re: #244 Shiplord Kirel, Friend of Moose and Squirrel

When my first wife and I moved from NY to Lubbock in 1977, we went to a rental agency that matched tenants with available properties. In those pre-computer days they kept the listings in loose leaf binders. There was a notation at the end of many of the listings, “picky” or “extra picky.” I asked the lady who ran the place what this really meant. She told me, in a confidential tone, that “picky” meant they would not rent to blacks and “extra picky” meant no blacks or Hispanics.

This was already illegal at the time, of course, but they didn’t seem worried. I can only surmise that the lady told me the truth because I was still in the National Guard and my GI haircut would have identified me as “conservative,” and therefore racist, by local standards.