3 beach conversations (3 of 3): Another (black) lady.

The other weekend I decided to go to this beach off a peninsula, that I had always heard about, but never went to because it's tucked away and the bike path goes right by the head of the peninsula without an obvious way to bike out there.

So, I get there, and it's this beautiful beautiful short beach that's tucked away amidst all these trees, with grassy hillsides going down to the sand, and all these peaceful families grilling out and playing volleyball.

So, I set up my towel and read my Patti Smith book and got some sun, but then after an hour a(n old) (white) security guy pulls up.

As it turns out, because there's an open-air stage nearby and a concert starting that night, they were moving everyone to the very north tip of the beach, and cordoning off the rest of it. When I asked him why, the guy was like, "For your safety."

As soon as he leaves, this middle-aged (black) woman ("Shara") who had set up with her family on the grass a few yards away from me was like, "For your safety my ass, they just don't want anyone getting to see the concert for free."

So, we bitched about that, and then we were saying we should just stay there until the guy made us leave, because the people farther down the beach weren't getting ready to leave.

We did that for a while, but then pretty much everyone was gone, so we gave in and packed up.

"Where you sitting, [my name]?", she was like, "You're welcome to come set up by us!"

So, I did, and I was talking with her and her sister as her husband was down by the water with the kids. They even watched my stuff for me when I went to go take a dip before I left. Then, I had wanted to bike down the peninsula to see how the park there was set up, and they said I should go through the police barriers, because they had seen bikers doing that.

"If they catch you, play dumb," she was like. "Just say you didn't know what the barriers meant."

So, I did go bike that way, and when security wasn't looking I scooted through the barriers and onto the bike path, and it turned out that there was an outlet on the other side that wasn't being blocked by security, so I didn't even have to go back the way I came in.

And, when we were talking right before I left, it turns out they had come to that particular beach that day to hear the Jill Scott concert for free, and that 2 years ago when they had last done something like that, you could still sit on the beach all evening, they didn't block it off.

We agreed to write the Parks District, and maybe Jill Scott, too.