I am a fifty-one-year-old white male living in a medium-sized college town, in a midwestern state where the population is majority white. Because I was born white, and for no other reason, I will never feel the sting of racism. I will never know what it is like to be judged, not by the content of my character, but by the color of my skin. I often stumble, and say the wrong thing when talking about race and racism simply because of my perspective, or lack thereof—please excuse those stumbles.
Growing up, racism was around me, but due to my privilege, I never realized, or recognized it for what it was. When I was in my early teens all the neighbors would come and sit at the picnic table in my parents yard after work where they would drink beer and talk about the day. One conversation I remember after all these years is where one neighbor who was a manager at a large electrical contracting firm said he was going through applications for employment, and he came across one with the name, “Sonny Washington,” and how that one application went straight into the trash. He never mentioned the man’s race, and it was years before I realized what he had done, and why. To this day it horrifies me that he did that to that man.
My parents, and even my brother and sister for that matter grew up in a different world than I did. I remember when a black family moved in around the corner from us. I made fast friends with the boy that was my age. It was not to last—my mom loudly complained that his kind should not be living in our neighborhood. I never thought that she was right about that, even as an eight year old, I knew she was wrong.
I was very lucky in my life to have some very strong role models. Two of them, who to this day I look up to and admire were educators: Lonnie Smith, my 5th grade teacher, and Milt McPike, my high school principal. Both men happened to have different skin color than I did. Honestly, I did not care about that—it is what they taught me that mattered. Some lessons were learned the hard way (let’s just say I was not a stellar student in high school, so I spent some considerable time in Mr. McPike’s office), others just from seeing how each man deeply cared for each and every student they had.
I could list the names of several people in this diary who influenced me over the years. Some were white, some black, some Latino. Some have become lifelong friends, others I have lost touch with over the years, but they all left an indelible mark on me, and my life.
Now all that being said—I can honestly say, I do not understand racism. I know what it is. I know that it exists, I know that today it is more prevalent than I can ever remember it in my lifetime. I just do not understand, and likely never will understand, why or even how you can hate someone because of the color of their skin. I do not get it.
Yesterday, a friend of mine from the Army shared this on Facebook (Warning—the video contains disturbing language):
The man in the van was interviewed by the local news,
ABC 6/FOX 28 reached out to the company and the driver. While he wouldn't go on camera, he said in a phone call that he's not a racist, regrets it, and told us "I lost my head." He also said after Lovett posted the video on Facebook, he began receiving threats.
When ABC 6/FOX 28 asked why he would say that word over and over, he hung up.
To the driver of the van—you are a racist. Not only a racist, but one creepy dude for following this man to his home to verbally assault him.
The guy who shared this (not the guy who filmed it) served with me in Wildflecken, West Germany, in the mid-eighties. At the time, we did not know each other (we were in different companies, same battalion), but met through a mutual friend on Facebook. Over the years he has become a good friend of mine. While we were discussing this video he said:
“I have totally changed my travel routine and workout schedule for the time being I will not be hiking the trails or out walking alone in my neighborhood. Lots of skinheads and other types down here in the ************** county area.”
He served his country, he made a career of the Army—and he cannot go out for a fucking walk alone in his neighborhood just because of the color of his skin. What the fuck, America? How is this even happening in 2018?