Posted on 08/21/2013 8:47:07 AM PDT by Howard Morrison
Yeah, I had a similar experience growing up.
I grew up in a small, affluent town in northern New Mexico (which shall remain unnamed) and at the time there were 2 black families in a town of about 18,000. And one of these lived on our street. They were “normal” people, and no one really thought much about black versus white; it wasn’t an issue. And they never made it one. (More of an issue was the white versus hispanic/chicano cultures; but that is a different story...)
Anyway, I went off to college in Albuquerque, mid-70s, and ran track for a year. We had several blacks from Albuquerque on the team, along with several Kenyans (long distance runners) and a black from Philadelphia or somewhere back east, a sprinter. Everyone got along together well and color was not an issue at all, except for the sprinter from back east. He kept to himself, and didn’t really interact with the local blacks, nor the whites, and totally avoided the Kenyans. He conversed in monosyllables, intensely followed all the racial turmoil etc. on both coasts and the NE, and really never fit it, nor even tried to. The local blacks thought he was a trouble maker and/or criminal and didn’t mess with him. He, in turn, treated them worse than dirt as he thought they were “sellouts.”
(No one really fit in with the Kenyans, but not because they were black. They were all in their mid-late 20s, several married, and the rest of us were under 17-19. They tended to party VERY hard and carouse all the time, even on the night prior to a meet. No one could really keep up with them, nor afford to. They were amazing in what they could get away with and still perform better than anyone... Amazing athletes...)
Bottom line is that it really is a cultural thing, not a color thing. And the current dominant “black” culture here in the U.S. is incredibly destructive, most notably to the participants.
That’s really an insight that needs oft repeating. Its truly about culture and less about race. Most native born Africans who immigrate here adapt much better than those poisoned by this modern culture.
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