Race study, 1st views on raceFollow

Oh. I forgot that my first babysitter (that I remember) was a cute teenage Mexican girl somewhere between 16 and 19. Or at least half Mexican. She had a younger brother that showed us how to blow up lighters by throwing them at brick houses.

I guess that really didn't register with me as a kid as being any different. She had fairly white skin just kind of tanned and was attractive. And living in South Carolina, tans were something that were fairly common amongst the women there.

The obvious maneuver here is to ask him on his way to getting drunk. Drunk is a journey.

Just remembered another incident with different races: Native Americans. Indians, as we called them as kids.

My first summer job was when I was 15 years old; I landed a part-time job as a gate attendant at a nearby lake. Easy job for a freshman kid: you sit in a lawn chair (later we got a portable booth), wait for people to come down the road, and if they want to park in the parking lot, they either need a sticker from the town government, or pay $3 for a day pass. I loved the job, as I mostly just sat around and read.

One day we had a family of Wampanoags come down in their beat up station wagon, with three kids in tow. I noticed they didn't have a beach sticker, so I told them it would be $3. The father pulls out a card and hands it to me. I look at it; it just says he's a Wampanoag from the next town over. Ok... I hand it back and repeat it'll be $3. The guy FLIPS OUT. Starts saying "We're Wampanoags, we're allowed into any lakes, ponds, or beaches in MA free of charge. Let us in or I'll sue you and your town and everyone you know!" I called up my boss (who was of course out of the office and didn't answer) and said this was the first I ever heard of this, but unless I heard something else I couldn't let them in. He said he was going in anyway and I could call the police if I wanted to.

They went in, probably had a fight among themselves in the parking lot, and drove back out 5 minutes later. When I talked to my boss later, he said that if they threatened me again just call the police. Both of us were stunned that someone would yell at a 15 year-old kid over $3. It gave me a very negative impression of Wampanoags; luckily there are only about 2000 left, so it's not like I encounter them all that often.

Oh, and the kicker? They weren't a recognized tribe at the time. The Mashpee tribe of Wampanoags were not recognized until 2007; the card I was shown simply stated they were Wampanoag but it was distributed within the tribe, by themselves, without any Federal backing.

Grrrr...

I guess I would be pissed too if hundreds of years ago all my ancestors died from smallpox and I couldn't even visit a lake for free now. Still don't think I'd yell at a kid for it though.

Edit: Wait, the Irish were discriminated against here in the US. NINA? GFY, USA! I want free lake access too!

Edited, May 20th 2010 8:35am by LockeColeMA

Nice quotin' there, chief.

My alcoholic father didn't bring me to the black zoo exhibit first, but yeah, more or less the same thing for me. He told me early on, it doesn't matter what we look like, we are all brothers in the human race.

No. If he was shouting "We deserve to come here because I'm a MAN! I'll sue you for sexual discrimination!" then you might have a point. He was yelling based on his perceived rights due to his heritage. Note again, his tribe was not recognized until 2007; this happened in 2001.

It did leave me a negative impression of loud older people who yell at younger people, though.

I'm not sure what you're trying to say, really. Probably because what you are trying to say is hideously stupid, but I'm willing to keep an open mind.

Sure, hideously stupid. We should totally give Palestine back to the Hitites and the Amorites. I'm sure the Philistines would like a chunk of it back, as well. While we're at it, we, as full on enlightened 21st century folk, should totally apologize to the Huns and the Gauls for kicking their asses in antiquity.

Really, what he was yelling is a bit irrelevant. The fact remains, that you, as stated, will now stereotype all Wampanoags based on the actions of this one individual.

Jophed,



Uh oh does this mean you endorse the genocide of millions? That's a banable offense if your name is varus.

Depends on the circumstances, I guess. Since many of the harms committed upon the Indians were by the US Government (often actively disregarding previous treaties and agreements), the descendants may very well have legitimate cases for entitlement. Not that they should think that I personally owe them something but the US Government very well may.

As for guilt, we at Casa Jophiel have been watching the "Story of Us" series on the History Channel Sunday nights mainly because Joph Jr. has been very interested in it. The series leaves some pretty massive holes though and, especially in the last two weeks (they did the 1800's), we've been talking about slavery and the fate of the American Indian. I try to impress that he shouldn't be ashamed to be American or anything but knowing what happened is valuable for (a) general accuracy, (b) knowing where other affected people are coming from and (c) being aware in case you see other people trying to do it again. One of the values of history is being able to learn from past mistakes but not if you refuse to acknowledge that they were wrong because you're afraid of "guilt".

I can't think of a time when breaking a contract was acceptable.

As to the gubbmint, an argument could certainly be made that the government is a continuous entity and is still responsible for past mistakes. I got no dog in that hunt, personally.