Race Through The Eyes Of A Child

I was a young child during the Kennedy administration in D.C. I am a child of a southern-born
white bigot.My family was traveling through the south on a Greyhound bus in 1961.We were
at the terminal and my sibling and I were looking around.We noticed the signs over the drinking
fountains and bathrooms,blacks only! I had to peek inside because I thought the blacks were special
because they had their own bathrooms.I looked inside and the bathroom wasn't any different then any I had seen before.A big,black lady was mopping the floor.

We boarded the bus and I remember looking over the back of my seat asking my parents,"why are
all the brown people sitting in the back?" I was told it was because they were black.My leather Mary
Janes were black and I said they are brown like chocolate.

At another terminal we had a quick lay-over for lunch only.A pretty,black lady approached me in line
and asked if I would get a carton of milk for her baby,she would pay for the milk at the register.I picked
up the milk and put it on my tray then my sibling said something and I put it back.The last memory
I have of this is looking back as we were leaving and seeing that pretty black lady standing in line
to get milk for her baby.This has haunted me for years
.
One saturday afternoon my sibling and I were dropped off at the local theater to watch a movie.A
theater down the street was playing a movie we wanted to watch instead,so we walked over there.
We didn't know that it was the"blacks only" theater.The lady at the ticketbooth sold us our tickets
and then asked for our phone number.We found out years later that she had called our parents to
let them know where we were and had an usher keep watch on us the whole time we were there.

We are not born with an instinct to be racially biased,that is a trait that is taught to us by our parents.
My father did ease up over the years and when I was a teen-ager I liked the Jackson5 among many
other groups at the time.I had one of their posters on my wall and I expected my dad to make me
take it down,he didn't.

When I was a child and noticed black people for the first time, I asked my Mother, why some people were a different color. She said, "That's how God made them, just like they made you the way you are." I thought that was a good answer.

reply to post by Night Star


That was a great answer that your mom gave you.My father was a
southern-born bigot and I was never allowed to have black friends
while I was growing up.That was why I was so surprised when he didn't
make me take the Jackson 5 poster off my wall.

Children don't see race as a divisive factor, until taught to do so. Can't imagine growing up in the South during that time, it has obviously made you a strong woman.

My boys both as infants thought their Aunt Sherri was the most beautiful creature. My boys are blond haired and blue eyed, I have some of my Lakota coloring that comes through, but my sister in law is full Inuipat from a village along the Alaska coast. Both of my boys have always been drawn to her darker, deeper complexion. As well as the few black people they have ever met, one of whom is an Uncle. Their natural curiosity has caused some staring, but they were both very young and enthralled to the point of embarrassing my sis in law, My husbands uncle just laughed and loved on them. If we teach them to love our differences, than maybe we can work on fixing other things.

reply to post by woodsmom


My father was born in the southern states,I was born and grew up in the northern.
I am also not full white,I am also part cherokee and blackfeet,I am "legally" white.

reply to post by mamabeth


I apologize for the assumption on my part. I meant no disrespect, I am raising my boys in the woods, so they don't see many people period. They were able to recognize beauty very young though anyway.
Diversity of race is a wonderful thing, we can all teach each other something.
The "legally white" bites me sometimes, my older family members refuse to share genealogy information with me because they consider it inappropriate still to be interested in my native family, only a couple of generations back.

reply to post by woodsmom


It is because of Slayer69 why I have been exploring my native heritage.
I have learned a few songs in cherokee and sometimes sing them while
doing my housework.My husband's paternal grandfather was full-blooded
cherokee.Yet, he has to write in "legally white" as well.

reply to post by mamabeth


It's a beautiful language,
I have heard a few songs in Cherokee, haunting is the best way I could describe it.
That's great that someone has helped to encourage your search.