Blacks, the majority in Baltimore, will sit more in the fifth row of buses. But they inhabit the bus much more likely than whites who generally afford a car. The line has slipped but is still there. Segregation is dead. No racism, and inequality.
I take the subway, wondering if I'm supposed to take a transfer to the commuter train ... A guy says no, he must buy another ticket. He pulls out his wallet, in case I do not have enough money. I'm tired. He is black. It's weird to see life in black and white. I am not accustomed. I'm not accustomed to gaff age or gender of people with whom I speak.
I am at Judith and Jeffrey Kremen, parents of a friend, Sarah, whom I knew in France. They are cultured, liberal (in the American sense of the word), Jewish but not religious. To me they are very European. When Adelaide's mother, Judith, sought a home in Washington after the war, the buses were still segregated. "At the time, the regulations attached to the land prohibited from selling to blacks or Jews," said Judith . She is a historian, unbeatable on many subjects. She is the daughter of his mother, Adelaide, 94 years, still going strong, which reads the newspaper every day and is aware of everything that happens in the world.
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