Reflections on my story #1 - race I thought I would copy Beverly's idea and share answers to some of the questions at the end of Chapter 3
Describe when you were first aware of your race or ethnicity.
So first lets talk about race
I didn’t live in an integrated environment but it was clear to me from an early age that my parents were tolerant of many things but racism wasn’t one of them. I was in third or forth grade when my father took me and my siblings to the Watts Towers. This was sometime in the 1960s, not really an ideal time to take a white family to Watts. Dad seemed oblivious. He was an engineer and he would bore all four of us for hours as we wandered from one nook to another cranny. I vividly remember when I was in 7th grade and we were living in Claremont, CA. My mother took me to a very nice house, much nicer than ours, and introduced me to a mother and girl my age who had recently moved to town, Mrs. Evers and Reena. Reena and I went upstairs to play with the biggest Troll collection I had ever seen. (Note: the one thing I dislike about reflecting in the JDP program is that I always end up reminding people just how old I am. I am sure the Troll mania was well before everyone else’s time) Mrs. Evers was the widow of Medgar Evers, Reena was his daughter. They had moved from the South after Medgar Evers was assassinated. My parents sat us all down that night and explained to us what a very important man Medgar Evers had been and how the Evers deserved our highest respect. I would play with Reena often, it was normally just the two of us, until we were forced to return to San Diego after my paternal grandfather’s death. I got that I was like everyone else in my extended family and who lived around us, White. I also got that not everybody was White and that some people had trouble with the difference. My parents always went out of their way to make sure that their kids knew such thinking was not acceptable in their home.
What a cool story. Nothing comparable in my family. The best was my aunt who got to meet Martin Luther King. Super cool lady. Worked as an educator and tells some crazy stories of working with very poor white Appalachian kids.
Thanks for posting your early experiences, Susan. The Evers' families are still highly respected in my home state of MS, by most but not all, of course. Thankfully, my father helped me understand that not all White people were like the folks who killed Medgar Evers. These reflections are often painful, but help us know who we are today.
Reflections on my story #1 - race
ReplyDeleteI thought I would copy Beverly's idea and share answers to some of the questions at the end of Chapter 3
Describe when you were first aware of your race or ethnicity.
So first lets talk about race
I didn’t live in an integrated environment but it was clear to me from an early age that my parents were tolerant of many things but racism wasn’t one of them. I was in third or forth grade when my father took me and my siblings to the Watts Towers. This was sometime in the 1960s, not really an ideal time to take a white family to Watts. Dad seemed oblivious. He was an engineer and he would bore all four of us for hours as we wandered from one nook to another cranny. I vividly remember when I was in 7th grade and we were living in Claremont, CA. My mother took me to a very nice house, much nicer than ours, and introduced me to a mother and girl my age who had recently moved to town, Mrs. Evers and Reena. Reena and I went upstairs to play with the biggest Troll collection I had ever seen. (Note: the one thing I dislike about reflecting in the JDP program is that I always end up reminding people just how old I am. I am sure the Troll mania was well before everyone else’s time) Mrs. Evers was the widow of Medgar Evers, Reena was his daughter. They had moved from the South after Medgar Evers was assassinated. My parents sat us all down that night and explained to us what a very important man Medgar Evers had been and how the Evers deserved our highest respect. I would play with Reena often, it was normally just the two of us, until we were forced to return to San Diego after my paternal grandfather’s death. I got that I was like everyone else in my extended family and who lived around us, White. I also got that not everybody was White and that some people had trouble with the difference. My parents always went out of their way to make sure that their kids knew such thinking was not acceptable in their home.
What a cool story. Nothing comparable in my family. The best was my aunt who got to meet Martin Luther King. Super cool lady. Worked as an educator and tells some crazy stories of working with very poor white Appalachian kids.
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting your early experiences, Susan. The Evers' families are still highly respected in my home state of MS, by most but not all, of course. Thankfully, my father helped me understand that not all White people were like the folks who killed Medgar Evers. These reflections are often painful, but help us know who we are today.
ReplyDelete