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A Story

Posted by **murray** on Jun 23, 2013 at 11:17:47 AM:

I was born into a Southern family...As a youngster, I mimicked what the adults said as kids are wont to do... My parents and I moved to Baltimore in late 1962...Around In 1965, I lived in a neighborhood where I made friends with a kid named Rodney who was black, I was welcomed into the home he shared with his mom and grandma...They were wonderful to me...What did I learn? That these people who were supposedly inferior to me according to members of my family, were in no way inferior...This was the year when the Selma to Montgomery marches were happening...Blacks were being beaten and tear gassed...It was the year after Cheney, Schwerner, and Goodman were murdered ... The welcome I received from this family opened a wide door for me and I recall the time I spent with them fondly. I like to belie I would have seen the light without them but I am grateful they were there to show me... My lifelong love for soul music took hold from listening to the 45s spun on the console stereo in their basement... I could not have Rodney at my house when family was visiting...Certainly not because I didn't want him there but I did not want him hurt by any stupid things coming out of my family's mouths...
The friendship lasted three years...It ended not because of anything to do with black and white but because I violated their trust by urging my friend to do something which was harmful and my welcome was taken away as a result...



When it came to workplace experiences, all my closest friendships were formed with my black co-workers... Fact is, they were just cooler to hang with.....That's why you'd see a car full of workers going to lunch consisting of four burly black dudes and a skinny long0haired white guy... They were always kinder and more accepting than the majority of my white co-workers... Of course, you can probably imagine the term most likely used by some of those white co-workers to describe me...


At one workplace, many black employees ordered sweatshirts to wear on MLK's birthday featuring his likeness, and one of his quotes... I ordered one and wore it o his birthday. I was the only white employee to do so...Some of my friends told me I was nuts to do so...One of the biggest rednecks there told me that I should be strung up for wearing that shirt...


When my mother was alive, I had to deal with the racist attitudes of her brothers and sisters to some degree. because she was terminally ill and I was caring for her in her home.....After she died of cancer, I no longer had to do so...Consequently, I haven't had contact with some family members for almost twenty years because not only did they use slurs, they amped up the slurs precisely because they knew it angered me...





I say all this not because I expect a medal but because this board alone cannot tell the whole story...



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Last updated on Jun 23, 2013