- Joined
- Sep 22, 2003
- Messages
- 13,182
Bill Marsh said:More than ever, I am proud of you Cantina people.
A beautifully civil discussion on what could be a "Hot Topic."
I grew up in the 1950's and 1960's (some people say that I never 'grew up' just got older), but during this period of time I saw great changes. Some good and some bad.
During the 1950s we had a black housekeeper, Zebell was her name. I have no idea what Dad paid her. She was happy and very holy. She taught me more about the Bible than I ever learned in Sunday school.
She told me about how her husband, L.J., had come courting her in a buckboard wagon. She had a huge family and lived in a shack. But I have never known anyone with a happier life and disposition. Actually ALL of her family were like that.
Everyone worked, nobody complained and they had very good family values. In short, they were very much like our family.
Happy.
Then came the 1960s. At the time I did not like Martin Luther King and I also did not like JFK. Since then I have come to see some real good in their work.
However, ZeBell did not like them. One of the few times I saw her being serious. She felt that the 'order' was being upset by 'greedy politicians' who had 'their own good' ahead of 'what was right.'
That kids 'whose brains were still too smooth,' (had not yet gotten the walnut folds of an adult brain), were being 'confused.' Being told that they deserved better (they did), but 'did not know how to act.'
She understood that short term gain for the 'politicians' was going to hurt people in the longer run. I agree.
I saw division and unhappiness become the order of the day, for both black and white. I saw, on our TV, the frightened kids being forced into white schools, 'protected' by not only police, but also the National Guard.
At the time, I never understood the ruckus. Why did the black kids have to go to 'white' schools? It seemed that the black kids were actually being forced to attend.
Why did they not go to the same schools as us white kids anyway? Why was there this separation? Made no sense to me. I got along fine with ZeBell's kids. We went fishing together, we played together. Some of them I liked better than others, but it was never predicated on them being black.
I had a good education. I believe in education. I believe in one-ness of the human race and I believe that a lot on understanding can be gained by education.
In the 1960s I began to see division, frustration, anger and unhappiness. As black children began to learn in white schools, I saw the frustrated parents (who had been promised better lives by the politicians) actually undo their childrens education. Calling them Uncle Toms and losing their roots by buying into a white education.
This forced integration was accompanied by Sartres existentialism which seemed to say that people have rights solely because they exist. Well, they do and they dont.
I dont see that anyone, who CAN work, has the right to be supported because of their skin color and past injustices that occurred generations ago.
I see rights and responsibilities going hand in hand.
Yeah, injustices DID happen. Yeah, it WAS wrong. Yeah, things could be better, but my frustration is that people CAN do better.
That tells me everything I need to know right there.
Has any black person actually posted their opinion in this thread?
