What is happening this day and age?
Born in 1948 living up north in Ohio on a farm left me with only a slight knowledge that there was segregation. We had one student in our school of 8 grades in 3 rooms that was of another race. Larry was one of my best friends and I still think of him today. When I went to High School is when I first became aware of different races through our civics class which discussed the goings on around the country. I knew that the south had a problem but in our neighborhood (still country) it was far away and did not affect us. Then I joined the military after graduation and second duty station was here at Camp Lejeune. We had a very big problem with race relations between Blacks and Whites, including attacks on base and even a murder. It was just a few individuals involved but it was felt by all. I would not call it a segregation problem but a race problem since we all were entitled to the same benefits, pay, and promotion structure. It was a race relation problem. This was in 1969/70 time frame. It was in 1981 I was designated a Race Relations Facilitator at Naval Hospital Beaufort, SC, received my training from Bureau of Naval Personnel for 2 months and then was allowed to use that knowledge to promote better relations between the Races. It was a little different than the Race Relation Training before which usually ended up with more anger between people than relief of emotions. Was it successful? Somewhat, it depended on how many in a group of 10 to 15 would really discuss their own feelings about what was going on then discussing it with the other participants. A lot of misunderstandings were rectified and tensions were eased and trust was built. It pains me to see a few people acting bad then an entire race is stereotyped as the culprit. If people would just open their eyes and stop being followers and use the brain God gave them to THINK and not jump to conclusions about things it would be a peaceful world. One bad apple sometimes spoil the entire bushel basket.
