"I'm old fashioned" and "that's how I was raised."

[Marthe48]

28. Members of my family were racists

Even if they were helpful to individuals, they said terrible and ignorant things about groups as a whole. Growing up, I lived in a white suburb near Cleveland, Ohio. I met one black woman, a nurse, who came to our house to give my great aunt a Vitamin B shot. We called the nurse Mrs. and her last name, which I can't remember. She came once a month for a few months and then another nurse took her place. I liked both nurses, and I missed them when thy stopped coming. My Dad had a grocery store and we had occasional black customers come in, My Dad would watch them like a hawk, and then say snotty things when they left. I don't remember any of the black customers acting like hoods or threatening or shoplifting. There was a white family that came in, and they shoplifted so bad, that my brothers and me had to literally walk with them through the aisles to make sure they weren't stuffing canned goods into their pockets. I think my dad finally banned them. I might have been a quiet kid, but I paid attention. By a certain age, I was able to judge a person by how they treated you, not what they looked like. I tried to convince my parents and other members of my family to change their outlook, but I didn't have much luck. My brother got a job as a hospital security guard and he worked with an older black man, that my brother ended up thinking the world of. I think that getting to know someone who was a family man, worked for a living, was dedicated to his work, did change my brother's outlook. After high school, I got a temp job at a Blue Cross Blue Shield office. It was a big open room, I worked all through the day, and didn't meet every other employee, most of whom were black. I got to be friendly with the young ladies and mature women who worked back in my corner, and they were all black except the oldest lady. I only worked there a summer, and I think because I was only 17, I got away with some social faux pas that less patient people might have gotten angry about. When I went to college at OSU. I stayed in touch with some of the girls, but lost touch after I was married. That was right around 1968-72. I knew I did not want to be like people in my family, but I didn't have any guides to help me understand what I was trying to do. I'm very grateful to black friends I have who hung around while I got to the understanding that people are people. My friends are people who are nice to me, and that's all that matters. I hope I'm as nice to them.