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"quit playing in the trees like monkeys" nets criminal charges?
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<blockquote data-quote="donna723" data-source="post: 151224" data-attributes="member: 1883"><p>I was a "climber" too when I was a kid and my mother probably referred to me as a "monkey" <em>thousands</em> of times. I couldn't get the link to come up so I haven't read the article. But if this was an older person talking to children who were climbing a tree, there may have been no harm intended at all. And yes, I do think we may <em>all</em> be too quick to take offense sometimes where none was intended. And again, I have not read the article, so I don't know what really happened here.</p><p> </p><p>I was born in the north and then moved to a small town in Florida in the late 50's when I was twelve. So I grew up during the most intense part of the Civil Rights movement in the 60's. The feelings may have been no different where I came from, but it wasn't nearly so "in your face" and blatent. I had never before seen seperate entrances to doctors offices or restaurants or businesses with signs in their windows reading "White Only". Or water fountains labeled "Black" and "White"! And places with public restrooms had <em>four</em> of them, not just the standard two. And school districts carefully drawn like jigsaw puzzles so there were black schools and white schools. And my little town was one that had experienced riots back in the 1930's when black people weren't allowed to vote! Although we still have a long, long way to go and racial prejudices are still alive and well, I think sometimes we need to take a step back and look at just how far we have come.</p><p> </p><p>A few years ago I attended a convention in Birmingham, Ala. with the domestic violence group I volunteered with. While we were there, we visited the Civil Rights Museum - a real eye-opener. One of the women in our group was a black lady, just about my same age. She had grown up in Memphis in the middle of it all and as we walked through this museum she quietly started telling us what it had been like for her as a child ... things you would never think of like how they could shop in the big department stores but weren't allowed to try on the clothing before they bought it. Or how they were only allowed to visit the tax-supported public zoo on one day a week! Or how her father, who was in the military, had a very difficult time finding a place for their family to live because no one would rent to them. She told us how the organizers had gone to black high schools and colleges and recruited and trained them to participate in the demonstrations and sit-ins. She WAS one of those people who had the fire hoses turned on them, had the police dogs set on them, and found themselves being arrested! </p><p> </p><p>Sometimes I wonder though ... are we teaching our children these things in school ... how it <em>really</em> was back then? A lot of them have no idea! The era they grew up in was so different from back in "my day". When my son was a young teenager he constantly ran around with two other boys from his class, one white and one black. They were too young to drive so one parent or the other was always dropping them off at the mall, the video arcade, movie theater, etc. One day my son and I were discussing the civil rights movement and I casually mentioned to him that if he had grown up <em>where</em> I did and <em>when</em> I did, his black friend would not have been allowed to go to that movie theater with them! His mouth dropped open and he actually started sputtering in protest and outrage ... he honestly had NO IDEA it had been like that! Not even a clue!</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="donna723, post: 151224, member: 1883"] I was a "climber" too when I was a kid and my mother probably referred to me as a "monkey" [I]thousands[/I] of times. I couldn't get the link to come up so I haven't read the article. But if this was an older person talking to children who were climbing a tree, there may have been no harm intended at all. And yes, I do think we may [I]all[/I] be too quick to take offense sometimes where none was intended. And again, I have not read the article, so I don't know what really happened here. I was born in the north and then moved to a small town in Florida in the late 50's when I was twelve. So I grew up during the most intense part of the Civil Rights movement in the 60's. The feelings may have been no different where I came from, but it wasn't nearly so "in your face" and blatent. I had never before seen seperate entrances to doctors offices or restaurants or businesses with signs in their windows reading "White Only". Or water fountains labeled "Black" and "White"! And places with public restrooms had [I]four[/I] of them, not just the standard two. And school districts carefully drawn like jigsaw puzzles so there were black schools and white schools. And my little town was one that had experienced riots back in the 1930's when black people weren't allowed to vote! Although we still have a long, long way to go and racial prejudices are still alive and well, I think sometimes we need to take a step back and look at just how far we have come. A few years ago I attended a convention in Birmingham, Ala. with the domestic violence group I volunteered with. While we were there, we visited the Civil Rights Museum - a real eye-opener. One of the women in our group was a black lady, just about my same age. She had grown up in Memphis in the middle of it all and as we walked through this museum she quietly started telling us what it had been like for her as a child ... things you would never think of like how they could shop in the big department stores but weren't allowed to try on the clothing before they bought it. Or how they were only allowed to visit the tax-supported public zoo on one day a week! Or how her father, who was in the military, had a very difficult time finding a place for their family to live because no one would rent to them. She told us how the organizers had gone to black high schools and colleges and recruited and trained them to participate in the demonstrations and sit-ins. She WAS one of those people who had the fire hoses turned on them, had the police dogs set on them, and found themselves being arrested! Sometimes I wonder though ... are we teaching our children these things in school ... how it [I]really[/I] was back then? A lot of them have no idea! The era they grew up in was so different from back in "my day". When my son was a young teenager he constantly ran around with two other boys from his class, one white and one black. They were too young to drive so one parent or the other was always dropping them off at the mall, the video arcade, movie theater, etc. One day my son and I were discussing the civil rights movement and I casually mentioned to him that if he had grown up [I]where[/I] I did and [I]when[/I] I did, his black friend would not have been allowed to go to that movie theater with them! His mouth dropped open and he actually started sputtering in protest and outrage ... he honestly had NO IDEA it had been like that! Not even a clue! [/QUOTE]
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