re: #6 majii

Thanks, sagehen.
I lived under Jim Crow laws in Ga for the first 18 years of my life, and it was just as you described in your post. I was 18 years old before I could enter restaurants and theaters that I had been banned from in the past. I think that some republicans think that segregation and Jim Crow laws weren’t so “bad, and it’s because these things had no impact on their lives. They have zero experience in living under segregation and Jim Crow laws, so it makes it difficult for them to understand how abusive the social/legal structures were. It also didn’t help that things changed very little here after the CRA of 1964 was signed into law. The vestiges of racism and bigotry still have heavy influence here in the South. One can see this in the fact that one is still looked upon with suspicion based on the amount of melanin one’s skin contains. I still get followed around in some stores and some still refuse to ride on the same elevator with me. Recently, I withdrew some funds from my IRA account, took the check to the bank where I’ve banked for over 40 years, and the teller asked me whether I knew where the funds came from. I guess she had never seen a black person with an IRA account from which he/she could withdraw a substantial sum of money. She showed just how small-minded she was. Even my former colleagues thought their degrees were worth more than mine, even though they were from the same colleges and graduate schools. Racism and bigotry still permeate every part of life in many southern states. If the republicans want to attract minorities to their party, they need to begin with giving us the respect we are due, stop the stereotyping and scapegoating and make sure that equal opportunity isn’t only a word. Most of my friends and associates are college graduates and professionals, and their kids are either in college or have graduated and are working, but none of this matters to most folks here because for them, one’s race determines one’s worth, character, work ethic, values, etc. This is why so many of them have a serious problem with accepting the fact that Barack Obama is a legitimate POTUS. The constant obstruction, nit-picking and birtherism are the “tells” that let me know that despite what many republicans may say, the president’s race matters a whole lot to certain people in this country. If you’ve experienced a certain thing, you recognize it when you see it happening again.

This is a really powerful post. I regret I only have one upding for you.