My family moved to Nashville Tn from St Louis Mo in 1971. As a student in St Louis, I attended integrated schools. My first day of school in Nashville was the beginning of my education about the world of segregation, racism and racists. The school I was enrolled in that year was forced to integrate by the courts that year. Buses full of black children were outside the school that first day. And there to welcome them were the meanest, most vile people I have every seen (until Trump came along and brought these people back with a vengeance ). Shouting, cursing, signs, bats, rocks, all means that the angry whites used to intimidate the kids on the buses. All of this happened while the police just stood there and grinned. Inside the school it wasn't much better, as it became a white vs black environment. The rest of the school year wasn't much better than day 1. Fast forward to the next year and the roles of the kids were swapped. I, along with some of my fellow white class mates from the previous year were bused to a downtown school. But unlike the year before, I didn't see one protester. Talk about a culture shock. Lockers in the hallways with out doors, broken windows, desks that looked like they were take from the dump for use by us.Walls with paint chipping. Bathrooms with broken toilets or no water running. Unbeknownst to me at the time but joining the schools football team kept me from getting into racial scuffles in school. Found myself one of 7 white kids on the team. Had to endure a lot of crap on the field but off the field I had a new set of protectors, my teammates. The football team that year, we went undefeated. As for me continuing education in Nashville, that wasn't to be as my Dads job took us back to St Louis.
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