{"id":43614,"date":"2008-11-26T03:35:05","date_gmt":"2008-11-26T08:35:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/horizonsmagazine.com\/blog\/?p=43614"},"modified":"2015-11-25T07:26:09","modified_gmt":"2015-11-25T12:26:09","slug":"race-issues-1960-funny-the-things-we-think-when-were-kids","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/horizonsmagazine.com\/blog\/race-issues-1960-funny-the-things-we-think-when-were-kids\/","title":{"rendered":"Race issues 1960. Funny the things we think when we’re kids"},"content":{"rendered":"

I remember growing up in Hialeah, FL. We lived in a Cuban neighborhood where even the Stop signs said ALTO.\u00a0 There were 2 water coolers in the Kwik Chek grocery, one for “white”, one for “colored”. My brother and I used to sneak drinks out of the colored one thinking we might start turning brown.\u00a0 My\u00a0mom was olive skinned with long black hair and looked very Cuban.\u00a0 I look just like her except I’m a very beige and blonde version.\u00a0\u00a0 There was a big discrimination against the Cubans back then and everyone assumed my mom was Cuban, especially where we lived.\u00a0 I remember once in the car,\u00a0we pulled up to a stoplight and the car ahead of us has a bumper sticker that said “Honk if you love Jesus<\/em>.”\u00a0 Well, we love Jesus so Mom honks her horn.\u00a0 The woman in the car flips her the bird and shouts out the window: “F*cking spics can’t wait for the light to change.”\u00a0 My poor mom was mortified. \u00a0<\/p>\n

We’re basically all mutts at this point in evolution, no matter what someone looks like.\u00a0 Back when I was like 7 when I thought the water turned people “colored” I thought how brave it was for someone to drink it on purpose,\u00a0especially since they\u00a0didn’t seem to get treated very well\u00a0by \u201cwhites.\u201d\u00a0 When I asked my mom why some people would choose to be black (we were told to call it then) she told me that God choose them to help bear the burdens of the world.\u00a0 I thought that was so noble and courageous of them.\u00a0 Like signing up for the draft to protect your country, but this was better, it was for the whole world!\u00a0 So each one I felt was like the high pope\u00a0or something\u00a0inside, and that it was a secret they all knew among themselves.\u00a0 Like they were on their holy mission.\u00a0 Sometimes a construction co-worker of my dad’s came over, and I\u2019d be fascinated thinking “this guy is just a carpenter but he’s also a secret holy person carrying my suffering”.\u00a0 I felt so glad they made house calls and was glad there were so many around to do that.\u00a0 Funny the things we think when we’re kids.<\/p>\n

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