As someone who was stationed in Mississippi as a member of the US Air Force in 1953, I definitely agree with the thrust of this opinion piece. The people in command off the base demanded rigid segregation based on the color of one's skin and leaving the base meant traveling only with a companion or companions whose skin color resembled yours if you knew what was good for you. I remember a couple of my friends being sad because they could not go into town together. Since the locals seemed to be still, in their own minds, fighting the Civil War, we were also defined as either Yankees or Rebels. (Of course, that only became obvious when you started talking.)
When I started living in Maryland as a civilian. I noticed that some of that Mississippi attitude was also here in the law and customs. So I immediately joined the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People to join in the battle to overturn and overcome those laws and customs.
The part of of article with which I disagree concerned the mention of "whites," but it's no big deal. The only white-skinned people of whom I'm aware are albinos. However, there are a lot of "pinks", as if it matters, As I see it, whatever our skin color, we're all members of the human race and deserving of equal respect and equal treatment under the law.
Thank you Ken, I appreciate your your thoughts and input. My dad's father died when he was 13 and he was Irish and Catholic. My grandmother was English and Protestant. After World War II in 1945, the Scranton country Club decided to allow three Catholics in so they picked my dad and my Uncle Jim because they figured with a Protestant mother they had to be okay and one other guy. That was the reality of it. Back then. My Uncle Jim was the first Catholic in his law firm. The walls were coming down after World War II but they came down slowly and bit by bit. I manage the everybody's Maryland politics group on Facebook and every once in awhile somebody says something kind of racist and I'm so tempted to say to him, you do realize you wouldn't have been considered white in 1935. When the sign said whites only they weren't letting your family in and not with a name like and then whatever. People are quick to forget.
In the late 1960s, my parents sold the house they had built to move to a larger place. The house didn't sell when they listed it and after the listing expired one Saturday afternoon a couple came to the door and asked if the house was still for sale and then when they heard it was they asked to see it. Finally, they said they loved it and they asked what the price was. My father raised the price a little bit over what it had been listed at cuz he figured it would give him room to negotiate down. Instead, the family said that's no problem at all. We'll take it, but you have to understand we're Jewish. This would have been about 1968. There were still neighborhoods where Jews were not welcome in 1968. It's crazy today because now somebody was Jewish gets mentioned as one of the white people so our world has changed quite a bit in my lifetime and more in my parents lifetime.
As someone who was stationed in Mississippi as a member of the US Air Force in 1953, I definitely agree with the thrust of this opinion piece. The people in command off the base demanded rigid segregation based on the color of one's skin and leaving the base meant traveling only with a companion or companions whose skin color resembled yours if you knew what was good for you. I remember a couple of my friends being sad because they could not go into town together. Since the locals seemed to be still, in their own minds, fighting the Civil War, we were also defined as either Yankees or Rebels. (Of course, that only became obvious when you started talking.)
When I started living in Maryland as a civilian. I noticed that some of that Mississippi attitude was also here in the law and customs. So I immediately joined the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People to join in the battle to overturn and overcome those laws and customs.
The part of of article with which I disagree concerned the mention of "whites," but it's no big deal. The only white-skinned people of whom I'm aware are albinos. However, there are a lot of "pinks", as if it matters, As I see it, whatever our skin color, we're all members of the human race and deserving of equal respect and equal treatment under the law.
Thank you Ken, I appreciate your your thoughts and input. My dad's father died when he was 13 and he was Irish and Catholic. My grandmother was English and Protestant. After World War II in 1945, the Scranton country Club decided to allow three Catholics in so they picked my dad and my Uncle Jim because they figured with a Protestant mother they had to be okay and one other guy. That was the reality of it. Back then. My Uncle Jim was the first Catholic in his law firm. The walls were coming down after World War II but they came down slowly and bit by bit. I manage the everybody's Maryland politics group on Facebook and every once in awhile somebody says something kind of racist and I'm so tempted to say to him, you do realize you wouldn't have been considered white in 1935. When the sign said whites only they weren't letting your family in and not with a name like and then whatever. People are quick to forget.
In the late 1960s, my parents sold the house they had built to move to a larger place. The house didn't sell when they listed it and after the listing expired one Saturday afternoon a couple came to the door and asked if the house was still for sale and then when they heard it was they asked to see it. Finally, they said they loved it and they asked what the price was. My father raised the price a little bit over what it had been listed at cuz he figured it would give him room to negotiate down. Instead, the family said that's no problem at all. We'll take it, but you have to understand we're Jewish. This would have been about 1968. There were still neighborhoods where Jews were not welcome in 1968. It's crazy today because now somebody was Jewish gets mentioned as one of the white people so our world has changed quite a bit in my lifetime and more in my parents lifetime.
Thanks for your response, Barry.