Racism Will End When We Look At People As Individuals.
Posted: Monday, January 19, 2009
by Mike Fak
http://mikefak.com
I imagine this is a most important week in our country's history. We are about to have our first African-American president in our nation's history and that momentous benchmark should never be lost on as. I assure you it will always be an important part in the history books of our country that follow.
I really didn't think I would see it in my lifetime. I recall the racism that I bore witness to in the 50s and 60s and although I don't for a moment pretend that racism is dead, I like to believe that it is at least on the wan from those days a half-century ago.
At the factory as a young man, I was in the minority by far but it was never a problem. We all worked together, we sat and ate lunch and we talked about how different life was on the all-black south side of the city compared to the almost all-white north side.
Back then African-Americans preferred being called black as the last moments of being called colored people or negroes was being erased from the proper usage of defining a race with one word or phrase.
I found my first real shock of racism when I entered the army. On my base, I would imagine the split between blacks and whites was almost 50/50. For the first time in my life, I saw a definite break in who we worked with, who we hung out with and what race meant to people from different parts of the country.
I remember being hated by several players on the post's basketball team. Not because I couldn't play well enough to be on that team but because I wasn't black. I remember attendance by whites at the games was almost nil because the team was almost all black and who wants to root for a bunch of N-----'s.
I was fortunate to have a great partner on patrol duty, a young black from Philadelphia named Jonesy and we became great friends. Often I would ask him why the base was so polarized according to race and Jonesy would tell me I couldn't understand what he and others had to go through sometimes.
He was honest enough to say things in Philly weren't as bad as in the Deep South and he gave me a clear example that showed why one of the blacks on my team seemed to hate me so much.
The young soldier had a purple heart and a bronze star on his uniform. Jonesy told me that when he went back home to Mississippi, there were still restaurants that had signs saying his kind wasn't allowed to eat there. There were specific water fountains and specific colleges he would have to attend all because of his skin color.
I retorted that none of that had anything to do with me and Jonesy nodded explaining that it was my race which was doing this to him and to all of them.
The hatred wasn't one sided by any means. Often a white soldier would ask my why I hadn't asked for a different partner. When I explained that Jonesy and I worked well together, it was explained to me that my partner was a N-----, and I should be working with a white.
When I told this to Jonesy, he laughed and said he got the same crap from the brothers that he should dump me.
There were some rays of hope on the base. The guys who came back from Nam seemed to understand each other better. They had all been placed in a hell hole together and found that race had nothing to do with anything when soldiers need to rely on each other to live.
I was at that base for 14 months. In that time, I was able to make some friends who had darker skin than I. In some cases I never could form a friendship.
Back then it seems, I couldn't get past the hurdle of people of different races grouping everyone of another race into one big cauldron of hatred.
It's a shame. There were some really good and interesting guys who I never got to know. And they never got to know me.
When I returned to the factory I went to morning shift. The shift had nine African-Americans, two whites and one Asian.
Although we never socialized outside of work, we worked well together. We helped each other out when needed and covered for each other when we had to. We sat together at lunch and during breaks and shared a great many laughs as well as stories.
It was easy for all of us to get along and respect each other. We had taken the time to get to know each other as individuals. It's as simple as that.
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Top-level comments on this article: (4 total)Mike,Great article! Thanks for saying it like it is. I hope that today, regardless of anyone's political leanings, marks a great leap forward in the healing of the racial divides in our country.Thanks Jean. I fear we still have several generations to go for that. We seem to gather in flocks too much and until we get to know each other better we will still fight stereotypes in all races and religionsMike
I did the same thing in the Navy, I came from a background where my family was racist, and I never like that about my family. Fortunately, I went into the Navy, and there was never a problem fighting shoulder to shoulder with my fellow man no matter what the color of their skin was. I voted for President Obama, as I feel he is sincere about trying to get this country back on track. As my article says on Obama, "he has his work cut out for him". I really liked how your article expressed how the unity of different races can get along and work together. It painted a great picture of how this can happen. Well written Mike, that is why I am a fan....take careThanks for your insight Gary. With a last name like Halsey I imagine you had to go Navy.But yes, when we find ourselves in situations where we can get to know people, many barriers come down.Our new President has quite a job ahead of him. I worry that the prejudice of the two political parties towards each other might even be greater than that of race or creed.Mike
Great job Mike. I think your ending sums it all up. " It was easy for all of us to get along and respect each other. We had taken the time to get to know each other as individuals. It's as simple as that. " IThanks Robert. It is a shame that too often, those who are fair-minded get labeled along with those who are not.Mike
Mike,Great write. And all I can say is WOW to this: "...I remember attendance by whites at the games was almost nil because the team was almost all black and who wants to root for a bunch of N-----'s..."I appreciate your 'reality' shared in this article. Thanks for sharing it with us.Thank you Ronyae. Of course that mentality was from the 60s. But to think that such a mind set has gone away entirely would be as big an injustice as not recognizing that there still is a long journey ahead before we drop stereotypes from our thinking.Mike
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