Connecting with someone of a different color, race or culture

@feywon So sad that your family went through that for doing the right thing. You're correct in saying that law enforcement at the time were probably involved . Areas the KKK had a stronghold on, a white man couldn't get a LEO job unless he was a member or made it clear he was willing to turn a blind eye.
 

Pepper said:
I get nervous when I'm not with diversified people. It's not normal for me.
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Me, too. 7th & 8th grades i was in a highly diverse middle school in Newark. Then Mom remarried and we moved to Irvington which at the time had 1 Chinese Family, 1 Black Family and a couple of Hispanic families. Everyone else white. It took me a week or so to realize the reason i was so uncomfortable was the place was to homogenous. LOL!
 
AnnieA said:
"... A black male subordinate told me I was the most fair person he had ever known (I think he meant White person) ...I know typing that is tooting my horn, but it did/does mean so much. "
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Know what you mean. Tho sometimes it broke my heart that treating someone decently was not the usual, not expected.
 

CinnamonSugar said:
I’ve lived in GA for 40 years, we have come a long way and, yes, there’s still room for improvement. But I’ve been out to lunch at nice restaurants with black co-workers or friends and we felt comfortable
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You are right, as are the others who point out how far things have come. When I was a kid black people who tried to eat in our restaurants were arrested or worse. Today if we don't eat together at least it is by voluntary choice. Hope things keep changing for the better, I think they will.
 
Nathan said:
The racial divide is still thick enough to cut with a knife, in some places down South. One time I was with my ex-girlfriend(who's black) in a place just on the Georgia/South Carolina border, a white female employee there made a comment with-in earshot: "our pastor says it's a sin for the races to inter-marry...". Yea, we heard it, just ignored it.
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You are right! Racism is alive and well in this country unfortunately. A friend of mine told me the story of being in the store with her husband, who was Pakistani I believe, but had fair skin. She heard someone (White) comment that she must have been a prostitute!

@Paco Dennis I was thinking, like you, that music is a way to unite people being it's a universal language.
 
OneEyedDiva said:
You are right! Racism is alive and well in this country unfortunately. A friend of mine told me the story of being in the store with her husband, who was Pakistani I believe, but had fair skin. She heard someone (White) comment that she must have been a prostitute!

@Paco Dennis I was thinking, like you, that music is a way to unite people being it's a universal language.
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Did anyone ever tell you that you have a lovely eye, OED. 😘 😊
 
for 45 years I worked with all different kinds of people, black, white, brown, if they worked we got along if they were lazy...not so much. as a carpenter I never noticed "color" just how they worked. now I am retired that is all I hear, racism, racism. Our problem is the news more than people.
 
ronaldj said:
for 45 years I worked with all different kinds of people, black, white, brown, if they worked we got along if they were lazy...not so much. as a carpenter I never noticed "color" just how they worked. now I am retired that is all I hear, racism, racism. Our problem is the news more than people.
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The news is the problem with a lot of things. The more sensational they can make it the more it sells. The last time I was together with my family we had a discussion about racism. My family is racially diverse and I am proud of that. I truly thought things were better than they seem to be right now. Maybe they are. Maybe a small minority of bigots are just being given too much coverage. We seem to be going through a stage where the nuttier something is the more coverage it is given and now that is encouraging those who just want the attention to come out of the woodwork.
 
This thread reminded me of a conversation I had with a couple black co workers many years back. My cousin had done our family history....years before the internet. And did a whole graph for the family.
One of them speculated that it seemed interesting and the conversation moved into how many blacks in the US could not trace their families too far back....because so many ancestors came over as slaves. Including some ancestors of one of the ladies I was talking with.
Made me feel some guilt for even bringing the topic up...but was assured that while it was painful for some of them, it was their history
 
I enjoy watching "Finding Your Roots" with Henry Louis Gates. I get it on PBS but I think it is on You Tube and others. It is so neat because now with DNA analysis they can sometimes go much further back for some of the black people on the show, and sometimes it is surprising what they find. It really is an excellent show if you get a chance to watch it.
 
timoc said:
Did anyone ever tell you that you have a lovely eye, OED. 😘 😊
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Sorry, but that's not my eye Timoc. Since my screen name is OneEyedDiva, I look online for "one eye" photos. This happens to be the one I'm using now. Gonna change it soon. I used to get compliments on my eyes all the time when I was younger, especially when I wore eye make-up. Here are my eyes when I was younger, but after surgeries, they don't quite look the same. In fact, they don't even match anymore. :LOL:

EYES MINE AT 17.jpg
 
I was blessed to grow up connecting with people of different races, nationalities, etc. Our neighborhood was integrated. Though most of the families were Black, we played with the White children and visited their homes. Our high school class was huge, mostly Italians and Jewish children. Percentage wise, there weren't many of us of color and even less Hispanics at the time. Again, we all got along well and I never heard (or heard of) anyone calling another "out of their name" or anything derogatory. In fact, besides my love, one of my favorites in the class was an Italian boy named Ernie. I really think he should have run for Mr. Adonis because IMO he was the nicest and handsomest boy in class. We were friendly enough that he called me by my nickname...something only my friends were privy to.

Something about Italians..I don't know. :D Fast forward, I got switched to a more advanced organ teacher when I went back to taking lessons as an adult. We hit it off immediately and she's been my very best friend for 46 years. Later on Facebook, I met another Italian woman. We are in the same group. It turns out we grew up in the same city and went to rival high schools. Before she moved to N.C., she'd pick me up and we'd go out for lunch. We did that a couple of times then she invited two more of her Caucasian friends (one was also my FB friend). We had a blast at our four hour lunch. I was also blessed that the office I settled in was diverse. We were of different races, nationalities and religions. We were truly like a family, complete with occasional squabbles. We celebrated together and even went on a picnic on the mountain. I had a couple of crushes on White boys that I worked with when I was in my late teens and hung out with another (I didn't consider it a date since no romance was involved). If someone is a good person and comes correct with respect, the color of the skin doesn't matter to me.
 
OneEyedDiva said:
They make a beautiful couple Sassy. The little girl is cute too. Wishing them the best of blessings on their upcoming nuptials. It always helps to like/love the spouses our loved ones choose.
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Thank you OneEyed. I wish my younger grandson's girlfriend was as nice as her.HIS girlfriend is a friend of mine on Facebook. I can put a heart in her pictures but anything I post she deletes.
 
I grew up in a racially diverse neighbourhood and hung out with an equally diverse group of friends. My work experience in government was also diverse .. people from every corner of the world. It was like the United Nations. Our extended family is Egyptian/Danish, Irish/Polish, Polish Cdn., Turkish and Spanish.
 
Sassycakes said:
My oldest grandson is getting married in the fall to a Precious woman of color and I love her very much. They are with my daughter's little girl's recital.
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They are a lovely couple, and your granddaughter a cutie.
And it is always good to see things moving toward people accepting each other on basis of who they are as humans--their character, not external things, like race, nationality.
 
In the town where I worked was a pub that hosted the local folk music club. A colleague told me that they had a 'Caribean' evening - in spite of the membership being almost exclusively white English. During the evening and after much beer, one member was singing a 'calypso' when the door opened and a coloured gentleman came in. The gathering fell silent and the rather embarrassed singer managed to finish his song.

After a short silence, the coloured gent shook his head and said "Man, that was Sh*t" and left.
 
Capt Lightning said:
In the town where I worked was a pub that hosted the local folk music club. A colleague told me that they had a 'Caribean' evening - in spite of the membership being almost exclusively white English. During the evening and after much beer, one member was singing a 'calypso' when the door opened and a coloured gentleman came in. The gathering fell silent and the rather embarrassed singer managed to finish his song.

After a short silence, the coloured gent shook his head and said "Man, that was Sh*t" and left.
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Best plans and all that 😐
 
I grew up in a small town in the suburbs of Los Angeles. There were a few Hispanics, but no black people. The realtors had a covenant against selling or renting to them. The only black people I saw were the shoe shine guys at the bus depot. I never thought anything about it. It was just the way it was.

College was similar. I don't remember a single black student. It wasn't until I went to work in aerospace that I got to know a few and learned that they are just like everyone else.

Our next door neighbors are black immigrants from Kenya. When they moved in about 40 years ago we didn't know what to expect. It turned out that we became close friends.
 
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