This is exactly how I felt. I grew up in a very racially divided town in NW PA. I spent summers staying with my elderly grandmother helping her out where I could. She lived in a low income housing project just a block away from General Electric plant in Erie. I did that paying a price. I was constantly jumped and beaten just for being white. I learned how to street fight at the age of 12. It was never one on one. Always multiples. She was robbed and her apt was broken into and she was beaten by the black men who had broken in. This went on for a few years until my grand mother passed away. I never told my parents, I just told them that I was injured playing sandlot football. I loved my grandmother very much and did not want my parents keeping me from being able to stay with her and help her out.Quote:
Originally Posted by muddywings
I spent the remainder of my child hood seeing the division on the football field when ever the county teams would play the city teams. I never seen it coming from the white county boys, always the city kids. I especially remember how much racism was thrown my way playing in the Save an Eye City vs County Allstar game, which I was honored to be a part of. I moved away about 10 years after high school, always aware of where I was and who was around me.
I was somewhat relieved to see that our country had gotten past all of this when Obama was elected. Boy was I wrong. It truly has spun the the hands of time back a few decades. I have many great friends of color. I would do anything for them. It was easy for me to forget all of the racial ass beatings I took when I was young, but it appears not the same case on the other side. My distant family fought in the civil war ,many lost many of us "Learns". Should I be bitter about that? I don't think so. Should I be bitter about the gangs of kids attacking me and stealing anything I had on me when I was a kid, I do not think so.
