A little more first hand history.

[olds442jetaway]

Seems almost like the 1960's again with all of the protests, looting, and destruction going on throughout this country. I don't claim to have the solutions for it either. It makes me contemplate and jog my memory a little though so I am going to relate a couple of first hand stories from our family history.
     The first person to hold my mom when she was born was my great grandfather's best friend from Southwestern Virginia. He was a black man descended from the black slaves who saved my mom's side of the family from a band of renegade Yankees during the final days of the Civil War. Most of the adults had been killed in the war. The women and children were left behind. The then slaves saved them by hiding them in a secret root cellar under a haystack.
     When my brother and I grew up in the 50's and early 60's, we visited my grandmother quite often in the summer. My grandparents lived right near the shipyard in Newport News Virginia. My bother and I loved to run to the back of the bus and sit in the rounded corners there and swing on the pole near the back door. Of course we had to cross the line painted on the bus floor since we were now in the " colored " section. We would sneak back there and watch a dice game or two or listen to the harmony singing by some of the riders back there. The bus driver would warn us, and once pulled the bus over and gave us a choice of getting off or staying up front.
     I just hope the country can get headed in the right direction and not end up completely torn apart by the race stuff with all of the other problems worldwide we are facing. I like some others blame the media for much of it and politicians too. Getting off my soap box now, but hopefully the " history " portion of my lesson was of some interest...Olds...
     

[edog743]

I found it quite interesting Olds. Sadly the bulk of your message will fall on deaf ears on this site. My opinion is based on past tussles here on racial bias.

[notes1]

olds, you started a thread on a delicate subject and did it with class. well done! in my own opinion, much of what divides us in the USA, stems from personal finances and  those who hope to gain from dividing us.  - in a recent survey, 50% of those polled, stated they had ended a relationship with a friend or family member, due to politics.  - much is being made about the minimum wage. according to 2012 LABOR DEPT, out of all working americans, only 2 1/2% were on minimum wage and one half of those were 26 years of age or under.  many folks are still hurting from the financial collapse, some of it due to their own mistakes, others due to forces beyond their control. people are angry and depressed and looking for someone to blame. and, there are those, who are trying to gain politically, by giving those folks someone to pin the blame on.

[DaBurglar]

First off, Great story/anecdote Olds........thanks for sharing that!!!My single greatest "hobby" is History.....all History, all types, periods, etc.   Especially Military History, and within that falls the Civil War and all its ancillary subjects and veins with slavery being at the top of the list.   Few people truly understand that the nation we are today was NOT the nation that was born in 1776 (and matured in 1787 thru 1789 when the Constitution was authored, revised, circulated amongst all colonies/states, modified and revised some more and then ratified and put into effect.)     That was the FIRST version of the United States of America, and it died.......It was the CIVIL WAR and the nation that came out of it in 1865 (with of course, the passage of the 13th amendment in January 1865 abolishing SLAVERY) that represents the foundation and beginning of the country you see today (replete with all the issues, problems and sore points you STILL see and hear about.....)When Abraham Lincoln was gunned down in his Balcony on April 14, 1865 all hope of dealing in a rational, sane and kind hearted manner with the lingering issues of race, revenge, reconstruction (from the ravages of war and from the newly released MILLIONS of former slaves) and societal inequality, that still smoldered after the fighting, was LOST......and unbelievably we are STILL dealing with the issues and fallout of the harsh and cruel and corrupt RECONSTRUCTION that the Federal government (led by Radical abolitionist Republicans) applied throughout the entire country (but obviously with particular intensity in the former "rebel" states)......the ill feelings and bad blood that was stirred up persists to this day, although it obviously has been diluted and mixed and morphed and combined with numerous other issues.   But essentially things remain the same:   The "white" race (caucasians) perceives itself threatened by non-whites (especially blacks or African Americans but clearly this includes many others as well)....this threat manifests itself in numerous ways but chiefly it is economic and political.....Likewise Non-white races perceive threats from Whites that are economic and political......and it all has to do with "perceptions of inequality" in the political and economic spheres;   Inequality in terms of not having the same chances to succeed economically, to achieve the best living standards, the best education(s), the best housing, etc.    It swings in all directions, and as someone already stated, THE MEDIA fans the flames and keeps the issues smoldering even when it is clear that MANY people wish to move on and no longer want to "keep fighting";    Likewise, politicians and activists, who would otherwise lack an agenda or forum or soapbox "keep the flames going" with rhetoric designed to inflame passion rather than appeal to reason (hello Al Sharpton and Rush Limbaugh to name but two....the are THOUSANDS upon Thousands, all with various levels of achievement and office and stature, and they include our current President as well as numerous white politicians......they all benfit in some way by the persistence of racial stress and conflict.)I'll stop there and allow someone else to build upon what I wrote......

[Tedlark]

DaBurglar thank you for not contributing anything new to this thread.

I could add to it by telling stories about as a young boy, traveling by train throughout the south in the early 1970's and I can also add to it by telling stories about traveling through Indian reservations in the western United States. Each is sad in its own right.

As edog is aware; social and racial inequity is not merely black vs. white. U.S. history is also a favorite research topic of mine.