I grew up in the heart of the South in downtown Atlanta and graduated from high school there in 1975. As you well know, the South has a horrible reputation in race relations but my experience is so different than the public perception. I am white and when I little we had a domestic worker who came to our home once a week. Her mother had worked for my grandmother and her sister worked an aunt. We were always taught to treat them with the utmost respect and knew that to NOT do that would be a serious offense with serious consequences. As a teen and young adult I remember that the lady that worked for my aunt retired but came to visit her on a regular basis and the two of them would sit on the porch and rock and exchange family stories.

My high school was about 75% black and I cannot remember one instance of there being racial tension or a racial fight. We did have some marches and debates when it was first proposed to recognize black history month in the Atlanta public schools however most of the students considered it an adult/parent issue. We did take advantage though by being so disruptive classes were cancelled. As soon as the TV cameras went away we went right back to being friends again. Our neighborhoods were not very integrated and there was a lot of “white flight” that happened during the decade of the 70′s but it was all peaceful.

By the late 70′s I had had black neighbors myself, had blacks as guests in my home, visited in their homes and had a black best friend and roommate. You cannot even imagine how shocked I was when another cousin moved to Atlanta from the Kankakee area (Manteno) and I found out that he had never had a conversation with a black person or even met one face-to-face! Wasn’t I the one who grew up in the supposed racist, segregated South? To say I was surprised was an understatement.

Don’t get me wrong – I know that there was a lot of terrible racist things that went on in the South during this era. However, I also know based on my own family’s experiences that there was a lot of racism and segregation in the North as well. I’ve also talked with many blacks who had lived in both the North and the South and told me they preferred the South because there was an openness there that they did not experience in the North. In the South if someone did not like blacks they did not hesitate to let you know whereas in the North people kept quiet which led the blacks to not know who to trust and who to be careful around. In some ways – in both regions – things haven’t changed much. Or as you’ve heard said – the more things change the more they remain the same.

Good luck with your research and your book. I admire you for taking this on.

Carolyn Clark

My response to her, via facebook. (March 7)
Thanks Carolyn, I really appreciate your thoughts, and taking the time to write them down.
I understand the sentiment – Upfront vs Hidden

I was hitch-hiking in about 1978 in southern Indiania, and got picked up by an older black guy. He explained how in the South, it was stated up front if a hotel wouldn’t let you stay. In the North, they’d just say they were full up. He said the South was easier.
Have you seen the webpage where I”m going to post this? –

A few people here have suggested that the race problems were the fault of politicians.

Because they forced Integration, the bussing of black kids from their town, across town to the previously all white high school – T-Ridge.

Well, that’s only part of the story.
In reading a book about T-Ridge’s phenominical 2 year basketball champions reign, it turns out ….
the basketball coaches at Thornridge were jealous that Thornton was getting all these black kids, and kicking ass in sports. Ron Ferguson admitted that they wouldn’t have won without the black kids.

T-Ridge coaches lobbied to get the boundaries changed, and were happy as pigs in shit when the boundaries got changed.

He said he had to be careful, because he didn’t want to piss off the whites.

To be fair, it’s probably more of a continuum as to how much they’ve changed.

A few things:
1) In collecting these stories, I found out from a black person that it wasn’t just whites that lost their property value and had to sell. Middle Class blacks in Roseland lost everything too. He claims that it was the realtors who made a killing on it.

2) The black girl who was in on jumping you – she probably had no choice. She may have felt bad about it.

It was basically a rule, that, even if you were friends with somebody of the opposite color, if it came down to a group fight, you had to stick with your own color. Otherwise, your own color would beat you up. I knew about this rule back then.
Since I started collecting these stories, I’ve talked to both blacks and whites who knew it too.

It was mob rule, peer pressure stuff.
I was never forced into a situation where I had to choose.

3) A former classmate told me last year about “toilet twirls”, done by black girls on white girls.

I do hope that those who got jumped, they are (now, at least) able to see that bad stuff was done by both groups.

Take Care, Bob

But, um, there is this thing called “the Library” your hubby can check out. Sorry for the sarcasm.

btw, Martin Luther King Jr. marched in Harvey in 1966.

Last Spring I went to the Thornton Hall of Fame inductee ceremony.
[this is something that a number of high schools are having. It's for teachers and alum]
One of the teachers being inducted told me
“my wife could always tell when there had been a riot – she could smell the tear gas on me”

Check out “Thornridge: The perfect Season in Black and White”, by Scott Lynn. It’s about T-Ridge’s 71-72 championship season. I just bought it.

fyi – I’m offering $1,000 to anyone who can get Obama to view this page, or my book.

Thanks for commenting.
Bob

I was jumped at a pep assembly. I always cut the pep assemblies but the one time I went, it was trouble. I did nothing to start it. When done they just dismissed and everyone headed for the door at the same time. I got pushed into some girl behind me and she started after me, my sister (we were always together) jumped in. When I looked up it was just me and Peggy surrounded by black people. Peggy kicked her ass and then got jumped by two more girls, she kicked their asses too. I stood there and held her glasses, loads of help. One of them was in my art class. I had helped her with her macrame project. I thought we were friendly.

I had just gotten out of the hospital and was not well. If Peggy had not been there I would have been seriously hurt. They jumped me, Peggy stepped in and got suspended. It seemed like it took forever for any teachers to get there. Needless to say, Peggy was treated like a queen during that suspension. That year Char (from St. Jude’s) got jumped in the bathroom. She had hair down to her waist and they cut it all off.

This was at T-ridge and things were much worse at Thornton Township.

It was strange, I was not even prejudice but due to the “White Flight” from Roseland alot of parents were. I think the blacks that got bussed in were scared.

My brother graduated T-ridge in ’70 and remembers the racial tension. If Bob changed schools and was in Cal City, it is possible that he was able to forget. It was kinda tramatic. I say, go ahead and let him forget.

I really believe that our stories will help others.
Help create understanding.
Help move the Social Justice ball forward a yard or two. Or help Bend the Arc of Justice, to paraphrase-adapt a Martin Luther King phrase.

Those were rough times.
We were teenagers, dealing with an adult issue that has plagued America for centuries.