It isn't legal, is it???

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

The other day, I'd taken my daughter to recycle her aluminum cans and I turned my truck around in the parking lot of a nearby bar to get back home.  As I was pulling back out onto the road, the sign caught my eye.  It was about a foot and a half tall and said in big black lettering "NO COLOREDS"... it was right  next to the handle side of the door, so it couldn't be missed.  I hit my brakes right there in the middle of the road and had to do a double-take... I thought surely I'd read it wrong.... but that's what it said.  This is in a rural area in the north... I didn't think it was legal to post signs like that anymore...anywhere.  When we first moved here, we kind of got the cold shoulder from some of the neighbors, but our neighbors down at the end of the block are Norweigan and they told us that when they moved here 25 years ago, the town council voted on whether or not the man selling the house to them could sell the house to non-Germans.  A few months after we moved in, our car was vandalized, badly, with spray-foam insulation, and when I called the sheriff's office, the officer who came out looked at me and my husband and said, "I hate to say it, but it is probably because your husband is Oriental... people around here don't like that too much."  Of course, we had to take care of fixing the problems, even though the officer was sympathetic and said when he'd first married his wife who was Phillipina, they'd had similar problems, as if we were just to expect it here.  What really ticks me off is that I hear so much talk up here about how it is probably easier "for us" up here because the south is supposedly so 'racist', and yet I never saw anything like that back home.  When I tell people that, they blow me off and act like they still think that there are Jim Crow laws in the south.  A lot of the folks that assume the south is so racist are white folks who've probably never had a black friend in their lives, probably never had a meal in the home of someone who is another color, probably don't encourage their kids to play with kids of other colors....Grrr... this will probably open a can of worms, but it just ticked me and I guess I wanted to vent.  My daughter asked me what did it mean "No Coloreds" and if it meant you couldn't take your crayons in there.    Thank God for little kids.  FWIW, I know a lot of good people here who are not racist at all, but also, living here for 2.5 years, I've experienced far more discrimination than I ever did in Oklahoma in the last 30.  The worst that ever happened back home was when my oldest was a baby and a few curious women asked if I'd adopted her from China, not because they thought it was a bad thing, but because they either knew someone in their family who'd adopted an Asian baby or because they were interested in adoption themselves, and it was clear that there was no intent of harm when they asked... just genuine curiosity because they didn't think she looked like me (I can't believe how much she DOES look like me at her age, myself.)

[glenn kangiser]

I don't know what is covered by freedom of speech, but it's not too PC anymore and just not nice, so they would undoubtedly not want to patronize that business anyway -- thanks for the warning, eh?. 

I have friends of many races and I dislike white hoodlums just as bad as any other color criminal.  Good people are good people no matter what color.

My grandpa was from there and he discriminated against me -- called me a brat because I wouldn't let my younger uncle play with my toys.    I guess some people up there just don't want to be liked.hmm

[MountainDon]

Nope. Not legal. Not one bit.

Do you want to be a $h!! disturber?  Look up the ACLU office nearest you. Should be right up their liberal alley.

I do have a personal problem or two or three about some of the stuff the ACLU has defended ( I think I gave that away in the line above), but this is something I do believe they'd be good at, and rightly so.

I've no use at all for racism. One of the neat things about watching the preschool kids is that they are the most accepting folks on earth. At least the ones we get. No prejudices at all. NM has a high predominance of Hispanics, so we do have a good number of Hispanic kids. This year there's also a navajo, two Filipino, a Korean adoptee, an Indian (the country India), a black american (not too many in NM), a valley girl from CA, and some other assorted white folk with varied roots. I sometimes wonder what goes on in their heads. It's obvious they're different colors, but you'd never know it. They're all color blind.

ACLU

[peternap]

I expect the sign is legal Don. Enforcement of the sign is not!

There's a lot of hate in this world. I think that's why I spend as much time in the sticks as I do. I don't have to deal with any of it.

I'm not one that says I have friends across the spectrum. I am picky about close friends and with the current death rate of my friends, I'm down to one.

I do dislike people that go out of their way to humiliate others because of their race. Especially if they cause the children any pain. Most REAL Southerners feel that way. While blacks and whites don't especially like each other, both treat each other with courtesy and respect. The hate groups like the KKK, et els , are the real minority here and treated the same as wife beaters and drunks. Same goes for the ghetto blacks. Trash is trash despite their color,

Hate is another sad aspect of life that the Government can't legislate out of existence. The thing that separates dislike from hate are simple manners. I've never met an Indian (Yes from India Glenn ) that I cared for, but I wouldn't think of insulting one because of their race. Like most Southerners (and I expect most other parts of the country} I open doors for ladies. all ladies....say good morning to men I meet and try to be pleasant to everyone. At some point most days, I wind up being unpleasant but that's out complete exasperation.

I have no idea what the answer is. It's been going on since the beginning of time. The only solution I know of is to try to structure my little world accordingly. I have no idea what you can tell your kids that will lessen the hurt they feel from bigotry and prejudice.

[tanya]

Well that is one establishment I would not patronize and I would share my reasons far and wide.  I grew up in North Idaho where there was a lot of racial hatred and sexism and I thank god for my mother who wouldn't have it in her home.  The N word would get you a swift sure backhand no matter where you were in the house and no matter who you thought you were.  She had a mean streak when she meant business.  Needless to say I am applaled that people think race, skin color, sex or cultural differences are reasons to hate.  The thing I am having difficulty with these days is as a professional I have worked with many people of differnt races/cultures/sexual orientation etc.  My team of other professionals have been pretty open minded and all inclusive in their approaches to providing services except in one area, the area of disability, I know seemingly good upstanding people who treat the deaf as if they are retarded, the physically disabled as if they are children etc.  These barriers are really hard to overcome, and I don't quite understand it, as I said the professionals I work with are educated and some of the most intelligent people around so why is it that a providing simple accomodations makes them feel like they are serving someone less than human?  My own experience provides evidence that once you do provide that accomodation the person is just as capable as anyone else at finishing a task and they stick with it more, maybe because they know how difficult it is to get accomodations at new positions.  I don't know but I don't like it, the disabled have to fight plenty hard as do the others in our society who face similar chalenges, and there is no reason anyone on earth should make another persons journey any harder than it has to be in fact lifting people up no matter what their position has always been a fine reward for those who work toward love and peace.  In contrast those who push people down for whatever reason are usually doing it to make themselves look better and they fail miserably. 

[glenn kangiser]

I don't think you can really say ghetto blacks as a lump sum, Peter and I think I understand your meaning.  I would assume you mean the criminal or low life elements in the ghettos, and the good decent people who are there with them may only be trapped there by circumstances.

I worked in Compton for a day or two.  I was by the railroad tracks working on a Caterpillar Tractor or similar.  A young black boy came over to talk to me and told me how things were there and offered to help watch my stuff.  He talked with the Homeys -chased off the ones who weren't cool and looked out for me.  I never had reason to mistrust or dislike him and his family.  I even took him with me later on a job or two so he could earn a bit of cash.  He was struggling to better himeself and I have no doubt he made it.  I looked up his name years later on Google and saw it on a list of movie credits.

So in reality you can recognize an area for the major element that is there, but the individuals there can be way better than the average you generalize the area for.

The whites can be just as bad and I know a few who would really improve the world if they would drop off of it or get themselves exterminated.

No matter what color or where, the individuals need to be considered on their own merits.

That said, I hate every other driver on the freeways in big city traffic.   (At least it seems that way -- and I am not dealing with the individual that way-- )

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

Nope. Not legal. Not one bit.

Do you want to be a $h!! disturber?  Look up the ACLU office nearest you. Should be right up their liberal alley.

I do have a personal problem or two or three about some of the stuff the ACLU has defended ( I think I gave that away in the line above), but this is something I do believe they'd be good at, and rightly so.

I've no use at all for racism. One of the neat things about watching the preschool kids is that they are the most accepting folks on earth. At least the ones we get. No prejudices at all. NM has a high predominance of Hispanics, so we do have a good number of Hispanic kids. This year there's also a navajo, two Filipino, a Korean adoptee, an Indian (the country India), a black american (not too many in NM), a valley girl from CA, and some other assorted white folk with varied roots. I sometimes wonder what goes on in their heads. It's obvious they're different colors, but you'd never know it. They're all color blind.

ACLU

I don't have any use for the ACLU.  I just was taken aback by the sign, shocked to even see it.  It's not a business I would've gone in anyway, but it bugged me that the sign was even there.  It bugged me the stuff that was sprayed on our car... I tried to get it off before my husband saw it.  It bugged me that it took a week for any of our neighbors to speak to us after we moved in (which would have been more understandable if it was winter because no one comes out).  When we first moved here, it bugged me that a lot of people stared at us when we were out in public, BUT that part I've learned was mainly because they were trying to decide who the kids looked most like.... most people here have been good to our kids and think they're pretty darn cute.  I'm not saying it is everyone here, by any means, but it is far more than I've ever seen anywhere else.

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

When I was my kids' age, I lived in an all black neighborhood.  My babysitters were black, every other kid I knew was black... I thought we were a family of mutants because we didn't look like everyone else, and I remember wishing that I had little tiny braids all over my hair.  We moved back to my Mom's hometown when I was 3 or 4... it is predominantly Native American, and so we looked like everyone else there...  my mom used to babysit to make ends meet, and in our yard would be me and my cousins, a little blonde girl with buck teeth, a tall brunette girl with pasty skin, a redhead who came over to play, two Kickapoo kids, and a couple of mixed kids who came to play with all of us.  People used to see us and just really wonder.  But I was 8 or 9 the first time I ever realized that there were different races... to the best of my knowledge, we were all human.  My cousin had come up and we were going shopping with my aunt and grandma in the city.  The two of us were sitting in the huge back seat of Grandma's old LTD, and my cousin sort of slouched down in her seat and looked worried.  I asked what was the matter and she said she was scared to go to the city.  I asked why.  She said, "Momma said that there are black people in the city and I ain't never seen one before and I'm scared."  They lived way out in the sticks... her mom had told her because she was afraid Jenny would stare or point, and was trying to keep her from doing anything goofy.  I didn't know what she meant by "black" people, so I asked her, "What do you mean by "black" people?"  She said, "Mom said they have black skin and real curly hair and that they're black all over."  When I realized what she meant, I busted up laughing and told her to quit worrying that I knew a lot of "black" people and they were just fine.  In college, I had roommates from Malaysia, Zimbabwe, the US, and Nigeria, and with the exception of one Malaysian girl who was  a little princess, we all got along just fine.  People are just people... there are good ones and bad ones from all over. 

[ScottA]

When I was in high school my parents took in an exchange student from Cameroon. This guy had better manners than any American I ever met. He would bow to people when he answered the door. He was also the hardest working person I ever met. People in our area would comment to me how we where lucky to have our own nigger and I remember how it pissed me off. I never once thoguht of him like that and was baffled as to why others would. Looking back now that I'm older I understand where that came from but I didn't at the time. Not that it was ever right for people to talk that way but I now know it was mostly how they where rasied I think. We never had such talk in our home so I didn't understand it till I got older. I think people like having someone to hate. It makes them feel superior in some way.

[peternap]

Your right Glenn. Poor choice of words ...which isn't unusual for me

It's funny how kids don't notice race until they're taught. I went to grade school with all different races and didn't realize it until years later. They weren't many blacks, I think 5 in my entire school but they were just a few of the boys, I had a friend whose father was a full blooded Apache and was the one that taught me to shoot a bow. He went on to the Olympics, I didn't realize he was a native American until I was in my 30's...duh.

Everyone spoke english except Paul Lacey (he was from England and you couldn't understand a word he said}

[Erin]

We lived on the Standing Rock reservation (Sitting Bull's home base) for several years when my kids were really little.
My son was about four and playing in the sand box at the local park one day when I started thinking about children's perceptions about race.

He had been happily playing with the other kids in the sandbox, pushing his dump truck around, loading sand, etc.   But after a while he came running over, tears streaming because, "the black boy took my truck!"
The sandbox was full of kids, several of whom had trucks just like my son's (and of course kids at this age are still figuring out the whole sharing/borrowing protocols). 

This was the rez.  There were several white kids, quite a few Indian kids, but not a single black child, boy or girl. 
I was baffled.
"The black boy, sweetheart?"

"The black boy!  The black boy!" 
He finally drug me over to the 'black boy'. 

A boy wearing a black t-shirt. 

Kids just don't care about that stuff until we teach it to them. 

[StinkerBell]

I grew up in Southern Calie, during the late 70's and 80's we had mandatory school busing. I was lucky the High School I went to was so diversified we had no buses. I also spent the first 10 years of my adult life living on military bases. So I am always shocked, saddened and confused when I hear such stories. It is hard to relate to your situation HT when I have been lucky enough to live with out stuff like that.

[glenn kangiser]

Your right Glenn. Poor choice of words ...which isn't unusual for me

It's funny how kids don't notice race until they're taught. I went to grade school with all different races and didn't realize it until years later. They weren't many blacks, I think 5 in my entire school but they were just a few of the boys, I had a friend whose father was a full blooded Apache and was the one that taught me to shoot a bow. He went on to the Olympics, I didn't realize he was a native American until I was in my 30's...duh.

Everyone spoke english except Paul Lacey (he was from England and you couldn't understand a word he said}

That's pretty funny -- the King's English is not understandable.  The Chemist with the Gold extraction process is English.  He's a riot but I understand him well.

I just picked up a repair job for a former NBA player.  Nice responsible family guy making a nice ranch vineyard up here.  A good example of taking your chance to get ahead and doing something positive with it.

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

Everyone spoke english except Paul Lacey (he was from England and you couldn't understand a word he said}

  Ain't that the truth!  One year in high school, we had an exchange student from England (name was Christian Hart, and he was an athiest, ironically.) He was my lab partner in biology... couldn't understand half of what he said, yet all the Japanese, German, and Spanish students we had that year spoke plain as can be!


Stinkerbell, I've lived most of my life without it, too, which is why it aggravates me as much as it does.  I've had a few people (stress the word FEW) here who've basically come right out and said that ALL the south is racist, and therefore I must be since I am a southerner.  And like I said, I'd never really experienced it until I moved up north.  The only one who ever even seemed to realize that it is a problem here is my neighbor down the street who had to be "voted in" to the neighborhood 25 years ago. 

[glenn kangiser]

Hey, Homegrown, ...did you hear about the dyslexic agnostic? hmm

He wasn't sure if there even was a dog.

[MountainDon]

 

[StinkerBell]

NetHog is British. Pasty Pale Male.
When we dated he said I kept my home "Homely".....He also asked my 7 year old at the dinner table for a rubber. He said I was a Pig too, he got smacked for that. He also wanted to know if I was a person who likes to get pissed alot. Oh I can go on and on.

[glenn kangiser]

All endearing qualities....I can see why you're so fond of him. hmm

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

Glenn, that's an oldie.

[StinkerBell]

English and American are two very different languages...........

[John_C]

"England and America are two countries separated by a common language."

George Bernard Shaw

[williet]

Well, our government is doing all it can to re-unite the two countries....and maybe the languages will grow together as we progress in the One World Government plan.....

OR....

That dreadful ACLU just might continue to defend the freedoms granted ALL citizens of the US. The ACLU is the ONLY private organization that exists for the sole purpose of defending the Constitution. (that old piece of paper that keeps giving Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney fits) .... While the freedoms of others are sometimes troubling to us; we need to remember their right to hold different beliefs is the only thing that protects our freedom to believe as we will.....

IF the Constitution can withstand the onslaught of ultra-conservativism that is attempting to relegate it to antiquated status right now....it will be in part due to the ACLU. .... AND if our nation is to withstand the pressure to become just another member of the One World Government, it will be in part because the ACLU reminds us of our FREEDOMS which are guaranteed in OUR Constitution and Bill Of Rights.

NO, I am not a member of the ACLU or an extreme left-winger...just an American who believes in freedom, the Constitution and the Bill Of Rights. I can't stand a racist, but in this country, they have the same right as I to express their opinion. I do not have to support them or their belief system, but they do have a LEGAL right, under the First Ammendment to hold those beliefs....AND the ACLU would be right to defend that right....just as the ACLU will defend my right to own a gun when Home Land Security manages to scare people into distorting the meaning of the Second Ammendment.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT....your neighbors right to own porn protects your right to own a bible.