Growing up in the 60’s and 70’s, America was going to church on Sunday’s, standing for the Pledge of Allegiance, listening to my teacher’s and elders, and using rock, paper , scissors to make a decision. I never talked back to any adult because if they didn’t get after me, my parents would have. My father used his belt on me seldom, I can count the number on two hands, and all but two of the times, I admit, I deserved it. One incident I count as two, that was the time I put on about 10 pairs of underwear, because I had already received that infamous, “wait until your dad comes home” speech. When dad realized after the first whomp, that my posterior was more than a little larger than it should have been, he pulled down my drawers and continued a few licks on my bare bottom. I learned not to try to fool my father – he was smarter than I was. I think I was about seven when I came to that ultimate truth.
I didn’t know about prejudice. White was just a color crayon used to try and make the clouds stick out. And there were other crayons - black, red, brown, green, purple, orange and purple. I brought home friends from school, and although I lived in a predominately white, Anglo Saxon area, you wouldn’t have known it as my friends were decedents of Japanese, Filipino, African and yes…even German, Irish, Czech and Polish ancestors. I didn’t think I was better or worse than anyone else. I just was. We may not have had much, but I never thought of us a poor. Even though Christmas was the source of clothing for presents and one or two toys, I was grateful. And, life was good.
But then I aged, grew up and joined the military. The last thing Grandpa told me before I left was to ‘watch out for the little black boys’. It was the first time I ever heard a derogatory comment from any of my family…That is why I will never forget it. I learned prejudice. I was indoctrinated into it in the military. I was told over and over that we were all equal and no one was better than anyone else, this left me confused, I never thought I WAS better than anyone else, more talented in some areas, less so in others, but the drill sergeants kept on about racial this and racial that. I was being taught by their forced doctrine, that there must be some difference or why else were they continuing this discourse? If this wasn’t so, why were they trying to convince and persuade me of what I thought was obvious. They had been around the block, I was young and naive, I watched their actions, ignoring their words. In less than two months, my thought process was changing. I began to notice things that before I had simply accepted as individual quarks as racial. I was learning to stereotype people, and I was uncomfortable for it, but couldn’t put my finger on why I was uncomfortable. It wasn’t until years later when I realized what the government was doing to me, that I finally overcame the stereotype. Luckily, this occurred why I was still in the military and I saw trying to make race and sex a non-issue was doing the opposite, making it an issue. To this day though, I love jokes though about our differences, my favorite being about blond women, because I am one. It's just that now it has become un-PC to pick on anyone but White Men....Sorry this person doesn't buy that racial proliferation.
I see that the government continues to try and segregate us into categories. Look at the US Census…you can be Japanese, Chinese, Black/African American (a term my white acquaintance from South Africa uses to describe herself), Latino, Hispanic, Native American (my heroes as a child) or WHITE. Hmm, my thought is why can’t I be a German American, or a European American then? Hell, why can’t I just be a United States American? I mean, my parents were born here as was I. I can trace several of my family trees back to the late 1890’s or early 1900’s in America. Why is it necessary to put me into a pigeon hole? Why is it that my friend from Africa who now has her US citizenship is not allowed to answer that she is an African American? Why is it OK to allow an American whose skin is black to be an African American, but whose relatives have been in the US longer than mine? There are all types of excuses, but for me the truth is, until we as a nation quit placing people into categories based upon their race, religion, sex or age, we will have no equality. We are a nation melted and melded into Americans. Until we see ourselves as Americans, until our government officials end their tirades of prejudice, we will have no equality.
