“Get the hell out of my store and don’t ever come back.”
I am white. In many ways because of that I am treated differently than blacks, Hispanics, Native Americans, etc.
Some people just don’t get that. Somebody somewhere is reading this and saying it’s the white people who are looked down upon these days.
That’s baloney.
One time in my life I was discriminated against for the way I looked and because of that I was refused service. One time! By the way, that was during my motorcycle days of long hair, road trips, few showers, and no razor.
I can’t imagine feeling that way every day, but some people do.
In the 1970s I was the new kid in Midwestern junior high school. I became very good friends with another kid who happened to be black. We hung out and walked home from school together about every day. One day we stopped at a little mom and pop store to get some candy. The owner saw us and yelled at my friend, “Get the hell out of my store and don’t ever come back.” I think he threw a couple racial slurs his way, too. We hurried out of the store, and I asked my friend what happened. He said it was because he was black and the store owner hated black people.
Although I was young and it happened about 35-40 years ago, that store owner’s actions have stuck in my mind to this day.
President Obama spoke on Friday about the Trayvon Martin verdict. You can read his comments HERE. One paragraph grabbed my attention more than the others. The President said:
There are very few African American men in this country who haven’t had the experience of being followed when they were shopping in a department store. That includes me. There are very few African American men who haven’t had the experience of walking across the street and hearing the locks click on the doors of cars. That happens to me — at least before I was a senator. There are very few African Americans who haven’t had the experience of getting on an elevator and a woman clutching her purse nervously and holding her breath until she had a chance to get off. That happens often.
The President also said, “You know, when Trayvon Martin was first shot I said that this could have been my son. Another way of saying that is Trayvon Martin could have been me 35 years ago.”
I thought, “Barack Obama could have been my friend 35 years ago.”
The President closed his remarks by saying:
And let me just leave you with a final thought that, as difficult and challenging as this whole episode has been for a lot of people, I don’t want us to lose sight that things are getting better. Each successive generation seems to be making progress in changing attitudes when it comes to race. It doesn’t mean we’re in a post-racial society. It doesn’t mean that racism is eliminated.
That progress the President talks about is slow to take hold in some places, and some people are taking a little longer to change their attitudes when it comes to race.
I could give some examples, but I will just close with this quote:
“In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.
Follow me on Twitter @TheWesternWord
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The Western Word 
I grew up in NW where 99% of the blacks were good solid citizens with high family values. I have never been prejudice against blacks and many are friends. My wife is from Philly and she often tells me that I have no clue about how it was to grow up in a black school being white. She is right. Blacks in those areas would roam in in a group (gang) and pick on her only when they outnumbered her and her firends. Her prejudice is well founded. So I would say that prejudice is geographically based first and closely followed by a previous bad experience. Probably why your store owner kicked your friend out and you followed. I travel the country for my job and have been in 49 of the 50 states. I was in Watts 2 days after the Rodney King beating on business. I can honestly say I was more scared that day then I was in Jakarta being the only white guy with armed Muslims everywhere. It will take time and I believe that relations between blacks and whites are better today but unchanged in some areas.People like Al Sharpton, Jessie Jackson and Chris Matthews do more harm then good in race relations. The POTUS has also hurt the cause when he should provide leadership in race relations. He was given the opportunity to make a difference by being elected twice,but he has failed to take the high road. Really, If racism was such a problem, how did he get re-elected. Wouldn’t all the whites have rallied together to makes sure it didn’t happen? People like Dr. Ben Carson has done more then Obama has done in a shorter time.
As far as the Martin-Zimmerman case is concerned, the media has made this a race issue and as soon as they realized Zimmerman was Hispanic, they called him a white-Hispanic…just to promote the race issue and not focus on the facts. Zimmerman suspected Martin based on his actions, not on his race. Martin attacked Zimmerman, and up until the shot was fired, Martin did not have a mark on him but Zimmerman had a broken nose and lacerations to the back of his head. Even Martin’s parents said race was not an issue here. But the liberals, the media and the POTUS made it an issue and are riding the horse all the way.
Hey Barry,
I imagine people have lived someplace where 99% of the whites “were good solid citizens,” too.
I think that Obama has helped race relations but more than anything he was the first black person elected as President which helped black people in many ways.
Maybe one of these days we won’t be saying “whites” “blacks” or “Hispanics” but Americans!
That would nice.
-JMB
That would be nice and long overdue.