I was born and raised in the south in the 1960’s and 1970’s, during the prejudiced racial wars of that time.  I lived in Martinsville, VA which was just an hour from Greensboro, NC where the famous Woolworth’s counter sit out happened.

At that time in the 1960’s, Black Americans were not allowed to sit at the lunch counter with White Americans.  In today’s world, this is unbelievable!  Yet, not so very long ago this was our country’s climate.

As a little White American girl none of this made sense to me.  My age group was one of the very first to be bused to another school district.  Yes, Black American kids were bused to white schools.

Interestingly enough, I was one of the White American kids who was bused to the old Black American High School in our small town.  What a crazy time to be part of this radical and racial experiment!

In my twenties I moved to San Francisco where Asian Americans were very dominant, and this struck a chord within me.  We are all the same, aren’t we?  We all had parents, school to attend and friends to make.  It just didn’t make sense to me to separate people because of the color of their skin!

I must have been ahead of my time because I just loved people in all of their differences and common human characteristics.  I delighted in meeting people of all colors and ethnicities and learning about them.

Fast forward to today’s world in 2018.  I am a member of NAMIC (National American Multi-ethnicity in Communications).  This is a 31-year-old organization in the US and is for people in TV, radio, and multi-media.  I helped to start the Virginia Chapter.

I also lived in Japan for three years where with my blonde hair and light skin, I was definitely a minority.  I loved it.  I love diversity!  We can learn so much from other cultures, but the very most important thing we learn is how alike all of God’s creatures are!

Bless all of our Hearts from this “Confessions of a Southern Baby Boomer” author and memoir writer.

 

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