It's never been a level playing field. Look at the Milford Reunion web site as an example. It's about white Milford and it was done that way without even trying. That's how it's always gone in America. Everything is white unless somebody paints the picture correctly. There have always been two classes of citizens...whites and everyone else. Milford wasn't alone but all of us rejected the "But everyone's doing it" excuse the instant we became parents.

A microcosm of a black and white world

Milford was Anytown USA in the 50's and 60's. It was an apple that hadn't fallen far from the Cincinnati tree. As much as some white people like to avoid thinking about it (or even deny it), racial discrimination was in full flower. Period. Cincinnati has never been known as a hotbed of tolerance or diversity. Milford, like other nearby communities, orbited around its centerpiece. There were certain streets where African American families were allowed to live...others where they were not. They were "encouraged" to stay in their designated places. Jobs and apartments were reserved for "white" or "colored." Check out the classified ads in an old paper from those days if you refuse to believe jobs and housing were reserved for different races.

There were social restrictions and indignities that we whites have no clue about. I know of no white person who ever had to explain to his child why the family couldn't go to the swimming pool everyone at school was talking about. There had to be other painful questions. "Dad, how come you don't play golf like the other fathers?" "Why can't we sit where we want at the movies?" Of course that assumes the community even allowed black people in the theater. We know some of the stories...some of the stories...but we don't feel them in our gut. White people only had to worry about their children learning the truth about Santa Claus and maybe something about why Uncle Lester smells like booze all the time. How do you discuss with your children that society says you are American Untouchables? This topic makes us uncomfortable. Can we even begin to imagine what it would be like to live this topic? That's discomfort.

So, where do I get the authority to preach or even teach? Well if I don't, who will? We whites witnessed all of this but we didn't necessarily "see" it. Maybe we didn't want to. I've studied history most of my life...I even taught it for a spell if you'll count my 30 years experience. For most of my life I've read, researched and observed these facts and conditions. My words are honest and backed with the proper facts. Black Americans are not supermen or superwomen...neither, of course, are whites. There are black Americans working on curing diseases and there are black Americans sitting in prison cells. Black Americans are found in the middle also...average people just trying to survive these difficult times. Whites likewise, do not all gravitate to evil or greatness. It's a world of individuals and sooner or later we're all going to have to make amends and make our way from a new start.

PART TWO