Quote:
Originally Posted by Don
I described my own personal experiences, not yours which are unknown to me and for which I'm not authorized to speak in any event. If you had different experiences that are eating away at your insides, go for it. You don't need permission from me. I note that you opted to stay in the US rather than to migrate to Cuba, Mexico or some other place for a "better life." !
|
Ha! Nothing about that issue during that period is eating away my insides. I am proud of my anti-war activism, Although in retrospect, there were some activities I took part in that I would not do again if I could do it over. But not many. I vigorously protested the war, and also enlisted in the US Army, but I did so to avoid being drafted and having the war department pick which branch for me. Cuba or mexico was not the destination for draft dodgers though. It was Canada. But no; Evasion wasn't on the table for me.
Point wwas that it was a crazy time too. Real crazy. People thought the US was coming apart then too. Remember? It was all a communist plot to taake over the minds of youth and turn them against Capitalism, truth, justice, and the American way
Quote:
I didn't mean to suggest that the US was an idyllic utopia in the 50's and 60's. It was not always a bed of roses for me, either.
I wrote an op-ed for my college newspaper the Black Student Union didn't like. They came to the newspaper office to attack me, trashed the place and beat up a white liberal whose bad luck was to be there instead of me. I guess we all look alike to them.
The liberal they beat up hated me. Is it not poetic justice that he got his ass kicked for something I wrote?
In the aftermath, I was called to the office of the College President to discuss this event. He asked me to "moderate" my writing style. I asked if any of the perpetrators would be prosecuted? He said, " Probably not. We must not over react!"
|
Now here I'll agree with you somewhat. There was a strong effort to swing the pendulum the other way on Black mistreatment. Unfortunately it was a misbegotten one. Instead of creating real equality, there was this detente type things going, where if a black student, or a group of them, mistreated a white student...or a group of them, then those white students complaints were dismissed, in the hopes everything would die down and everybody would go back to their desks and put their heads into their books. In theory it was wobbly. In practice it had a profoundly opposite effect. White student then reviled both the black students for getting away with infractions or even violence, and black students became emboldened and began flexing their muscles even more. Even a half-breed like me was considered a honkey, and what few black friends I started out in school with quickly evaporated into one or two, one of which was not to be counted on if he was in the company of his "brothers". It couldn't have been too much worse of a strategy really, not just for us students, but for some of the teachers who also came to some harm when muscle flexing became muscle using.
But a lot of those black kids made it through, as did I and other white kids. I can't place the blame on all black kids/people though. It was the blasted establishment that caused us all to turn on one another. Sure there were alot of bad black students, but I'll say without reservation that overall, Black families have suffered a growth problem because their culture was crippled by slavery, and it takes a few centuries to set things right. the trouble is, once again, our government establishment is getting in the way with their own nefarious schemes, and it is unlikely to help...much