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Blog archive

November 2024

October 2024

ARBORIST WALK: NOT FOR TREE HUGGERS ONLY!
10/29/2024

Bill Wishner: Visual Hunter
10/29/2024

Can a Village Group Fix Our Healthcare System?
10/29/2024

Community Board Directors Strengthen Village Board
10/29/2024

Connecting with Village Connections: The A, B, C, & D’s of Medicare @ 65+
10/29/2024

Grief is a Journey: Two Paths Taken
10/29/2024

Message from the President
10/29/2024

Promoting Informed & Involved Voters
10/29/2024

What Will Be Your Legacy?
10/29/2024

1619, Approaching the Election...
10/27/2024

Beyond and Within the Village - A Star is Born
10/17/2024

Happiness by Priscilla Leonard
10/11/2024

Those Winter Sundays by Robert Hayden
10/11/2024

Unpainted Door by Louise Gluck
10/11/2024

In the Evening by Billy Collins
10/10/2024

Wild Geese by Mary Oliver
10/10/2024

Betty Kilby, A Family History
10/01/2024

Betty Kilby, A Family History
10/01/2024

Betty Kilby, A Family History
10/01/2024

September 2024

August 2024

1619 Wide Ranging Interests
08/19/2024

1619 Wide Ranging Interests
08/19/2024

First Anniversary
08/19/2024

Alexandra Leaving by Leonard Cohen
08/16/2024

Muse des Beaux Arts by W. H. Auden
08/16/2024

The God Abandons Antony by Constantinos P. Cavafy
08/16/2024

Ch – Ch – Ch –Changes
08/15/2024

Cultural Activities Team offers an ‘embarrassment of riches’
08/15/2024

Engaging in Pasadena Village
08/15/2024

Future Housing Options
08/15/2024

Message from the President
08/15/2024

There Are Authors Among Us
08/15/2024

Villagers Welcome New Members at the Tournament Park Picnic
08/15/2024

Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night by Dylan Thomas
08/14/2024

A narrow Fellow in the Grass by Emily Dickinson
08/13/2024

Haikus
08/13/2024

One Art by Elizabeth Bishop
08/13/2024

Poem 20 by Pablo Neruda
08/13/2024

Still I Rise by Maya Angelou
08/13/2024

Trees by Joyce Kilmer
08/13/2024

July 2024

June 2024

May 2024

Emergency Preparedness: Are You Ready?
05/28/2024

Farewell from the 2023/24 Social Work Interns
05/28/2024

Gina on the Horizon
05/28/2024

Mark Your Calendars for the Healthy Aging Research California Virtual Summit
05/28/2024

Meet Our New Development Associate
05/28/2024

Putting the Strategic Plan into Practice
05/28/2024

Washington Park: Pasadena’s Rediscovered Gem
05/28/2024

Introducing Civil Rights Discussions
05/22/2024

Rumor of Humor #2416
05/14/2024

Rumor of Humor #2417
05/14/2024

Rumor of Humor #2417
05/14/2024

Rumor of Humor #2418
05/14/2024

Springtime Visitors
05/07/2024

Freezing for a Good Cause – Credit, That Is
05/02/2024

No Discussion Meeting on May 3rd
05/02/2024

An Apparently Normal Person Author Presentation and Book-signing
05/01/2024

Flintridge Center: Pasadena Village’s Neighbor That Changes Lives
05/01/2024

Pasadena Celebrates Older Americans Month 2024
05/01/2024

The 2024 Pasadena Village Volunteer Appreciation Lunch
05/01/2024

Woman of the Year: Katy Townsend
05/01/2024

April 2024

March 2024

February 2024

January 2024

Racism I Have Experienced

By Richard Myers
Posted: 09/05/2023
Tags: history

The purpose of this blog is to raise awareness of what racism is and means andhow it is expressed in our world. This is a contribution of one of our Villagers reflecting on her personal experiences in her life

Racism I Have Experienced

When a White person says to me, "You're mixed, aren't you?” I say "It would be difficult to find a Black person in the United States who is not mixed. The question is, 'How far back or how close in the lineage did it take place?"

Then they have said to me, "You're a teacher aren't you" and I say, yes, how did you know? and they say, "by the way you talk" and I say, “I’ve only been a teacher for five years but I've always talked this way. My whole family talks this way!” My correspondent stands there, at a loss for words.

In Marion, Indiana in the year 1959 when I was 20 years old, it was said to me, "You're not from around here, are you?" I said, no, that I was from the Midwest, why do you ask? He said, “If you were from around here, you would never have applied for this job."

I said, "I applied for this job because I know I am qualified to do it. I'm sure you’re hiring me would increase your business. People would come just to see your Colored dining room hostess. I'd be a novelty, and when they saw my professionalism, word would spread. Of course if things went the other way, and I lost you business, I wouldn’t expect you to keep me.”

He said, “I’m sure you would give excellent service which everyone appreciates, but if I hired you, not only would I have to restaff the dining room, I'd have to restaff the entire hotel. These people would not work with you.”

I confidently and quietly said, "Well, I can’t fight you there." I smiled and thanked him for his honesty, and left.

Another frequent comment made to me by White people is, “You're not like them, you’re different." and I say, " Like whom?" and they say, "You know - them!" I say "No, I don't know, tell me!”

The conversation quickly changes with neither of us pursuing it further.

The White person realizes that this Black person does not feel complimented by the distinguishment shown her, from others in her race, as it places them in a bad light of unacceptability, and avoidance.

Lora Harrington-Pride

 

I submit this for the purpose of discussion, in particular for those of us who are unaware of some of the racism subtleties.    

8/30/23

 

 

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