Last Sunday brought a whipsaw of emotions. The estimable Siobahn McAndrew's front-page story in the Reno Gazette-Journal exposed endemic racism in Lyon County.

And I lost a friend.

The Barbwire as usual spared every expense in breaking the Yerington story first on Oct. 18 with three followups since. The RGJ sent Ms. McAndrew to old Pizen Switch to interview the family/victims and local officials.

The most chilling aspect echoed the Washoe County School District's "how dare you?!" reaction to racism at Shaw Middle School in 2012. Did art classes teach spray-painting "KKK" on black kids' lockers and drawing crosses in the street in front of their house? Just kids having fun.

At least Shaw got locked down after some student threatened to shoot up the place a few weeks ago. In Sparks, arrest. In Yerington, pats on the head.

Yerington Police Chief Buford T. Justice dismissed it all as just kids being kids, then wrapped himself in the First Amendment.

"Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel," Dr. Samuel Johnson opined a couple of centuries ago. Nothing's changed.

Disgracing Assembly Speaker Emeritus Joe Dini's memory, his son, Yerington Mayor George Dini, tossed it off as just part of his friendly little town's touristy ambience. Just kids having fun.

Maybe the Klan will book a convention.

The children of present and former Lyon/Yerington law enforcement officers have made overt threats to shoot blacks. Attorney General Adam Laxalt sent investigators last week because Yerington PD illegally shredded police reports about racist incidents. They have to protect their kids, fergawdsakes.

Like the worldwide cascade of sexual harassment and rape revelations, perhaps this will finally start cleansing Nevada of its Mississippi West hangover.

One Sparks resident with a biracial grand-daughter told me of her anger at what the kid daily endures. Grandma especially bristles when people assert that we live in a "post-racial" era. Nothing could be further from the truth. Black people see the world differently because they are treated differently.

Unnoticed in public comment before the Washoe County School District Trustees last month were complaints from the daughter of a Reno cop decrying racial bias at Sparks' Reed High.

The morally obtuse principal of Yerington High sarcastically defended his school's lily-white wall of notable graduates by telling McAndrew "last year, we nominated someone of Italian descent. Does that count?"

Hell no. My family went through persecution like any other immigrant group (see Kate Smith and Lady Gaga, Tribune Feb. 14) but are no longer on the bottom of the barrel.

Future President Theodore Roosevelt once stated that he thought an 1891 mass-lynching of Italians in New Orleans was "a rather good thing."

A wise man once opined that "the Lord created the world, mankind built the cities and the devil thunk up the small town."

What kind of community does Nevada want to become?

DARRYL FEEMSTER, 1962-2017. Senior citizen and youth advocate Darryl Feemster, 55, died Sunday, Nov. 19, at St. Mary's Regional Medical Center. He never regained consciousness after a stroke. He was admitted to the hospital's intensive care unit on Nov. 7 after being found unresponsive in his bedroom.

Reach out your hand If your cup is empty If your cup is full, may it be again Let it be known There is a fountain That was not made By the hands of men — Robert Hunter & Jerry Garcia*

A Reno native, he was a longtime member of the Reno-Sparks NAACP and currently served on its executive committee.

Patricia Gallimore, President of NAACP Reno-Sparks Branch No. 1112, said "the Feemster family has been the branch's bedrock for decades.

"We will honor Darryl Feemster by building on his impressive achievements and using his legacy as a blueprint to guide us moving forward.

"The year 2017 will be remembered as a time when we lost a gathering of giants," Gallimore added.

Finding a location large enough for a memorial service is currently just one of the Feemster family's tasks as they plod through the numb slog of mourning my friend Darryl.

Godspeed.

UPDATE: A memorial service will be conducted at 11:00 a.m. on Friday, December 1, at Sparks Christian Fellowship, 510 Greenbrae Drive, Sparks NV 89431. SCF is located at the northeast corner of Pyramid Way at Greenbrae Drive on the east side of historic Greenbrae Center. A reception will follow at the Boys and Girls Club, 2680 E. Ninth Street, Reno. A private family burial will be conducted at Reno's Mountain View Cemetery. Please watch this website for additional news and his official family obituary. Personal remembrances may be posted at RenoSparksNAACP.org/

Happy Thanksgibleting to you and yours.

Be well. Raise hell. / Esté bien. Haga infierno. (Pardon my Spanglish.)

_____________________
* "Ripple" lyrics from The Grateful Dead's greatest album, "American Beauty." Photo shows Darryl with his grandson, Marcus, Jr.

Online Extras & Smoking Guns—>
Brain damage means never having to say you're sorry
Nevada's Most-Censored News Stories of 2017
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the 11-15-2017 Sparks Tribune
Throwing the book at big guns and little cowboys
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the 11-8-2017 Sparks Tribune
We Don't Need No Education Part LXXX—>
The poisoning of old Pizen Switch proliferates
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the 11-1-2017 Sparks Tribune
We Don't Need No Education Part LXXIX—>
Mississippi West don't need no education
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the 10-25-2017 Sparks Tribune / Updated 10-29, 10-30 and 10-31-2017 GMT
We Don't Need No Education Part LXXVIII—>
You've got to be taught to learn to hate
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the 10-18-2017 Sparks Tribune / Updated 10-19 and 10-29-2017 GMT
Window of opportunity: 48 hours for human rights
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the 10-11-2017 Sparks Tribune
Las Vegas 2017: Fire is the devil's only friend
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the 10-4-2017 Sparks Tribune
Rewriting the Civil War and the Mexican War
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the 9-27-2017 Sparks Tribune / Updated 9-28-2017
Freedom loving racists shoot to rewrite history
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the 9-20-2017 Sparks Tribune
Rewriting History
Reno News & Review Editorial: Remove Klansman's sculpture at UNR / 9-14-2017
Virginia City Nevada celebrates Slave Labor Day
Barbwire by Andres Luis Barbáno / Special online Labor Day edition 9-2-2017

ANTE INTO THE GAME: Support the new season of Barbwire.TV by putting your money where my mouth is. A thousand thanks to those who keep sending show suggestions.

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END OF TIMES SURVIVAL KIT. Defend yourself with humorous or humorless but always-peerless predictions for 2017 by subscribing to the Barbwire Confidential News Service.

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Be well. Raise hell. / Esté bien. Haga infierno. (Pardon my Spanglish.)