Monday, July 20, 2009

Where were you?

I was sitting over at mom's and dad's last night when a special on Walter Kronkite and the death of President Kennedy came on the television. 

"Where were you when that happened?" I asked mom and dad.

"High School," mom said. "We were changing classes."

"I was walking out to my car in the High School parking lot," dad replied. "This kid named Richard walked by me and said, 'Glad that nigger lovin' son of a bitch is dead.'"

That last statement got us on the subject of segregation.

"The black lady that worked for us back then," dad replied.  "Said it would be about as north as Kentucky before you would start seeing integrated bathrooms while traveling."

It is hard for me to fathom all this.  Schools were integrated when I went through.  For mom and dad, they were segregated.  It is hard to believe that we would separate people due to the melanin content of their skin.

*****

I'm cleaning house today.  Not my most favorite chore.  I've cleaned my bathroom and mopped my kitchen floor.  I just turned on the air conditioning so the floors will dry quicker.  Maggie freaks out with all of this going on and is sitting outside in the heat of the afternoon.  Bless her.  Someone must have abused her before I got her as a puppy. 

19 comments:

Tee said...

It was my senior year of high school, we were in 6th period and the principal made an announcement over the PA system that the President has been killed. We were dismissed from school early.

forsythia said...

Our first baby had just been born (in Pasadena, CA). I was 23, and still in the hospital four days later (they allowed you to stay longer then.) My roommate and I were scheduled to see a film on bathing the baby. We went to the lounge, but no one showed up to start the projector. We peeked out the door and the place was in chaos! We heard that the president had been shot. That night, the nurse who brought us our evening snack, said, "I don't want you to worry, girls. Jackie will have plenty of money." That sounded so callous to me.

becomingkate said...

I was born in 1965. But I was at work when I heard that his son's plane went down, and I felt so bad for Caroline, knowing she was the last one left.

Seth M. Ward said...

It's hard to believe that discrimination still exists in this day in age, but it does. Racism runs ramped in the trucking profession and even back in the late 80's, some 30 plus years after Brown V. The Board of Education, separate but equal tactics where still being utilized in the Texas school systems and the Texas Dept. of Criminal Division Institutional Div. :~/ From prisons designed for a specific race to cities and towns redistricting a school zone, racial divides have been a sad part of our society.

(M)ary said...

i guess the similar question of our generation will be...where were you when 9/11 happened?

or from the 80's...where were you when the Challenger blew up?

Jopan said...

my town is the most racist place in britain we had a telivision program on it. they filmed an asian family who ran a shop and recorded all their racist attacks. There were lots. my family are not racist but we are surrounded by it. It might have stopped in the schools and public places but its still there in the people.
My dog is frightened of the hoover and hates it when we tidy up the kitchen but we had her at six weeks old and before that she was at the rescue centre that i worked at and was never hurt or ill treated. I think mine is just jumpy by nature. how old was your dog when you got her?

impromptublogger said...

I was too young to remember it (only 3 years old), but I do remember the assassinations of MLK and Robert Kennedy.

So awful.

At least in '69 I was privileged to be woken up and watched the moon walk live on TV! :-)

Kathy said...

I was in 7th grade and Mother Superior came over the PA to announce it.

Jim McKee said...

Shocking and/or tragic news items I remember (born in '60):

Death of Elvis

Challenger explosion

9/11

happyone said...

I was in the seventh grade in Spanish class.

Leann said...

I was born the same year J Kennedy was assasinated.

My son was born the same year the Challenger blew.

My granddaughter was born the same year 9/11 happened. We wondered what kind of world we had brought her into.

It sounds as if Maggie could not have found a more perfect match.

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