began following us. I could feel my blood pressure rise and, when we got to the corner, Ashley & I stopped, briefly, to consult each other about which way we'd like to go (something we do fairly often on our walks).

The woman behind us quickened her pace, approached us, and said, "Can I help you with something?" Her tone was not friendly, or in the vein of genuine assistance. Her voice had a questioning lilt, one of almost 'Why are you here?' about it. I'd readied for the moment, and offered a terse, "No. Can WE help YOU?" She quickly replied in the negative, and crossed the street.

We decided not to cross, instead turning left (east). The woman walked east, as well, on the other side of the street, until we made another turn that took us away from her. I half-expected the police to show up at any moment, called by a concerned citizen. The encounter had left a bad taste in my mouth We returned home a few minutes later, and I was feeling bitter. I've lived in this neighborhood, on and off, for twenty years. That was the first time I'd ever felt like a guest in it.

I suppose I should feel fortunate. Far worse than simply being followed and having a brief question put to one is happening to others across the nation. The police weren't called in our case, so that's something I suppose. And, do we know for certain that the woman's actions were racially-motivated? No, we don't. But I can't help but wonder if the situation would have transpired another way if things had been different. What if it'd been 10:30am instead of pm? What if Ashley hadn't been wearing a hoodie? What if we hadn't been stopping or slowing down to look at Halloween decorations?

But what I do know is, I'm an adult who has every right to take a walk at night in my own neighborhood, without being followed by someone with a suspicious mind. After all, if she had a right to be out walking at 10:30pm, then so did we. And, if people think it's odd that folks might stop and appreciate their Halloween decorations, then they shouldn't put them up.

I still walk at night, occasionally, but it's always with a slight worry in the back of my mind. Shame that it takes just one incident for that to be the case.