when I was young, the was an old black guy that worked his entire life at the one deluxe old hotel in Kalamazoo, The Burdick Hotel right downtown…he started out as a ‘shoe shine boy’ and through he years was also the doorman…his wife also worked at the hotel and as the years went by he became somewhat of a minor celebrity and he still shined shoes periodically….he was a friend of my grandpa…it was a real treat to go down there and have him shine my shoes and talk with him a bit…he was not poor, or humble in the sense of insuperior or whatever…he was a friendly, lively old guy….I’m not sure what to make of it looking back…there didn’t seem to be any stereotypical or racist element to any of it but then again maybe there was…I used to stop in and see him once in while even after I got my drivers license, and it was sorrowful news when he passed away…just thinking back a little