Time, Place, and Race

I grew up in a time where I was always surrounded by people of all races. I saw people of all colors everyday. I never thought anything of it. That was normal for me. No one ever stuck out to me because of their skin color. I guess I never really noticed the color of people’s skin until it was pointed out to me.
My first encounter with a full blown racist was at a family reunion. My uncle pulled my cousin and I aside at one point and told us he needed to talk to us. He sat down on the porch steps to his house and proceeded to say “I just want you to know that if you ever date a black guy I’ll kill you”. I remember just staring back at him in utter shock. Why would he say that? Why couldn’t I date a black guy? What was wrong with them? Was he being serious when he said that? I was about 12 at the time. I was even interested in dating boys yet he felt the need to make a very serious, racist comment.
His comment sort of ate away at me for a while. I didn’t think there was a difference between black boys and white boys. I was friends with boys of all races at my school and they all seemed the same to me. I knew what racism was, I was uneducated about it because of the bubble of a town I grew up in. Everyone was very sheltered and sort of unaware that things like this were going on everywhere all the time. After it was brought to my attention though, I started to see it, hear it, find it everywhere. I heard the jokes about black people. I heard the comments about their hair, the way they talk, and even heard a teacher say they needed to make sure none of the black boys are sagging because it was breaking dress code. White boys started saying “nigga” because they had black friends and believed they could.
I felt I could relate this experience to several things we have talked about in AAAD class. It somewhat relates to Cages by Abdukrazak Gurnah because the main character of the book was in a “cage”. He was limited because of his family life and area he lived in. I feel maybe my extended family would not have these racist views in they lived in an area where many different kinds of people lived. Their town in a very country town and not a single black person lives there. Most of the people that live there, grew up there and never left so they have never experienced coming in contact with people of different colors or cultures. Its pretty sad when you think about it. They are limiting themselves so much by judging groups of people they have never even associated with.

I also felt this experience could relate to A Love Song for Seven Little Boys Called, Sam by C.H. Fuller. This story was about seven black boys that went to an all white school. They had a black teacher who did not acknowledge the fact that the little boys were being bullied and beaten up by the white boys everyday. They told her everyday and she chose to ignore it and say that the little black boys were the trouble makers. She ignored the problem and almost hid the fact that it was happening. I feel like the town I grew up in did this. I said earlier that we were very sheltered. That’s almost an understatement for it. The town of Fishers, Indiana isn’t called a bubble for nothing. Those of us who grew up there were truly kept in the dark about topics like this. There were kids in our classes who were experiencing discrimination, racism, and more and it was always swept under the rug to make sure our town kept it’s “perfect reviews” and high ranking in the “best place to raise your kids” articles.
I’m glad I’m much more educated on this topic now than I once was. It’s hard to know that I could have fallen into my family’s footsteps of staying in a small, racist town or being stuck in the dark about what some of my classmates, coworkers, teammates, and friends were dealing with. Even though it may be a difficult topic to discuss and explain to people who have not experienced any sort of discrimination based on race, it should always be talked about so people can continue being educated about it. Talking about it can help stop it. Maybe if we continue the conversation about racism and discrimination we wont have any towns like where my family is from anymore. Stories like A Love Song for Seven Little Boys called, Sam should be read in middle schools and high schools so we can start the conversation earlier about racism and discrimination.