racism.......

seems to have presented itself in full force.... in a disturbing way... it feels like going back in time....
in 1969...i was in 6th grade... the first year of integration in oklahoma city... kids were bussed from all over the city to new schools..... none of the kids i had been going to school with since 2nd grade were bussed anywhere...we all still walked to school..from our homes a few blocks away...while others...were expected to catch a bus... and ride clear across town.... none of this made any sense to me... being 11 years old...why would it...
as many of you... i remember water fountains...and public restrooms... depicting race... there was no sharing a toilet...or a drinking fountain... there were no black people eating in the same diner as white people... there are so many crazy memories from my childhood regarding race....
at the ripe age of 5...1963 ...my father's company transferred him from balitmore maryland to pine bluff arkansas.... mom and dad rented a house in a less than desirable neighborhood... the school was only a block or so away.... i remember the walk from our house to the building...but that's about it... another memory was being told, with great intensity to "watch out for colored people"... colored people were like "strangers" which we were not allowed to talk to either... upon hearing this... warning..... possibly one of the first signs of the artist in me...... i had no idea what a colored person was....much less a stranger... so i imagined a colored person... with every color in the rainbow...purple...blue...green..red...orange...yellow...magenta... i suppose one could say i had quite the imagination.... needless to say... i never saw one of these dreaded colored people....and i looked...everywhere...i did i looked and looked... a month or so later we moved to a different neighborhood and there was no further need to be on constant lookout...it was an all white neighborhood... far far away from the colored people.... i must admit i was disappointed i never saw a colored person.... my family returned to oklahoma city in 1965 to our home on 25th street....
my racial experiences are vast as with many my age.... going from complete segregation to living in a mixed race neighborhood...
it's now almost 40 years later... and it feels in some ways we haven't come very far... but in others...we have grown leaps and bounds... regarding this issue... tomorrow will be a historical day in this country...no matter who wins the election... however... this election has stirred up some serious racial aggression in this country... it's scary...it's sad...and it makes me angry... yesterday... a friend ask me to accompany him to the grocery store... i accepted the offer... not thinking about the color of his skin... people stared at us...like we were aliens... some smirked at him...casting him angry glares....some looked at me...two or three times... it didn't matter the color of their skin... they all looked... is it bad to have a friend with a different color of skin....? so...we played it up... we went with it....laughing...and having fun... bumping into one another... chatting away.... having a blast....
all i'm saying...is life is hard enough... hating a person because they look different is a waste of time... my friend told me a statistic yesterday...when one is asked to describe what an american looks like....the description is "blond and blue eyed" funny don't you think... this leaves out a great deal of our population....even my sons... and most the people i know...who are no less an american than i....
i can say this...with complete and total honesty...tomorrow i will cast my vote for hopefully the next president of our "UNITED" states.... not because he is black... but because i feel he is a man who believes in each and everyone of us...as a "UNITED" country... and will represent each and everyone honorably.... i support change in this country... i support people...and believe that we are UNITED and we need to as a country...begin to live and act as such....