A few days ago I was walking to my morning train, headed to work. In my neighborhood, where white folks are about 4% of the population, I typically tend to stick out. But that's usually fine by me. Everyone smiles, everyone says hello, no one gives me a hard time.

As I'm walking to the train an older couple is on the sidewalk, the man raking leaves and the woman watching him. They both smile at me as I walk past, and once I'm beyond them I hear them talking about me loudly.

"Have you seen him around before?" the woman asks. "Once or twice," the man replies.

"Do you know him?" the woman continues. "Nope," the man says.

There's a pause between them, and then a sigh from the woman. "Well, there goes the neighborhood."