because that's the way things were back then (part 2 of 2)

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[if you haven't, you might wanna read part one first]

today when white people use the "n" word, it's generally to be either provocative or malicious. back then, there was a third reason: it was just the way lots of white people where i grew up referred among themselves to black people. it's not that there was any particular ill intent behind the use of the descriptive; on the contrary, it was in most cases used with casualness, matter-of-factness and ease, some sense of which i attempted to convey in the examples i used in part one of this post.

* * * * *

by the time i entered junior-high school, the district was fully integrated, and between a quarter and a third of the student body of my school was black. at first it was a little strange, but everybody adapted pretty quickly, and soon it wasn't even an issue.

high school, on the other hand...

* * * * *

i attended robert e. lee high school. at the beginning of my sophomore year, it was, as it had always been, the home of the fighting rebels. rather than a single mascot, we had the rebel guard, consisting of six pseudo-confederate "soldiers" whose job it was to fire a cannon at strategic points in pep rallies and football games.

at half-time during each football game, twelve young men known as the lee gentlemen (honor students all) would with great pomp and ceremony unfurl an enormous confederate flag with twelve handles sewn in all around its perimeter, and stretch it out until it was the size of a small parking lot.

then, resplendent in their red blazers and white pants, they would lift to their collective shoulders this symbol of our school spirit and march it up and down the length of the field to the accompaniment of our drill team (the rebelettes) tossing their batons, hysterical cheering from the stands and the band blaring our fight song--which, as you might have guessed, was "dixie."

[i tried but failed to come up with some pictures of this spectacle, but the following shot of the ole miss flag--to which ours was pretty much identical--will give you the idea.]

* * * * *

by the end of my sophomore year, however, all of our confederate symbols were gone with the wind.

the robert e. lee rebels had become the robert e. lee red raiders. gone was the rebel guard (they became the cannoneers--until someone was deafened during a football game and firing the cannon was outlawed altogether). gone were the rebelettes (they became the raiderettes), and gone was "dixie." and gone was the big confederate flag--replaced by a similar-sized red tarpaulin in the center of which was a large depiction of the yosemite-sam-like "red raider" which had been chosen by the district as our new mascot.

while there was great bitterness in many quarters over this decision (and a few weeks following its announcement when the racial tension was so thick on campus that you could cut it with a knife), it wasn't fought too overly hard, because times were changing--even in east texas--and everybody knew it.

* * * * *

i chose these stories from the thousands of similar ones in my past because these are always the ones that cause the most jaw droppage when i tell them to people--especially people under 30.

and they always react like i'm telling tales of another country, or of a different geological age; they find it inconceivable that such things could have taken place in their country within the span of my lifetime.

and now that little boy who not so long ago couldn't figure out what the "colored window" was for is about to have the opportunity to vote for a black man for president.

fuck what anybody (including me) says--this really is a remarkable country.