Quote:
Originally Posted by Crown Royal
I understand the hair thing, but like I said, I felt like I was an animal in a petting zoo. Kids are naturally curious, so I would maybe say racially insensitive, rather than racist as I don't believe there was any motive other than curiosity. I also couldn't stand up for myself, so I feel you there man. But it really drives home you are different, eh?
The dating thing, I totally get too. Except by the time I was old enough to date I'd already heard kids couldn't be friends with me because of my skin. It's truly devastating when you are so Innocent and then some ####### takes that innocence away with bigotry.
I'm really thankful my little sister got our dad's skin tone and hair texture and she doesn't have to deal with this same ####.
|
I was guilty of this.
In 8th grade my friend Coy had a huge Afro that was flat on the top. He loved to tease me about my shoes ( I had some weird shoes then) so I started putting my notebook on top of his head as he sat next to me in class.
Then he would walk me to the next class with the notebook still on his head. He was a prankster and that haircut really had the perfect flat angle.
My hometown in NJ was such a bubble at the time. Believe it or not interracial dating was common and this was the 70s. Just the next town over things were so different. And I’m sure there were things I didn’t notice in my town. Football is still incredibly important there, and when I was growing up many of our best players were black so maybe that had something to do with it. I don’t know.