Florida Times-Union Reader Asks "Does Jacksonville Have Sundown Towns?"

I came across an interesting post in the Rants & Raves Forum on the Florida-Times Union website. The writer asked the question whether or not there are sundown towns in Jacksonville, Fla. For those of you who don't know, a sundown, or sunset town was one that was deliberately all-white, that posted signs stating that blacks had to leave the town by sundown. I would hate to think any city in this country is engaging in such despicable acts. Here's the letter in its entirety:

I attended a lecture today by Dr. Loewen @ Bethel Baptist Church (very good presentation but at the core very flawed) on the history of racism in America and a thing called Sundown Towns.

A Sundown Town was a racist white town that warned blacks to leave town by sundown or else.

Dr. Loewen said there were about 10,000 such towns in America just before WWII. Hundreds still remain. Of course Jacksonville (he claimed) is not a Sundown Town.

Of course he did not comment on black neighborhoods in Jacksonville where whites risk their lives if caught after sundown. Dr. Loewen, which side today has more Sundown Towns; black or white?

What do you think NAACP? We need to remember Ax Handle Saturday so that we can recognize what racism is when we see it, be it from whites or blacks.

Sincerely,
Gadfly

The writer said Dr. Loewen did not comment on the black neighborhoods in Jacksonville where youths risk their lives if they are caught out after sundown. Here's my question, who is going to hurt these black youths? The police or other blacks? Well, I suspect the answer is a combination and speaks to the high crime rates in some pockets of our cities across the U.S.A. and sadly, many of those neighborhoods are predominantly black.