We Shall Overcome

Writers were asked to choose from various topics related to racism in America from their own experiences or those depicted in the media.  Some wrote essays about how things were in the 50s and 60s and the changes that have taken place since then.  In our discussion the writers agreed that as a nation there is still work to be done and discrimination still exists in many forms.  As senior citizens they lived through a time when there were signs forbidding blacks from eating, drinking, and sleeping in the same place as whites.  They also saw the the marches and sit ins on the nightly news and witnessed history first hand.  They did not shy away or sugar coat the discussions or examples they gave.  I have been involved in a number of diversity dialogues with mixed race groups, and found the candor and honesty of these seniors to be most enlightening  as they were not oppressed by "political correctness" my generation was taught.  The following is a poem written by Joann Cleland.

There was a time when discriminatin was part of our everyday lives.  We began to learn. That black or white, we are all the same - no matter what color.

We Are All the Same

"Get outta here nigger

This is for the whites only

You may be thirsty 

But you have your own drinking place."

"There is a special place in the city

Where them black people live

Don't go down there when you're in town

You don't know what might happen

If a black man stares you down."

"Went to the restroom where the whites had a place,

The blacks were not allowed there,

They had their own space."

"Bus came down the street to pick up people

Black and white were going the same direction

But blacks sat in the back

Up front was the whites

As was their right."

"Man came walking down the street

Looking kinda happy and whistling too.

Woman turns around with much disgust

Tells him to get going to his own part of town."

"Flip those pancakes, mama

Till they're just light brown

Turn them over easy

Cause those whites are coming down."

"One day this may change

And black and white will work together,

Live in the same place with no bother,

Come to church like any other

What could be better than all living together."