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Beautiful letter. No, not crying. Just something in my eye.

mr. smith,
two words.....A-men !

".... but for moving past the hate that has been learned much more than has been experienced."

How absolutely true. Children are not born hating. It is a learned behavior. And the crime is, it would be just as easy and more beneficial to one's children to teach them love and respect for others. What an awesome thought!

Amen also. Children are so easily influenced by adults. Hate, even covertly implied, is contagious. Worked with many students who had a chip on their shoulder a mile wide. Very hard to communicate.

Fantastic letter! Well worded and obviously very heartfelt. We are all moved by your poignant description of the past and your hope for the future---AMEN!

This is a great letter. I share some of the letter writer's memories of separate bathrooms, fountains, colored balconies in the theaters that allowed black people as well as eating food in restaurants cooked by black people who could not, themselves, eat in those establishments. I was deprived by attending a segregated Greensboro school system and by not knowing any black people. The only black people I knew growing up were the maids who came to our house to clean. One of these maids was Eva P. Womble. Eva was an educated black woman who, I believe, had been a teacher. She caused me to question the status quo of separate but obviously unequal. Both the letter writer and I share some of the same experiences and realize what we missed when we were children.

When I was ultra-young, my family were tobacco farmers. From the time I was three I had the privilege of playing with black kids while our parents worked side-by-side stringing tobacco. I thank God for that experience and for the wisdom of my parents for teaching me all humans are equal; that God created us all from His image.

In my pre-teens, my dad owned an old Red Dot grocery called Carteret's Superette (in Rocky Mount). He also owned Star Fish Market. Both establishments were located in black neighborhoods. All of us youngens had to help in both stores. I never saw or heard my dad utter one racist remark.

Since I am over sixty, I now realize how progressive my dad was back then and what a good man he was. When he was killed by a drunk driver in 1966 he was virtually penniless. Both his businesses went belly up because he gave away more than he sold. That, and my mom's extensive illness before her death in 1959.

He may have died poor materially but I can't think of a richer man spiritually. And I am sure God has rewarded him nicely for teaching and spreading love and equality for all of mankind, not just white folks.

Beautiful story, Yvonne. I, too, grew up on a farm and played with the kids who lived on the farm and worked along side my family. Mama cooked lunch (we called it dinner) and all the men sat down together and ate...women and children ate when they were through...we also thought this was OK.

We called then colored at the time. I loved and was loved back by the mom and dad and kids. They are as much a part of my childhood memories as my family. At the time, we just didn't think about why they were bused 20 miles to school instead of the 5 to the white school.

If I had been disrespectful to Pearl, she would have popped my behind with no thought involved. She did catch my cousin and me smoking behind the hen house and fussed us out but did not tell.

We were all invited to Willie and Pearl's 50th anniversary renewal of their vows. It was a family reunion for us all.

I may get pounded for this one, but it is just something I feel. I did not grow up in a era of segregation, I went to school with children of every race and never remember any cases of separation, with that said I am glad to see letters like this and stories like those. The only exposure I had to racial issues were from children my age growing up and demamding that they be given "something" for the years that black people had spent being downtrodden. Perhaps these people of my age should respect the fact that we all need ot move past the hate, and start not only living as equals, but realizing that being equal means that you get what you earn and your race does not get you anything extra. Be you black or white.

LBB,

I was thirteen when I moved to High Point. Until that time I was never exposed to segregation except in school. What was the difference in Rocky Mount and HP that supported racial division? I don't know. But I was in senior high before integration occurred.

Back then folks worked for a living, children were taught to show respect and everyone helped the poor and disabled. Talk of reparations and the "something for nothing" attitude did not come along (in numbers) until I was a mature woman.

The "me" generation is not confined to one specific race, imho. Unfortunately, there is a whole generation of lazy, disrespectful, destructive and unkind people. I pray everyday that the situations that have caused this way of behaving will improve. I want my grandchildren to know that harmony can exist between the races.

I cannot speak to your experiences except to say they were not mine. And I hope no one will "pound" you for sharing your pov. You just call 'em as you see 'em, like me. (Uh-oh, on second thought, I'm moving over. Cover your head, drop to the ground and play dead. The beating will be over quickly if you don't fight back!)

Yvonne,
There was a man named Whitfield Lee who ran a little grocery store in Wilson that was right in the middle of the black part of town. While race riots and store burnings occurred elsewhere, the folks would never let anything happen to his store because they loved him and it went both ways. He retired, went to work in Rocky Mount for his brother's retail store, at Peacock Packing. A lone black gunman came in and robbed the store and shot Mr. Lee dead. Lee was white, but the black community reached out to his family as if it was their own flesh and blood. That story is a great one.