Durham, North Carolina

Durham, like all of North Carolina… is green. I mean, really green. The highways split what  obviously were forests, but undefeated, a wide variety of lush, green, almost tropical trees, shrubs, bushes, and vines border every roadway.

After the trees, right away one notices how manageable the traffic is. Instead of gridlock everywhere, the number of cars that accompany the lanes beside you are far less than in larger cities. Durham has a reported population somewhere between 229 to 233 hundred-thousand (depending on the reported source) spread out over 95 square miles. People are not crowded upon one another, so the tension comes not from over-crowding, but from the usual suspects in the struggle for self-esteem in Globalist America circa 2013.

Durham’s motto is: “The City of Science.” Duke University is a controlling presence here. Far more laid-back than California, New York, or even Atlanta, the first impression I got was that of a friendly Southern town filled with intellectuals attending Duke, Central University (one of the oldest and largest HBCU‘s in the country), or one of the eight other smaller colleges and technical schools in the city.

But on closer look, one begins to feel the rigid social lines. Black transplants often whisper that if you’re looking for creativity or togetherness, it’s not in Durham. This place is filled with clones, wanna-bee’s, and corporate pretenders. Stiff … stand-offish, and muted. Most people will smile back when smiled at, but don’t expect too much.. unless you’re talking to a transplant. On the contrary … and outgoing, too-friendly attitude it taken as being threatening. Underneath that “Southern Hospitality” is jealousy, racism, internalized racism, ignorance, and hostility.