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I've never seen it with my own eyes in a live and real life situation. In my line of work and during my travels in my life, i've met, seen, socialized with and been around people of all races, religions and sexual orientations and never have actually seen someone be a victim of racism.
Now, i'm not saying racism doesn't exist, but i've never seen it live and in person. Sure, you hear about racism and people of certain religions and sexual beliefs get "persecuted" against, but for me, if i didnt hear about racism on tv, or the radio or read about it in history books, i wouldn't actually know it exists.
Forgetting about history books and tv and heresay, what experience do you have where you actually have SEEN racism in person?
I have experienced racism I grew up with it all around me. We lived right up the street from the neighborhood school but had to be bused to a black school. Once the schools were integrated we were able to not only walk to the school but saw just how far behind we all were. I tried hard to understand but it was as though the teacher was speaking a ddifferent language and struggled in school ever since. That first year all the teacher would do is say don't worry about it.Never helping me.
If we are old enough and lived in certain parts of the United States we have certainly seen racism with our own eyes. I am 70. When I was in elementary school my parents made a drive every summer to Louisiana to visit their own parents (my grandparents). At a certain point on the way south (that point could have been southern Missouri, but for sure it was Arkansas and Mississippi) we began to see signs above the drinking fountains and on the restroom doors at gas stations. There were two drinking fountains, labeled "white" and "colored". There were three restrooms, labeled "men", "women", and "colored".
This struck me as very odd, as where we lived in St. Louis, Missouri I had never seen such a thing. Our family is white. But had I been a black child, I think there would have been a rather oppressive feeling about the whole thing.
By the time I was in high school, such signs had disappeared, at least along the major highways which we frequented.
In 1954, the year of the U.S. Supreme Court decision banning racial segregation in public schools, I was ten years old. Up until that time I attended all-white schools, and I never gave much thought to the matter, as I believe most children accept what they grew up with as "normal". In 1955 the schools in the suburb of St. Louis where we lived desegregated voluntarily and I started going to school with a mixture of white and black children. It was no particular big deal to me, although I am aware that in other cities it was a big deal and there was much conflict and litigation about it.
I suppose my main point is that there are plenty of older black people still living who have the personal experience of living under onerous, systematic racism. And their children and grandchildren have heard the stories and taken them to heart. I believe it represents a heavy psychological burden to bear and that is one reason why a low level of racial animosity, or at least distrust, still exists.
I have experienced racism I grew up with it all around me. We lived right up the street from the neighborhood school but had to be bused to a black school. Once the schools were integrated we were able to not only walk to the school but saw just how far behind we all were. I tried hard to understand but it was as though the teacher was speaking a ddifferent language and struggled in school ever since. That first year all the teacher would do is say don't worry about it.Never helping me.
I was still typing my post (#4) when you posted yours. How old are you, if you don't mind the question? I think it's relevant to the discussion.
In addition, I think your interesting post richly merits expansion. For example, what seemed to be the attitude of the white students, especially during the first year of integration? I take it you felt you were still "behind" upon graduation from high school? Voices such as yours are a valuable witness to history, which is why I am asking.
Last edited by Escort Rider; 05-12-2014 at 06:05 PM..
I was driving out in a rural country area and a old truck with two red neck / trailor trash types drove up along side of my car and gave me the middle finger and laughed then they tried to swing a baseball bat at my car but I drove on the left side of the road and the passenger couldnt hit my vehicle , then I turned onto a side road and they kept going
in my experiences , it's mostly the red neck cowboy types or trailor trash ex con types that were racist
they're always the ones that start the trouble, they think they are macho tough guys or something? always have to prove something
another times I was riding my bicycle and they emptied a full magazine from a small caliber handgun and tried to shoot me but missed
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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Yes, having lived in Oakland, CA for 4 years and working there for 17 years I saw it almost every day. I work in Seattle now and really have not seen it very often.
I've never seen it with my own eyes in a live and real life situation. In my line of work and during my travels in my life, i've met, seen, socialized with and been around people of all races, religions and sexual orientations and never have actually seen someone be a victim of racism.
Now, i'm not saying racism doesn't exist, but i've never seen it live and in person. Sure, you hear about racism and people of certain religions and sexual beliefs get "persecuted" against, but for me, if i didnt hear about racism on tv, or the radio or read about it in history books, i wouldn't actually know it exists.
Forgetting about history books and tv and heresay, what experience do you have where you actually have SEEN racism in person?
I had an employer offer me special training to get a promotion once. He said he chose me because he "didn't want some spade to get it."
Living in Mississippi, there's a lot of racism, most of it subtle. However, last week, I was at the gas station pumping gas and got put in the crossfire of a very racist encounter. The gas station I was at always has a long line of people waiting to get in because the prices are pretty cheap. The parking lot is pretty small too so cars are always rearranging themselves to try and make way for one person or another.
I waited my turn, pulled into the pump on the far right of the gas station, all the way at the end. Shortly thereafter, some guy pulled up in an SUV with his window rolled down. Because the pumps were full, he was waiting to my front right side. It appeared that he was waiting on the pump opposite me, but he could have honestly been waiting on my pump all the same.
The woman at the pump next to me got in her car and drove away. As she was doing so, another car pulled into that pump and as it did so, I heard the guy in the SUV yell out the window "Oh no! Mother Moderator cut: language , I was thar first! That's my Moderator cut: language pump!"
I looked over and saw a young black woman pulling into his spot. To be perfectly fair, she had moved into that pump out of turn but I could also tell that based on the angle her car came from, she couldn't have seen the guy waiting on the pump. She had a confused look on her face because this guy was yelling at her and I'm not quite sure she could make out what he was saying. But, I could hear everything.
As she got of her car he pulled up to her and started revving his engine (which sounded like it was missing a few spark plugs) and kept yelling out the window at her as she got out of the car. Moderator cut: language
The girl said to him, "Sir, Ordinarily I'd right this wrong but because you're cursing at me, I think you've given up the right to this pump."
At that point, SUV guy stuck his head out the window and said "You know what? You're just a dumb Moderator cut: language Keep in mind, I'm kind of silently watching all of this unfold but the whole time I just knew the guy was going to unleash the "n word." There's something about having lived in this part of the country for so long that you just develop a "sixth sense" for these sorts of things.
All this happened in the span of about twenty seconds. As soon as I heard the "n word" come out of his mouth, I immediately stuck up for the girl. Not doing so, in my opinion, would have just labeled me as an enabler of that sort of thing. I couldn't have lived with myself if I'd stayed quiet. Being a white guy, I also thought it might shut the ignorant redneck up. I raised my voice in a manner sufficient enough so that he'd understand I was serious but also not necessarily like I was "screaming" at him. I said, "Hey man. I don't care if she slashed your tires and broke your windshield. You don't call her that! As far as I'm concerned, she's right. You HAVE lost your pump privileges."
At that point, he got real whiny. "She stole my pump!" Oh, and imagine a real redneckety sort of accent behind all of this. Not some eloquently spoken guy having a bad day. But, he started driving down to the other pumps, the whole time yelling out the window. "That Moderator cut: language stole my pump!"
When he made sufficient enough distance from her, I leaned around my pump and said to the girl "I'm really sorry you had to hear that. In all truthfulness, he was waiting here first but he had no right to say that to you." She looked at me and said "That's OK. He's just ignorant." I said, "Yeah. Just an ignorant redneck. Don't let it get to you." Then I heard the redneck shout "Redneck my Moderator cut: language ! I guess he was listening to our conversation...
At that point, I leaned around to the pump again, I was done pumping gas, told the girl to have a nice day and she wished me the same. Just then, a car full of four very large black men (they fit every stereotypical appearance of four guys you just don't mess with) pulled up to the pump next to where the redneck was. They were completely unaware of the events that had just unfolded. The redneck was unaware of their arrival as his concentration was on me and the girl who "stole his pump." As I was getting in my truck, the redneck screamed something. Whether it was at me or at the girl I'm not sure. I didn't hear it because an eighteen wheeler had pulled in right as he was saying it and its air brakes hissed. What I do know is it got the very quick attention of the four black men that had just pulled up.
I heard one of them say "Moderator cut: language ! What'd you just say?"
At that point, I figured I'd overstayed my welcome and decided to leave. The redneck was boxed in by other cars at that point and there were four very large men who looked like they were about to pull him out of his truck for something he just said. As I was driving home, I thought I'd check the 5 o'clock news to make sure there were no reports of a redneck in Mississippi with a gas pump lodged up his rearend. To my knowledge, no such thing occurred.
Just another day in Mississippi...
Last edited by Oldhag1; 05-12-2014 at 09:57 PM..
Reason: In the forum no inappropriate language, to include implied words are allowed.
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