Comments on: Thursday, Aug. 29, 1963: A stand against whites-only hamburgers

By: Joe Scroggins

Joe Scroggins — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 06:18:39 +0000

I was born in Pine Bluff, Arkansas and my first job was at this very McDonalds on Main Street. They had good french fries.

By: Paula Johnson

Paula Johnson — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 22:09:58 +0000

Kathie Hubbard, thank you for sharing such an interesting story. I am 47 years old and still remember the first time I was ever called the N word to my face. It was at Edison High School back in the mid 70’s. My mother was born in Texas back in 1923 and up until a few years ago didn’t realize that Blacks could shop at Saks and Nordstroms. She also thought my working in an office meant I was mopping office floors. I’ve definitely seen racism come from all races and I don’t think that will change in my lifetime.

By: Bruce Wendland

Bruce Wendland — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 14:34:02 +0000

(No relation to the other Bruce Wendland) I grew up in rural Minnesota in the 1950’s and knew very little about race relations. We travelled through part of the south in the early 1950’s and were thrown out of a black restaurant because we were white. My parents were stunned as they were totally unaware of laws in the southern states. I also remember coming to Mpls in the early 1960’s and my mom telling us we wouldn’t shop at Woolworths because they wouldn’t serve blacks down south. She was unaware that none of major stores down south served blacks at their lunch counters. Where as I grew up with little idea on how to relate to blacks or other minorities, I was raised to treat all people fairly and equally and I hope I carry that out daily.

By: Gwen Voegtle

Gwen Voegtle — Tue, 06 May 2008 21:10:38 +0000

This is anecdotal and not an indictment. I am sure things improved under his years. Prejudice exists everywhere and amongst all people. It isn’t one persons fault. Nor one race.
My personal experience is that every overt act of racism I have witnessed has come from a minority. I have seen a black man attack a man on a bus for being Jewish. I have heard the words “honkey” and “white bitch” more times than I care to remember. I have seen female reporters attacked for being white. I have seen African Americans attack other blacks for coming from Africa recently.
Yes, prejudice and discrimination exist. But, it isn’t just against black people. Often times it is committed by black people. But, no matter. It is wrong whenever it happens. I just wish we would say that to everyone. Right now racism is a stick we beat white people with while black people own slaves in Africa.
I was fortunate to grow up in Minnesota and be taught the basic fundamentals of decency and the golden rule. I have lived in other parts of the country. Most of us don’t realize what a progressive state this was, and I hope, will continue to be. But, we need honest courageous talks about race and society.

By: Bruce Wendland

Bruce Wendland — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 16:52:26 +0000

Pretty damning indictment of the Governor Clinton years in Arkansas.

By: Kathie Hubbard

Kathie Hubbard — Tue, 11 Oct 2005 01:23:52 +0000

I am a white female raised in Minnesota who lived in Arkansas from 1984 through 1988 as a member of a household in the upper-middle class economic bracket. I saw firsthand that racism was still present at that time, and very likely still occurs.

After going out on a medical leave from a job in which I had become very good friends with the switchboard operator whose station was next to mine (I was a secretary to middle management.), I invited her to come to my home because I missed her and we needed to catch up on the events in each other’s lives since I’d had to leave my job. At first she vehemently refused to visit me, saying, “Your neighbors won’t talk to you if you have me come to your house.” I responded by telling her she was my friend and I didn’t care if they talked to me or not, which was the truth. Although I liked my neighbors, my desire to be their friend was much less than my desire to remain being her fried.
I was very happy when she reluctantly agreed to visit me after work one day. We had a great time catching up over coffee.

When she left, though, she said she would not come to my house to visit me again. She did not want to put me in a “bad position” with my neighbors. However, she extended an invitation for me to visit with her and her family at their home in a neighboring small town, solely occupied by African Americans. I responded with surprise, parroting her initial response back to her that her neighbors won’t talk to her anymore if I, a white woman, visits at her home. She responded, “They aren’t like that.”, so in the future, our visits were always at her home.

The public school district in which I lived required,as late as in the Fall of 1972, that high school students had to purchase the text books used for their classes. My neighbor told me what that was to accomplish, and did, in fact accomplish: It eliminated the “poor white trash” and “n……” from attending high school.

When I left Arkansas in 1988 and moved back to Minnesota (due to a change in marital status), I know for a fact there were Black families still literaly living in tar paper shacks with dirt floors, no electricity, and no plumbing. Still, at least one of the sons in a family living in those conditions was attending high school. Just getting to school in a clean and presentable manner was a challenge for this young person. Would any of the white children then (my own, included) or now make such an effort? I don’t think so.

My children, both boys, the youngest being in the third grade and the oldest having just graduated high school, learned some very valuable life lessons about prejudice due to the exposure to it during the four years we lived in southern Arkasas.

Having worked for a short time in the Deputy Prosecuting Attorney’s office in the area, I could tell you some pretty hair-raising incidences coming out of the criminal justice system in that area in regard to racial inequality.

Suffice it to say, I don’t know that I would live in the South if I were Black, even in the current time. The climate in the 80″s hadn’t changed that much from the ’60’s. The prejudice was/is only more subtle and therefore, it was/is more difficult to prosecute whites for the ongoing prejudice that was/is still very prevalent. I applaud any member of a minority group that finds the courage to assert their rights as Americans. They are still fighting the battle today.