What is your first memory about race?

[code1211]

In my neighborhood, the gang of kids who played together routinely said, "Last one home/in/back or whatever is a Ni---- Baby. This always preceeded a mad dash to whatever the goal was by the group.

I repeated this at home in front of my parents once and was sat down and it was explained to me that I should NEVER say that word.

The definition was not supplied and it was only years later that I learned what it meant and what it meant to say it. Two very different things.

At the time I was saying it in that phrase, I thought it was a squirrel or some other form of wildlife. Northern Minnesota.

 

[OODA_Loop]

We used to play Democrats and Constituents and would fight to keep the Constituents as our slaves.

 

[strollingbones]

i grew up on military bases for the most part......i had lived with all races....when i went to a civilian school.....i remember in the 7th grade a teacher showing this picture and going what is amazing about this picture....i saw nothing amazing about the picture...my classmates are all going....we see it...we see it....i felt so stupid.....then the teacher pointed out the amazing part about the picture...it had a white hand and a black hand holding a spike to be driven in.....but that was the amazing part...a black and white working together...

the whole thing left a sickening feeling in my stomach and i remember that day to this day.....

 

[Truthmatters]

My hubby was raised as an air force brat so he understands on exactly what you mean.

I cant remember my first experience.

 

[strollingbones]

the civilian world was a totally different ball game.....esp considering that we were having race riots etc....jerome had been a friend and neighbor for years.....i remember at school...he would go into the bathroom and wait in the outer section so i could go in there and not be scared or beat up....he was black.....he was a great person......i hope he made it out unscathed by it all...

 

[Unkotare]

Everyone's first memory about 'race' is not giving a shit about it until some fucking asshole came along and taught them to.

 

[Unkotare]

When I was about 4, our dog bit the shit out o' some black dude who came to the door selling Fuller Brushes.......He had never done anything like that before.

How do you know he had never sold Fuller Brushes before?

 

[Unkotare]

Fighting with primary schoolmates who mocked my surname.

Ethnic, not race, was the issue at hand.

That, and culture, are the only real issues anyway when people talk about 'race.'

 

[MeBelle]

Everyone's first memory about 'race' is not giving a shit about it until some fucking asshole came along and taught them to.

My being raised with many different ethnicities and races, one becomes 'color blind'.
Having been raised by a father who is half American Indian (or Native American, whichever term one prefers) helped me.

 

[Mr. H.]

I remember in grade school, Sister Mary Joseph often used the expression "there's always one black ****** in the woodpile". Come to think of it, in my 8 years there she's the only one that ever hauled off and smacked me LOL.

 

[Flopper]

I was called a "****** lover" for holding hands with a black boy in high school. My father wouldn't let my Native American friend come home with me because" she is too dark, and the neighbors will complain."

From the musical South Pacific:

"You've Got To Be Taught
to Hate And Fear,
you've Got To Be Taught
from Year To Year,
it's Got To Be Drummed
in Your Dear Little Ear
you've Got To Be Carefully Taught.

You've Got To Be Taught To Be Afraid
of People Whose Eyes Are Oddly Made,
and People Whose Skin Is A Diff'rent Shade,
you've Got To Be Carefully Taught."

 

[code1211]

Not my first, but certainly the first "Hinge Moment" for me regarding race was listening to Mohammed Ali talking about Whites claiming that Blacks covet white women.

He asked why he would. Blacks are more beautiful is what he said. They have more beautiful skin, bone structure, faces and bodies. It caused for me a complete shift in the paradigm provided me by society.

Now, looking around around the society, those who are most generally considered the most beautiful are people of color: J-Lo, Halle Barry, the Old Spice Guy and so on.

The entire American society has accepted a paradigm shift on this between 1970 and today. Indeed, we must have been carefully taught. And why might that have been? A society is an evolving entity as much as any organism.

Why would racism be held as a central, shared idea, goal and guideline? It's really an amazing limitation of synergy and done so with planned and aggressively enforced will of the whole.

Racism, sexism... all the ism's. Interesting that we could survive them. A house divided and so on.

 

[Flopper]

Not my first, but certainly the first "Hinge Moment" for me regarding race was listening to Mohammed Ali talking about Whites claiming that Blacks covet white women.

He asked why he would. Blacks are more beautiful is what he said. They have more beautiful skin, bone structure, faces and bodies. It caused for me a complete shift in the paradigm provided me by society.

Now, looking around around the society, those who are most generally considered the most beautiful are people of color: J-Lo, Halle Barry, the Old Spice Guy and so on.

The entire American society has accepted a paradigm shift on this between 1970 and today. Indeed, we must have been carefully taught. And why might that have been? A society is an evolving entity as much as any organism.

Why would racism be held as a central, shared idea, goal and guideline? It's really an amazing limitation of synergy and done so with planned and aggressively enforced will of the whole.

Racism, sexism... all the ism's. Interesting that we could survive them. A house divided and so on.

As a child living in the South in 50's, I remember our maid, Matty. She came four days a week, did some of the cooking, cleaning and a lot of childcare, something few middle class families can afford today. At least twice a week, I would go home with Matty. We rode the bus to her house. On the bus we sat together, often in the back of the bus. The driver seem to know that she was taking care of me so it was ok. At her house, I would play with Marcus, her son. During the summers, Marcus would come to my house with Matty and we would play war and all the games kids played. He was about my age and became my closest friends. As we grew older, we grew apart. The code of old south was drummed into our head. Whites and Negros don't mix. Birds of feather stick together and so on. We saw each other occasionally and we would nod. Once one of my friends ask whose the N___ . I said, I don't know just some , jig.

 

[Tank]

Sounds like many of you have already seen the movie The Help

 

[Wicked Jester]

What is my first memory about race?

Al Unser won the Indy 500.

 

[Ernie S.]

We had race riots in my high school freshman year. I remember how scary it was being locked in our class rooms and we could hear screams and chains. Our parent's had to come and pick us up and we were escorted by police officers out of the school.

There were riot police outside the high school all four years I attended.
We were not allowed to have bathroom doors on the toliets, because kids would get jumped.

Very tough time.

Race riots my freshman year too ('63). A lot of gunfire and knives. I really had no opinion one way or the other up to that point. I had never been within 10 feet of a black person before freshman year and had made a few black friends and a few white ones.
Running through a cemetery with a half dozen blacks shooting at you leaves a lasting impression. I retained my few black friends, but didn't look to extend the circle for many years. Today, I'm back to neutral. I neither like or dislike black folk. They're just folks and I, at least start off liking folks.
They tell me, ex #2 is black. I never really thought about it. She is a fine person and I thought the world of her.

 

[Ernie S.]

My mom is half white, she looks like a lighter Vanessa Williams; my dad is dark skin. My great grandmother worked at Woolworth's. I was about seven, with my mom, brother and sister. We were going into the Woolworth's to see my great-grandmother(father's side), this old white lady came up and asked my mom: "What's a nice white girl like you doing watching these little ****** kids"? My mom leaned in close and said something to the lady, all I know is the old lady turned red and stormed off.

Good for your mom! She sounds like a straight up lady! (and if she looks like Vanessa Williams.... Phone #?

 

[Ernie S.]

When I was about 4, our dog bit the shit out o' some black dude who came to the door selling Fuller Brushes.......He had never done anything like that before. Man he saw that black dude and it freaked him out.

I got bit by a black friend's German Shepard. I guess dogs are racist.

 

[yidnar]

My mom is half white, she looks like a lighter Vanessa Williams; my dad is dark skin. My great grandmother worked at Woolworth's. I was about seven, with my mom, brother and sister. We were going into the Woolworth's to see my great-grandmother(father's side), this old white lady came up and asked my mom: "What's a nice white girl like you doing watching these little ****** kids"? My mom leaned in close and said something to the lady, all I know is the old lady turned red and stormed off.

BWAAA HAAA HAAAA!!

 

[yidnar]

When I was about 4, our dog bit the shit out o' some black dude who came to the door selling Fuller Brushes.......He had never done anything like that before.

How do you know he had never sold Fuller Brushes before?

he wasn't talking about the mutt!!he was talking about the dog!!