Sunday, September 8, 2013

I went to church today and then to eat lunch with Ginger and Raquel. We had fried chicken at Popeye's. KFC is good, too, but I usually prefer the spicy version at Popeye's. I don't eat fried food very frequently, so I'm not really getting too much fat. I take a statin for high cholesterol anyway, so I'm probably protected against damage. The weather was great and we had a good time. I always think it's a long way to Orange Park and the Southside., but it doesn't really take too long. It's 20 miles to the church, but if I only do it once a month I'm not spending too much for gasoline.

I'm starting to read The Butler A Witness To History by Wil Haygood, author of a number of biographies and a winner of three awards. They have made a movie of it which I may see, but the name of the central character was changed for the movie and I wonder why. Have they also changed the story to make it more dramatic, or worse, melodramatic? The movie has some good actors in it, though. I may see it, too.

I'm about half way through the book. It's bringing up memories of “the bad old days” of racism at its worst. Allen was first in the White House under Harry Truman, who was not very enlightened about racial issues. I was 5 or 6 years old as I sat at the family meals listening to my parents talk about Truman. He was a rough man in a lot of ways, like LBJ. As the presidents succeeded each other in the White House there were improvements in racial relations, a little at a time. I was largely oblivious to things like that until I got into high school. I was busy doing my school work and playing outdoors with my dog before that. In high school I started reading the newspapers and watching current events on television especially, where the camera recorded history in the making. I was shocked at some footage of police facing down a black group of protesters with German shepherds straining at their leashes to get to them. I saw the brutality that was involved. And there were news reels of the KKK marching. I also took an American history course in high school and learned the background of the struggles between blacks and whites. Though to this day I love much about the South, I was no longer as proud of our history. When I went to college I continued to learn more, and began to become more active about issues, especially the women's movement, the labor movement, the peace movement, racial interactions and the problems that the Jews have always had from time to time. I knew which side of the fence I stood on, and became a voting Democrat, sometimes helping with grassroots efforts during elections. I am only sorry that there is still so much ill will between the parties. Still, we have made vast improvements, and though the times were so hard in the 60s and 70s that I was often depressed, a lot of very weighty issues were ironed out. Now there are still diehard racists and other haters, but the society as a whole has become more open and fair for all people. I'm glad to have lived through it all.

It's 6:30 and I'm hungry. Over for now.