By GottaLaff
I have a very caring, impassioned Twitter pal who goes by the name 42bkdodgr, one who I've actually had the pleasure to spend some time with. He wanted to share his feelings about recent events, and I am more than happy to oblige. I've posted other Special Comments by him here, here, and here; all got great reviews.
His latest effort concerns a childhood brush with racism and how it affected him. Take it away, 42bkdodgr:
Thank you once again for a thoughtful, heartfelt piece, 42bkdodgr.Life Experiences Shape You
Recently I wrote a comment about the hate and racism within the country and political arena. Since then I have discovered some of my friends who never showed any racist tendencies are suddenly saying they’ve become bigoted.
I usually discovered their sentiments came out during discussions on Health Care reform. They are senior citizens, like I am, and they fear the government, meaning Obama, will change the health care they currently have under Medicare. As I said in my previous comment I have never seen such hatred in my life, but I feel this racial hatred has been hidden in many people until now.
I am of the belief that your life experiences in your formative years are formed about race and society in general, before going to college or out into the business world. I would like to tell you two experiences that shaped mine.
I was about 10 years old, watching a Physical Ed teacher paint white lines on a handball court. With me was another white boy about eight, and a black boy about the same age as the other boy. While the paint was being applied, the white boy made a statement that the black boy could use some paint on him. The hurt I saw in that black boy's eyes has stayed with me for over 60 years, as has the response by the teacher.
The teacher said, “He looks just fine the way he is”. No words by the teacher could ever make up for the harm done by the other boy’s remark. I often wonder how those two remarks affected the black boy for the rest of his life.
The other event that shaped my life involved my sister. Recently married just after the Korean War, she and her husband, a Korean War vet, were looking for an apartment. In those days apartments were hard to get and usually, if one became available, a payment under the table to the building superintendent was required.
My sister got an apartment in a very short period of time and was quite surprised at getting it so easily. One day, upon meeting the building superintendent (who was black), she thanked him for renting the apartment to her with such a short waiting period, and without any payment.
He said to her, "Your father-- whenever I came into the store-- (he worked at a haberdashery) always treated me like a man by serving me in the front of the store, not like the other merchants in the area who would always directed me to the back of the store." This occurred in the mid-1950s in a predominately all white neighborhood.
These two events have stayed with me my whole life and guided me on how people of any color should be treated. I believe I have passed this on to my children as they have friends of all ethnic, racial, and sexual orientation.
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