Black history month has come and gone. But I’m still asking a question of my family and friends: “What’s your black history?” What I mean is, “What were you taught about African-Americans?”
Then I tell them some of my black history.
Looking Back
I grew up in a “lily-white” area southwest of Chicago. I didn’t see black people every day. As a child, I heard talk of people leaving their neighborhoods in the city because “colored people moved in.”
I remember warnings about driving through black neighborhoods - especially at night. I’d ridden on the elevated trains with my parents, but some of my relatives warned against doing so because of “all those colored people.”
One memory stands out from my youth. I was maybe 10 years old and was swimming in a public pool in the next county on a hot summer day sometime in the 60s.
“Why are there hardly any people here?” I asked my father.
“Because colored people swim here,” was his shocking answer.
Some days, as I see the terrible effects of racism continue in our country, I feel ashamed of having been born white.
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From: http://tld30.com/?ORCmp
