Black man blocked from entering NJ gym where hes a paid member and even the cops are confused

[argyl]

63. Is this crap becoming more prevalent because of Trump, being caught on video, or a combination

I'm well aware I have a white privilege card and to say I understand how this treatment hurts would be foolish on my part.

My earliest memories are of 1950's suburban Houston.
I thought everyone was white. I did have a Jewish friend who lived across the street who I suppose wouldn't fit the strict definition of white at the time, mainly Anglo.

Also had a friend down the street whose dad served in WWII (as did mine and everyone else's dad) and brought home a Japanese war bride, making him obviously half Japanese. I thought his mother was the most beautiful woman in the world.

Then spent six years in Central/ Hill Country Texas where I first went to school with Mexican kids. I didn't like them, I was enchanted by and loved them. They also referred to themselves as Mexican and us as Anglo.

I never went to school with an African American until I enrolled in El Centro CC. Apart from loving the music of Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Bo Diddley, and Hendrix of course, I was a young adult before I met, mingled with, and had African American friends. I've always loved diversity(learned to a great degree from books at that time)and my new friends had a rich culture I'd never imagined.

Like many white guys my age I let my hair grow quite long. And the cops hated and abused longhairs as much as anyone. At the time I thought I was undergoing some of what African American had to go through. Very naive on my part; I'd never been treated as inferior and just because some asshole cop roughed me up didn't change that, it just pissed me off.

Did get my head slammed into a car hood, billyclubbed, and had a shoulder twisted so badly while being handcuffed that I needed treatment but I wasn't born into this abuse and a haircut would solve my cop problems. Actually, even the cop's kids and some of the most redneck SOBs known to mankind started wearing their hair long so the cops slacked up.

I do wish I'd had the chance to go to school with and have African American friends as a child. I really, really wish my great great great grandparents had had the opportunity. But it was mandated by law that they be segregated , not only in the South but much of the North as well.

Well, I think this country is ready for a new wave of liberalism and I'll be marching for BLM, against war, Trump, and a whole host of issues that have been neglected for so long.

Guess I'm just rambling. I hope to see a day when all people are treated equally but I'm a senior so I doubt I will.

Have a lot of hope in our young people,though. My youngest niece has friends of every color, ethnicity, and country imaginable. She loves to travel and has friends from all over the world. I see her and a large gathering of her friends and they interact effortlessly together, love each other, and have beautiful children together.