09-16-2008, 07:47 PM
[quote volcs0]A couple of relevant stories:
When we lived in southern Minnesota, our Rabbi there told us that during an outreach trip to one of the rural areas, a girl came up to him and asked to feel his head. When he asked why, she told him that she wanted to feel for his horns - her parents had told her that Jews had horns.
I'm black and so is one of my best friends and he was raised in Indiana. When his mother started at Perdue in the early 1970s, her white roommate kept staring at her while she was unpacking. The mom finally asked her roommate why she kept staring and the roommate replied, "I'm trying to find your tail." This woman was completely serious and not actually malicious, that's what she was honestly taught. But of course, like all good racists back then, other women on the floor would drop laundry at the mom's door expecting her to do their laundry for them.
I believe my best friend's mom and dad were some of the first black students at Perdue. I think there were only about 50 out of total school population of about 1500 or so. Not good times.
When we lived in southern Minnesota, our Rabbi there told us that during an outreach trip to one of the rural areas, a girl came up to him and asked to feel his head. When he asked why, she told him that she wanted to feel for his horns - her parents had told her that Jews had horns.
I'm black and so is one of my best friends and he was raised in Indiana. When his mother started at Perdue in the early 1970s, her white roommate kept staring at her while she was unpacking. The mom finally asked her roommate why she kept staring and the roommate replied, "I'm trying to find your tail." This woman was completely serious and not actually malicious, that's what she was honestly taught. But of course, like all good racists back then, other women on the floor would drop laundry at the mom's door expecting her to do their laundry for them.
I believe my best friend's mom and dad were some of the first black students at Perdue. I think there were only about 50 out of total school population of about 1500 or so. Not good times.