I suggest everyone re-read US History. Every time I hear some pundit talking about segregation and whites only drinking fountains I am reminded of my father. He was born in 1923, graduated from high school, and never attended a segregated school. He also never encountered a whites only water fountain. People like to look at race relations in the south and assign that behavior to every state. It just was not that way everywhere.
I’m not sure that I understand what you’re saying. I attended a segregated public school in New Orleans in 1960. They still had “Whites only” drinking fountains and lunch counters. I got to see the desegregation of NO firsthand.
It varied, but it was real. For example, my Mom told us about growing up in Indiana. In the county where she lived, it was illegal for a black man to remain in the county overnight. She said violators would either be jailed, or just beaten and hauled out of the county. She said this changed when she was in her early teens - so around ‘35.
I’ve never encountered a ‘whites-only’ water fountain, but we lived in Selma Alabama in ‘65-’66. My Dad was military, and anyone involved with the federal government was disliked in Selma. We gave up trying to shop or eat in Selma - no one would wait on us. We bought from Sears Roebuck, ate at home, and took trips to Ft Walton for a break.
I don’t mean to minimize what blacks encountered. If I had been a black teen growing up in the early 60s, I probably would have followed Malcolm X. However, that emphasizes the distance we’ve gone since 1965. In a poll taken in 1960, close to 95% of whites said they would move if a Negro moved next door. That is incomprehensible today.
And in any case, as my Mom used to say, “Hate is for losers.” - that, and, “The best revenge is success.” If someone despises you or hates you, you can return in kind - or you can refuse to play their game, focus on success, and let your progress be your revenge.
Would that Rev Wright would preach like that!