The Popcorn Bandit and His Pregnant Teenage Bride

It wasn’t only the popcorn that was popping.

I wasn’t astonished that Darryl was fired. He had committed a criminal act while working at the movie theater. But my overriding emotion was relief – a very white privilege exhale that Darryl’s actions were caught and that I wasn’t the one who turned him in. Looking back, I can count the likely snitches on both hands.

I’ve written fondly about my favorite minimum wage college job, working in the Squire Triplex in Great Neck. Even when the assistant manager attempted to get me fired, I persevered and spent another four months selling tickets before leaving on my own terms. However only a few months into my employment, I plunged head-first into a racially-charged state of affairs.

The stereotypical do-gooder is a proverbial optimist, always viewing indigent and lower class people as if their class standing gives them a pass for any bad behavior. Hyper-woke liberals opine that people born on “the wrong side of the tracks” automatically deserve preferential treatment. Sometimes that’s true. Yet it can also lead to bad, and even criminal decisions.

My family decamped from New Jersey to Long Island in 1978. We settled in the tory town of Great Neck, known for its heavily Jewish population and excellent school district. Presently, the census shows an influx of Iranian and Chinese immigrants stirred the pot. During…