Race relations

The recent controversy surrounded the owner of the LA Clippers and his racial remarks brought back memories from my youth and since I am about the same age as the man in question, I thought it might be informative. Growing up during the 40’s meant that we lived in segregated towns and black kids went to the black schools and we rarely had any contact with black kids. We didn’t go down town and neither did they. I went to a Catholic High School and kids came from all over town but there was only one black kid in my school of 400 students and he was brown and I never really thought about his color. I was more exposed to the black community than my friends because my dad was a milkman and I used to help him in the summer and his route was in the black part of town. In general conversation blacks were referred to as colored people or Negros but I did hear the fathers of my friends use the word “nigger”. My dad did not use that word so I didn’t and most of my friends did not use the word. I seriously doubt that someone never used that word. This segregation in a way led to the 60’s revolution. The children of that day, the baby boomers grew up with TV and movies and had access to the outside world that we lacked. For the most part we were unaware of how the blacks were treated in other parts of the country so when TV came in and we begin to see the world outside of our own neighborhood, it was a real eye opener. These baby boomers were taught by their parents to respect others and when they grew up and saw what they presumed their parents allowed they rebelled thinking their parents were hypocrites. They didn’t bother to find out why their parents were the way they were and just assumed the worst. As they rebelled against their parents this rebellion carried over to other areas and opened the door to the civil rights area. It was a rough time but the country came out of it a better place. Knowing how things were when I grew up, it is my guess that many people have used this kind of language and may feel the way this guy does but they haven’t had anyone record and publish their private conversations. If I were black and had grown up being treated as a second class citizen, I might well have had strong feelings toward my oppressors and may have expressed those feelings in private conversations. We have made progress in racial relations but it is slow and will be generational. As these old guys die out things will improve. I think it is difficult for them to change their feelings but as gift to the future I hope they refrain from expressing them in front of younger people, people who are in the process of forming their opinions on race.