My Dad talked to me about prejudice... (Huntsville, Dothan: lawyer, home)

[cgrab]

Towards the end of high school and heading off to a rather elite college, my Dad called me into his office for a talk on prejudice. [He was a rather famous criminal lawyer both defense and prosecution in Washington DC and had been the point man for racial relations when he was stations at MCB Albany GA.]
He asked a simple question: "If you entered a room and your brother was in a fight who would you side with?" After I joked "which brother?" I said of course I would help any of my brothers. He said "What if your brother was in the wrong?" To which I replied I didn't know but he is my brother. He said what about when you're on the ball field and a fight breaks out, do you side with your teammate? To which I agreed.



I'm a white guy, always have been, always will be, never took any pride or shame in it. Played on teams in Jr. High and High School with people of all races. I was the minority on the varsity soccer team and had to learn a new language to be able to play. I never considered myself prejudice.



Here is the lesson...whether it is my brother who shares my DNA or a teammate who wears the same colors or a guy that just happens to look like me, I am predisposed to support the team. That is not racism, that's prejudice and EVERYONE has it. He simply wanted me to understand that fact as I became an officer and leader of Marines. Question your decisions and make the right choice.



Over my 30 years in the Marines and in all my other dealings, whenever faced with a decision in which someone affected by that decision was ethnically or racially different, I would ask the question of myself...does it matter?


It has worked out well for me over the yeas. Thanks Dad.

[Shizzles]

First, thank you for your service.

Let me start off with saying that, yes, all humans have an innate predisposition to fight for their "team", but what people should and I hope do understand about the anger and sadness surrounding recent events is that there are times when you need to question who and what constitutes your "team". As a former Marine commander, you are well versed in the UCMJ, and thus fully understand that all men under your command are a reflection of you, The USMC, and the flag you've bravely chosen to die for if need be. If one of your subordinates was with you on the battlefield and choose to sexually assault a native resident, which is your "team":

a) Joe Bob rapist

b) Your uniform, your country and your oath.

This same conundrum is what people are asking of the 4 police officers that are on that video tape. Yes, I get that they work an incredibly dangerous job and probably would take bullets for each other, but when it comes down to it we all choose our "team". You can define your team based on blood, you can define your team based on brotherhood (sports, military, being a cop etc), or you can define your team based on the values, principals and beliefs you hold, such as the right to life, liberty and to be treated fairly, all of which you fought to uphold and all of which were denied to George Floyd.

It's your choice.

[RocketDawg]

What do these two posts have to do with Huntsville/Decatur?

They should be in the political forum and will be reported as such.

[bobspez]

Maybe I'm different. I never joined a fraternity although I was invited. I played sports but when the game was over, got dressed and went home. I had friends but never sought safety in numbers or was part of any clique. I never saw myself as part of a group.

If someone was beating up my brother, I'd try to stop him. If my brother was beating up someone, I'd try to stop my brother.

I've never felt any special affinity for people like me, plenty of them were SOB's. I've never saw myself as part of a tribe, or against another tribe. I don't even root for home teams.

There's four types of people for me, family, friends, acquaintances, and everyone else. I agree most people, maybe nearly everyone, me included, have learned prejudices, but most men I know including myself desire to have sex with many of the women they meet or even just see on the street, maybe would like to slap a relative, and occasionally would like to kill someone. Doesn't mean they act on it, or on their prejudices either. Some people think there's people who think they are not prejudiced but they are. I don't believe it. They are just redefining prejudice to suit themselves.

[k7baixo]

I grew up south of B’ham and while I never thought of myself as raciest, I never had many blacks who held any real power over me save a teacher or two. As typical, my response to any adult ended with “sir” or “ma’am” regardless of their race.

I may have had an advantage in humility also. As a 16-year old hospital orderly, it didn’t matter the color of the patient’s butt. I had to clean them all up when duty called. At that age, it was quite a shock but it did, however pay much better than bagging groceries.

Better yet, any thoughts of *not* listening to someone who might be black was dispelled about 10 seconds into basic training at Lackland in 1976. Yep, our training instructor was black and I never had an issue. He was my Sgt and I did as ordered. In fact, we got along famously after that initial few weeks. I had a particular job to perform for our training squad and I never let him down. He was, simply put, a great man.

I thank God for parents and life’s experiences which taught me well and am proud of my ability to work with everyone from tough union electricians in Gary IN to redneck electricians in Dothan to Dutch union electricians in the Netherlands to my all female team in Saudi and my China team In Dalian. Even as I close in on retirement, it’s unusual when I don’t reach out to someone on nearly every continent. That still amazes me, as a dumb ole country boy from SOB...south of B’ham.

[Southlander]

Originally Posted by RocketDawg

What do these two posts have to do with Huntsville/Decatur?

They should be in the political forum and will be reported as such.

So...report them as such.

[Southlander]

As an English major....you can have prejudice. You can see prejudice in others.
But you are prejudiced.
I don't know why people try to make a noun into an adjective. Or maybe it's an adverb. I always had a hard time telling adjectives and adverbs apart. Sorry, it's just a pet peeve of mine.

I am not prejudiced.
You are not prejudiced.
He, she, or they have prejudice in their hearts.

[Nefret]

Originally Posted by Southlander

As an English major....you can have prejudice. You can see prejudice in others.
But you are prejudiced.
I don't know why people try to make a noun into an adjective. Or maybe it's an adverb. I always had a hard time telling adjectives and adverbs apart. Sorry, it's just a pet peeve of mine.

I am not prejudiced.
You are not prejudiced.
He, she, or they have prejudice in their hearts.

This is also a pet peeve of mine.

Another term that grates on me----I always thought that "hate" was a verb and " hatred" was a noun. But people today use "hate" as a noun. That may be correct but it doesn't sound right to me.

[Snyper]

Y'all better throw a Huntsville or Decatur in there somewhere or RocketDawg will be reporting you.

[cgrab]

Originally Posted by Southlander

As an English major....you can have prejudice. You can see prejudice in others.
But you are prejudiced.
I don't know why people try to make a noun into an adjective. Or maybe it's an adverb. I always had a hard time telling adjectives and adverbs apart. Sorry, it's just a pet peeve of mine.

I am not prejudiced.
You are not prejudiced.
He, she, or they have prejudice in their hearts.

Thanks, I had to take English twice just to graduate with my degree in Aerospace Engineering. (Why else would I be in Huntsville.) Still didn't learn enough to be understand what you said here.