I AM BLACK……I know there is racism! - Part I

I was born and raised in this United States. I live this life each day, and the color of my skin does not change. For over 60+ years, I have encountered racism. Racism is intrinsic in our society, whether Whites want to believe it or not. Following are examples of why I know racism exists in the United States.

I was around five or six years old when I got on a bus in the 50s with my mother. I did not understand why Mother was standing while there were vacant seats up front where white people congregated. I pointed to the seats, just like any child would do, but my mother and friend hushed me up, and took me to the back of the bus. Mother scolded me when I got home and told me never to talk aloud or say anything to Whites while on a bus. She said it was just understood that we were to go to the back of the bus and give up our seat to a white person if they wanted to sit. I remember thinking, wow, but the seats had no one sitting in them and why would the White people get upset? I just could not understand that.

Back then, all of the restaurants in Miami in the late 50’s to early 70’s were off limits to Blacks. I could not go into a Royal Castle Hamburger, Kress store, Woolworth store, or a Jumbo’s restaurant. I, and my friends, ordered food from the back window of restaurants. I loved those 25 cent Royal Castle hamburgers, and ordering through the back window did not stop me from getting those burgers, nor did it stop any of my friends. We just did what we were told as this was part and parcel of our lives then.

Later, as a teenager in Miami, one of my jobs was at a TV station. I cannot remember the station’s name, but I was so excited to get the job. I was told to sit at the front desk and answer the phone and type. I started working, but was never given anything to type. So, I asked why that was. I was told that I could answer the phones because I did not sound like the typical black person. I was told that because I was “pretty to look at and not offensive to most whites”…I was to sit at the front desk and just smile. I was also told that the “white girls would do the real typing as they were smarter and understood how to type.” Of course I am paraphrasing this, but they simply said I did not have brains enough to type. According to them, I did, however, fulfill the black quota the station needed at that time. No one at the station wondered or even cared if I could do the job. I was just there to fill the quota and live up to the preconceived notion of what an acceptable black should look like. This insulted me, so I resigned.

To be continued...