On my upcoming birthday I will be 68 years old. These 68 years has allowed me to see a lot. I remember on our drives from Pittsburgh to Richmond, the home town of my parents, we would try to stop at Howard Johnsons to eat and we were not allowed in, that is why we took a picnic basket on these long road trips. Often when we would go to restaurants outside of our neighborhood my mother would call in advance and ask would we be welcome. All of these incidents and more play out in my head to this day. I’m always aware of my surroundings, am I the only black person in the room? Often during work events I was the only black person at the conference and when I would go out with my co-workers in the evening I was the only black person out for cocktails in a city like Madison Wisconsin and I would feel uncomfortable. I’ve gone to restaurants in predominately white areas and when I walk in the door I get a strange look or a “can I help you” like I came in to use the bathroom. This is a restaurant I’m here to eat. Table for one please. For me/us to still be thinking about what neighborhood we can live in, where we vacation and where we can eat in 2020 is not what I expected at this time in my life. I remember hearing a coworker whispering to another coworker that we were not ready for a black president. The Whitehouse was the last frontier for a minority. We have had CEO’s for American Express, Kraft and Lowe’s and many more but a Black POTUS really set racists off. Will racism ever go away?
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