My paternal grandparents came from the Ozarks, a place to which their ancestors fled (the family speculates) after deserting the Union army. They eventually settled in Atlanta and became slumlords, providing barely livable housing to poor Black families. They referred to their clientele exclusively as "The N---ers." My father taught me that was not an acceptable way to refer to a person of color, even while he speculated that there must be something wrong with people who would live in the squalid conditions established by my grandfather.
My maternal grandfather was a South Carolina native, a state that his ancestors came to as landed gentry. My ancestors were slave-owners, and my mother's very unusual maiden name is shared by our White line and a Black line that my aunts and uncles have tried very hard to ignore. My grandfather was a farmer, and he had Black tenant farmers -- sharecroppers. My grandmother was fond of entertaining guests, and would, for large parties, ask the sharecroppers' wives to serve dinner for her guests. She would make them wear black dresses with white aprons. My grandfather was heard to tell them, "Mind you say nothing to my guests." We were not permitted to play with their children.
I grew up in a town in the middle of a Midwestern state. There were no Black families in my town. I only saw Black children when I visited my grandparents. When I reached high school, I finally had two Black classmates. Thanks to my upbringing, I was incapable of interacting with them in any way that wasn't ignorant and racist. I like to think I've come a long way since then.
I am not going to tell you, my readers, for whom I voted for president. We had two smart and decent candidates from which to choose, both with strong qualifications and both with serious limitations. Never mind for whom you and I cast our votes: I am very proud today to be a citizen of these United States.
Wednesday, November 05, 2008
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14 comments:
Nicely spoken.
"We had two smart and decent candidates from which to choose, both with strong qualifications and both with serious limitations."
Bravo. And his concession speech last night was a class act.
(now if Governor Palin will just go back to Alaska and STAY THERE).
Well said. And what a history lesson for us all, eh?
Very well written indeed.
Every successful election is a reason to be proud to be an American.
Good post, our exposures were somewhat similar growing up. I once was sick and my babysitter was working at her other job so my mother agreed to drop me off with my babysitter's mother. I distinctly remember thinking, "Why aren't there any other White people around?" Luckily, my 7 years on the Earth led me to keep my mouth shut. Attending my large state school for my social science degree was incredibly eye opening. We also had to lecture my grandfather about calling his nurses racially themed terms.
---"We had two smart and decent candidates from which to choose..."---
You've got to be kidding me, right? You're going to give McCain "smart and decent" after the campaign he ran? After the grifter he picked for his running-mate?
His concession speech was too little, too late. Had he conducted his campaign with the same grace, he may have even won. That concession speech was merely politically expedient as he knew it was going into the history books like none before.
I've never been prouder of this country, but let's not hasten to exonerate the likes of McCain who chose to pander to hate when he could have won with love.
I don't believe McCain's concession speech was politically expedient. I believe that was the real McCain, the McCain I remember from 20 years ago. And, I am unwilling to put Sarah Palin's words in McCain's mouth.
Awesome post, AP. :-)
Let’s fight back. Let’s boycott California wines, produce and travel. Let’s publicize it. Let’s embarrass them. It worked a few years ago in Colorado. What do say?
@ suburban dyke - Great idea. I'm with you.
I am with Shay and suburban dyke -- and I too am proud of America...always, but now more than in the past. I was lucky, I grew up in a truly color-blind home (in Minnesota). My grandmother, an invalid, had a housekeeper named Mrs Black, whom I adored (and thought, at age 3, that we called her that because she was). My first husband came from Selma, Alabama and had scars on his back from electric cattle prods; he's deceased now, but I know what he'd be saying - his words are coming from our children's mouths. These are truly Historic Times...
oh, it reminds me of the first Thanksgiving I had in America three years ago... with the white people and their older parents from LA. Let's go with, I am polite but I sure as hell didn't know what to do in the middle of dinner when the Granfather started to "voice his opinoins about what had gone wrong" ... let's say I didn't go back for Christmas.
Couldn't agree with you more, AP, including the comment about the Real McCain. However, there are indications (former classmates, fellow POWs, fellow Senators) that there is a semi-private McCain that is more like what we saw in the final months than the public political McCain of past decades.
I was raised to be tolerant of others; it was the Christian thing to do. I was not surprised to see a moderate Republican, former Gov. Bill Milliken of Michigan, stand up against what his former friend was doing. The party of George Romney was quite different from the party of Richard Nixon. Perhaps the most remarkable thing about this election had to that people with a racist background voted for Obama. If you did not see the stories before the election, check out the two links in the middle of this blog post.
A very brave post. And inspiring. It's always nice to know we're more than the sum of our ignorant ancestors and we can amount to more than (god help us) paying for their sins.
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