[at-l] Racism on or around the AT

[ellen@clinic.net (Bob)]

I was 18 before I had my first real contact with race issues. Maine then
and now is the least racially diverse state in the union. A black girl
had been in my class for a couple of years around the second or third
grade, but otherwise I had attended totally white schools in an almost
totally white region. After high school I drifted to Chicago where I
worked at mostly menial jobs. The brightest of my co-workers were all
blacks. Like me, though for different reasons, it was the only jobs they
could get. Perhaps this is evidence that the Civil War was still not
over in 1947.

My overall impression of the big city. Most white Chicagoans 50 years
ago were hicks. Many had never been out of their neighborhoods. Some had
hardly ever been to the Loop. (Chicago's downtown) I grew up in a tiny
city, surrounded by even smaller towns, but I and my friends were
cosmopolitans compared with the typical clean up gang workers in
Chicago. We had been to Boston (150 miles away), routinely traveled 200
mile round trips to visit and camp in the mountains, built boats to
paddle the river, done 200 mile bike trips ....

FWIW, a few years later I was assigned to an otherwise all black Army
unit. I thought about filing a race discrimination complaint, but
thought better of it. I had only a few weeks to discharge.

On the trail in 1993 I was constantly amazed at the lack of blacks. I
periodically saw a few youth groups, mostly from the inner cities, but
no adult black hikers until I reached the White Mountains, and then only
a couple.

I camped at the campground two or three miles out of Harpers Ferry for
several days while awaiting the arrival of a grandson. In my frequent
walks to and from town I would generally stop at a neighborhood bar for
a beer. When I found myself seated next to a black guy, I screwed up my
courage and asked him why no black hikers. I never did get an answer.
But he said he was into running, not hiking -- and being a volunteer
football coach. Finally a white group in an adjoining table joined in
the conversation. An hour later they had all, white and black, agreed to
meet to jog the next morning. I figured I had done my bit for race
relations, so I had a final beer and continued on to my tent.

Weary

 

-----Original Message-----
From: at-l-admin@mailman.backcountry.net
[mailto:at-l-admin@mailman.backcountry.net] On Behalf Of
DTimm65344@aol.com
Sent: Tuesday, January 15, 2002 11:10 PM
To: SaraSW@aol.com; at-l@mailman.backcountry.net
Subject: Re: [at-l] Racism on or around the AT


Sorry to hear that about Hopeful (hope he's deleting these threads).
He's my 
shuttle in March (guess I'll leave the OSU sportswear at home).

Black&blue (from Delaware and previously Texas but never been to Ohio)

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