"USA" --- Florida 2
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I had heard about racism in the US over the years before I ever traveled there. I heard about it in school during history classes of how the black people "Negro's" were brought to the US to serve as slaves etc... I had heard about certain things that happened in the Southern states of the US. Naive that I was I thought it was all over especially in 1982. So when I first arrived in Miami Beach it was all fun! I was there with my dad and since I was only 16 I wasn't allowed in a bar or so. Because of this I once walked down the beach by myself towards 1st street and back. When I returned to the hotel the girl behind the desk wanted to know what I had done. I told her and she was in shock! She said that it was very dangerous for a white boy to go all the way to 1st by myself because of the black people over there. Well.... I was still alive and kicking so what was she talking about!? Anyway, during our second week in Orlando we stayed at a Motel and at one of the restaurants worked a girl named Shelly. She was the daughter of the owner and her mom worked there as well! Shelly was a waitress and one day she dropped a plate full with food and beverages. It was a lot of noise. Me and my dad looked at her and she laughed saying it can happen! Than she turned around and clapped three times very loud in her hands. Again me and my dad looked up to see what was going on. It was than that we saw this black man coming out of the kitchen to clean up her mess!!!! I couldn't believe my eyes neither could my dad. Did she really order that man to clean up!? Yes she did! My dad who always says what he thinks just turned at her saying that she should be ashamed of herself to let somebody else clean up the mess she made!!! That was my first time ever I witnessed some racism between white and black but it wouldn't be the last time... At the same Motel one night we and a lot of other guests were swimming at the pool when at one moment a lot of black kids entered the pool. They were having a ball! At one moment this little black kid I guess 4 years old jumps into the water where I hardly could stand and I'm 1,88m. I figured he could swim cause he went straight to the bottom and stayed there for a moment. I was thinking that he would come up any moment now and start swimming but he didn't. It took me maybe about 30 seconds before I realized that he couldn't swim and that he was drowning! I picked him up very quickly and he really held me tight and wouldn't let go. I placed him on the side of the pool talking to him and telling my dad what just had happened. My dad and I were just trying to calm him down when his mother arrived at the swimming pool. She knew immediately what had happened and came over to thank us. By that time a lot of other black people were surrounding us and started to talk. We maybe talked for about 15 minutes when my dad said Patrick just look around, don't you notice something? I looked around and couldn't see right away what he was trying to tell me. He said look, we're the only two white people in the pool left. Everybody else had gone to their rooms or were sitting near the pool staring at us! We were talking with black people, we were even in the same water with black people! Even the blacks found it strange that we stayed in and played with them and kept having the conversations going. To us they were just people! The day after during breakfast none of the white people who were with us in the pool the evening before said one word to us! I was shocked but learned a great lesson about America and it's people!
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I had heard about racism in the US over the years before I ever traveled there. I heard about it in school during history classes of how the black people "Negro's" were brought to the US to serve as slaves etc... I had heard about certain things that happened in the Southern states of the US. Naive that I was I thought it was all over especially in 1982. So when I first arrived in Miami Beach it was all fun! I was there with my dad and since I was only 16 I wasn't allowed in a bar or so. Because of this I once walked down the beach by myself towards 1st street and back. When I returned to the hotel the girl behind the desk wanted to know what I had done. I told her and she was in shock! She said that it was very dangerous for a white boy to go all the way to 1st by myself because of the black people over there. Well.... I was still alive and kicking so what was she talking about!? Anyway, during our second week in Orlando we stayed at a Motel and at one of the restaurants worked a girl named Shelly. She was the daughter of the owner and her mom worked there as well! Shelly was a waitress and one day she dropped a plate full with food and beverages. It was a lot of noise. Me and my dad looked at her and she laughed saying it can happen! Than she turned around and clapped three times very loud in her hands. Again me and my dad looked up to see what was going on. It was than that we saw this black man coming out of the kitchen to clean up her mess!!!! I couldn't believe my eyes neither could my dad. Did she really order that man to clean up!? Yes she did! My dad who always says what he thinks just turned at her saying that she should be ashamed of herself to let somebody else clean up the mess she made!!! That was my first time ever I witnessed some racism between white and black but it wouldn't be the last time... At the same Motel one night we and a lot of other guests were swimming at the pool when at one moment a lot of black kids entered the pool. They were having a ball! At one moment this little black kid I guess 4 years old jumps into the water where I hardly could stand and I'm 1,88m. I figured he could swim cause he went straight to the bottom and stayed there for a moment. I was thinking that he would come up any moment now and start swimming but he didn't. It took me maybe about 30 seconds before I realized that he couldn't swim and that he was drowning! I picked him up very quickly and he really held me tight and wouldn't let go. I placed him on the side of the pool talking to him and telling my dad what just had happened. My dad and I were just trying to calm him down when his mother arrived at the swimming pool. She knew immediately what had happened and came over to thank us. By that time a lot of other black people were surrounding us and started to talk. We maybe talked for about 15 minutes when my dad said Patrick just look around, don't you notice something? I looked around and couldn't see right away what he was trying to tell me. He said look, we're the only two white people in the pool left. Everybody else had gone to their rooms or were sitting near the pool staring at us! We were talking with black people, we were even in the same water with black people! Even the blacks found it strange that we stayed in and played with them and kept having the conversations going. To us they were just people! The day after during breakfast none of the white people who were with us in the pool the evening before said one word to us! I was shocked but learned a great lesson about America and it's people!
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posted by Patrick at Wednesday, December 27, 2006
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