Over by the nig**r man, Mommy ....

[jaysunb]

While shopping at a Target store today, I see they have some dry cereal I like (Wheaties) on sale, so while reading the info on the box to make sure it's still something I can eat, a woman with a small child ( maybe 3 or 4 years old) riding in the cart came down the aisle. Although I didn't pay them much attention I smiled and moved so they could pass. The child was yammering away about something...just like most kids...and it was obvious the cereal they were looking for was for her. Suddenly, in a very excited voice I hear her (the child) yell, "It's THERE Mommy, right by the nigger man."My initial reaction was laughter, but Mom bout "shit a brick" and tried to shame the child for her outburst. I awkwardly tried to assure Mom I was cool and wouldn't freak out as she probably expected. I took the Wheaties and headed for the checkout, where Mom and little Shirley Temple were already in the next line. Mom stared at the ground, while little Honey Booboo flashed me that cute engaging smile while wave goodbye.
I'm still laughing because of the look on Moms face, but I'm sad inside knowing that child and many others are being indoctrinated with prejudice and intolerance at such early ages.

The shit WAS funny though.

[RoverSuswade]

1. Reminds me of the 'All In the Family' episode

where Archie was leaving a black neighbor's house and the little 9-yr-old daughter innocently blurted out "goodbye honkie" as he left.

[840high]

2. I am sorry this happened.

Happened to me where I was told in no uncertain terms not to touch the baby. I'm white - Mom was black. It hurt.

[Squinch]

3. Yikes! Where was this? The mother SHOULD have been ashamed. That crap came from her.

[athena]

12. How do you know it came from her and not the child's father?

Or an uncle?

It's so convenient to automatically blame the woman.

[jaysunb]

14. My wife said the same thing. :) n/t

[Arkansas Granny]

4. My daughter did something very similar to me one time and I can assure you

she didn't learn that word at home. We had black friends and neighbors, the kids had black classmates and friends,but one day, out of the blue, she dropped that word right in the middle of a conversation with a close friend. I was mortified! Luckily my friend knew us well enough to realize that she wasn't repeating my words, but it was embarrassing, nonetheless.

[jaysunb]

5. I can imagine your shock. :) n/t

[Arkansas Granny]

6. We were talking about it a few weeks ago. Forty years have passed

and she still remembers the shock on our faces and the talking to she got. She swears that she never used the word again. She was about 5 yo at the time.

[jaysunb]

7. Well, as Art Linkletter used to say...

"kids say the darnest things. " and btw, good on your daughter. Sounds like a well raised lady.

[jwirr]

8. Yes, that child is being indoctrinated but because of you she met a smiling friendly man who she may

remember and someday begin to question her mothers sanity. I am 70 years old and I came from a family that had some very questionable values and you may have heard that same words in my home at one time. But because of what was happening around us my generation began to question the ideas of our parents.

Some of the things that happened were as simple as my grandmother pointing a black man out in a city we were visiting. Her intent was to scare me but it had the opposite effect - I was curious. There was also the influence of the entertainment world. I loved the songs of Nat King Cole. In sports there was Ali. All of this made my sister and brothers start to think. My youngest brother read the book "Black Like Me" and shared with us. We were evolving.

By the time of MLK we were convinced enough to start arguing with out parents and we just ignored our grandparents except for my grandfather who told us about his black friends when he was young. Our other grandfather had actually befriended a black hobo who wanted to stay in our grove for a night. He ended up having dinner with the family and sleeping in the house where he was safer.

Today I am the proud auntie of three black nieces and three of my grandchildren and 4 great grandchildren have black heritage. My parents lived long enough to be proud of that fact also.

So you may have done much more than you think with the smile you offered to that child in the store. I hope so.

[jaysunb]

9. +1 we are the same age and have shared many of the same

experiences...albeit from different perspectives, but I think our generation was the first to completely rebel while keeping our family at least talking.

Some of us DID overcome.

[jwirr]

11. Yes, and it hurts to see it falling to pieces now. I hate to see the bigotry so openly displayed. It

makes it appear that somehow it is not okay to insult various people again. It will never be okay and merely shows just how shallow we have become.

[JustAnotherGen]

10. That shit WAS funny!

I have to email my mom this link. She's still bringing up the fact that 33 years ago I asked very loudly at a small dinner party my parents were having, "What exactly is a BRA (like the a in bat) See Ere Yay?"

Yeah - thanks for nothing Shel Silverstein for They Put A Brassiere on the Camel.

Something - that seems far less embarassing to a parent right about now!

[1StrongBlackMan]

13. My mom tells a story of ...

being the second Black family on the block. (I was born, but too young to remember the event).

Our neighbors had a 4 or 5 year old son that frequently came over to our house. One day he came over, clearly upset, and offered my mom the advice, "You had better hurry up and move because the {N-Word}s are coming! My dad told my mom that there are already a couple around here and it won't be long before they take over! And that would be just terrible!"

My mom, being my mom, played along and asked the child, "Why would that be so bad?"

The boy responded, "Because they're {N-Word}s! ... {Momma 1SBM}, What's a {N-word}?"

Momma 1SBM replied, "That's a very ugly name for a group of people. I hope you never meet any."

In a related story, my mom told ...

My mom had just got me home from the hospital, after I had a couple of day's stay at the hospital due to an unexplained fever. I was about 2 years old. One day, my slightly older sister (22 months) was on the floor playing with some blocks ... trying to stack them on top of each other, but each time, they would tumble over ... to which, she would loudly yell, "Sh!t!"

My mom says, she could believe her ears, since she rarely swore and never in front of my sister (I was 16 years old before I heard her swear). So she asked, Sister 1SBM where she heard that word?

It turned out, my dad was working on the washing machine and had rapped his knuckles on the metal frame a couple times, to which he let out that word. He wasn't really aware that my sister had heard him, but she clearly associated that word with being frustrated in a task.

My point in relating these two stories ... We must be aware of what we say around our kids, because you WILL hear it again.

[jaysunb]

15. Things haven't changed much.

A white neighbor recently asked me if I was aware the house down the block was sold to an Asian family.--- I did, but played dumb. Of course she proceeded to tell me how they were taking over the city. I could hardly suppress a laugh remembering how she and others acted when my family moved here 20 years ago. And I'm sure the same conversation was had about us.