There is a black man walking along the highway needing a lift do you stop to pick him up? In the essay "Umbilicus" by James Alan McPherson, two white men stop and ask a black man if he needs a lift, and he accepts their offer and the journey begins. Most people would not stop; this is a trust issue that many people go through almost everyday. The issue of trust seems to come and go with each decade. For instance, in the 1960's there was little trust or relationship between communities; you had the blacks and the whites. Then in the 1970's and 1980's after the Civil Rights movement and the hippy era, there was a great deal of trust and coming together of groups and communities. Now, in the present day, society once again loses its trust, with all the violence and crime in our world. These are just three ways that cultural communities relationships have changed within the past four decades.
             The 1960's was full of segregation, hate, and racism. The relationship between different communities and cultures were very distant. The groups stayed as far apart as possible, doing their own thing, which caused some tension and awkwardness. This led to more and more mistrust. In the case of the essay "Umbilicus," a black man who stays inside his home, and mainly to himself, and who's community consists of him, decides to go on a trip up north, thanks to some advice from a friend. The black man's car broke down as he was driving back from his sight-seeing trip across the north. As he began to walk, a truck stops and two white brothers offer him a ride. He decided to take up their offer. This type of situation would rarely happen in this decade; instead of getting a ride from two white brothers, he might have been dragged behind their pickup truck for the simple fact that he was black, but of course this is the most drastic scenario. This is the kind of trust issue that each decad...