I don't know how this thread has developed and I don't feel like looking back over it at the moment. The other day was visiting with one of my offspring and discussing the current history that is being made in real time. Shared my memories of the 68 riots and the civil rights movement, how I worked in the Deep South at a certain time and years later (when reading up on Freedom Fighters and the Movement) realized that I may have been working with KKK members or adults whose daddy's were KKK. Anecdote to follow on that in a sec. We discussed how incomplete school curriculum was and I shared going back to grade school what I was taught about Christopher Columbus and how sanitized the curriculum was in both our experiences. All kinds of things we discussed.
I noted that we are witnessing history being made this very second and how the faces of the protesters have changed from the 60's and how this "push" is different than that time period.
She is reading a book about systemic racism titled, "White Rage". Told me about the information contained therein. I told her I wanted to read it after she's done. There's a friend in line ahead of me. It sounds like something we all should read. Basically the game has always been rigged against Black people and how the manipulation was carried out.
Note: If I ever made a contribution in my life, it's that I raised some decent human beings.
Here's the brief story. I was working in the DS dispatching drivers and heavy equipment operators. They would come in my office on break and shoot the breeze. One day they were congregated in my office and in the group was a Black female driver named, H. H was a single woman in her 30's. The guys were ranging 30-50 year olds. All white. I was in my mid-20's and the only Yankee in the place. They didn't like me at first. I guess I grew on them. ;-)
So they are all in there talking on break rotating out in shifts in my office because the taxi drivers couldn't all go down at the same time. It was a mix of taxi drivers, deuce and a half, semi drivers, and crane operators. H was among them all chit chatting and laughing and what not. G was a burly crane operator, probably 230 lbs easy and 6 foot tall, not that this matters but it did in terms of what took place. I was probably 100 pounds soaking wet at the time if I was even that, tiny petite. They called me Lil Bit. Prior to this incident I thought we were all good working friends with good relationships. Lots of laughs and all that.
H walks out of the room to go back "on". As soon as the door closed, G says "Why, I'd like to just cut her little monkey tail off".
And I spun around in my chair saw that some of the guys were smiling this weird smile and I said, "What did you just say?". And he said it again, "I'd like to cut her little monkey tail off". :surprised:
To which I replied to the effect, "How come you didn't say that to her face? Get the hell out of my office right now and don't let me hear crap like that coming out of your mouth ever again, do you hear me?" "Well, okay..." and he turned and left.
I cannot fully express what that felt like to me. As soon as he said that, I could feel an adrenaline rush like my blood was boiling or something. Fight or flight. In an instant, I chose fight. And those smiles? Those snarky smiles they had on them. But even though it was a little scary, I felt satisfied that I drew the line that day.
So probably within 5 years or so ago, when reading about the Movement, I realized that it wasn't so many years before that incident that a bus was burned in the bus station in that same town and that one or more of those guys daddy's could've been Klan members or at least supported the Klan.
What the heck is my life about anyway, right?