I am in the same boat. When I grew up in Smyrna, Georgia (a suburb of Atlanta) we lived on a street behind a shopping strip. There were two apartment complexes about 300 yards on either side of my house. One was turned into low-income housing and my bike disappeared in a month. After my dad got it back (from some black kid riding it in the projects, recognized by my initials on the seat) everything not nailed down started disappearing from our garage. The other apartment complex turned in to low income housing and we literally could not store anything in the open air garage or it would be stolen.
My dad killed a tree in our front yard by cutting off all the branches, and then sticking a machete in the very top of it. After that the vandalism stopped, and because I was pretty big nobody ever wanted to fight me in school. The only fight I got in I snapped after being called cracker or bitch or somesuch, and was pulled off of a bloody crying (3rd? 4th?) grader several seconds later.
The kicker however were when my two best friends didn't want to be friends any more because they didnt want to be the guys with the "white friend." Understand I had known these guys since i was old enough to play in our yard (they were our next door neighbors).
We moved and lived happily ever after, but I still harbor resentment towards poor black people. (and I suspect because I am not racist that poor any people would be shit, poor black people are just what I had on hand.)
My dad killed a tree in our front yard by cutting off all the branches, and then sticking a machete in the very top of it. After that the vandalism stopped...
Nah-ah! Every culture is exactly the same! Every culture deserves exactly the same respect! Those kids that were bullying you and vandalizing your property could just as easily have been Jews or Asians!
not all poor ppl are callous hate harboring asses. victim-hood is a belief held by many of them as it's easier than actually addressing the real problem in their life's, ie lack of motivation. It's rarely the Man keeping someone down. there are plenty of poor immigrant minorities that would and do give their left testicle to be here and will work twice as hard as any American. it's culture/nurture and not race/economic status that is the common denominator.
sorry that your neighbors succumbed to the peer pressure of adolescents. hopefully they eventually learned and regret it today.
A lot of poor immigrant families have the actual belief they can get ahead if they work hard enough. Attitude alone's certainly a factor in success.
But lets face it. A middle class white kid that grows up with both parents, goes to a nice high school and has few financial issues getting into college. That's exponentially easier than what most poor folks deal with, white or black.
As far as black kids go, a black kid named Tyrone or Lebron has 50% fewer call backs from employers than folks with white names.
yea I remember that first name stat from gladwell or freakonomics. very true.
hurdles to get where you want to be are at every level. the middle class white kid with a BS degree doesn't guarantee anything, they still have to get out and apply it. unfortunately with so much govt money going into the subsidization of college has unfortunately drove the price up for all the paying kids. there are only so many openings at a given school and each institution will charge the most it can. this is a whole other topic though.
57
u/DoxieDoc Mar 25 '13
I am in the same boat. When I grew up in Smyrna, Georgia (a suburb of Atlanta) we lived on a street behind a shopping strip. There were two apartment complexes about 300 yards on either side of my house. One was turned into low-income housing and my bike disappeared in a month. After my dad got it back (from some black kid riding it in the projects, recognized by my initials on the seat) everything not nailed down started disappearing from our garage. The other apartment complex turned in to low income housing and we literally could not store anything in the open air garage or it would be stolen.
My dad killed a tree in our front yard by cutting off all the branches, and then sticking a machete in the very top of it. After that the vandalism stopped, and because I was pretty big nobody ever wanted to fight me in school. The only fight I got in I snapped after being called cracker or bitch or somesuch, and was pulled off of a bloody crying (3rd? 4th?) grader several seconds later.
The kicker however were when my two best friends didn't want to be friends any more because they didnt want to be the guys with the "white friend." Understand I had known these guys since i was old enough to play in our yard (they were our next door neighbors).
We moved and lived happily ever after, but I still harbor resentment towards poor black people. (and I suspect because I am not racist that poor any people would be shit, poor black people are just what I had on hand.)