Blood Done Sign My Name essay
Blood Done Sign My Name
EDFS 5209
September 19, 2012
“Paternalism strengthened the system of white supremacy by softening its sharper edges and covering its patent injustices with a patina of friendship.” This quote from page 25 of Tyson’s book appears, on the surface, to be his most accurate assessment of the “civil rights era” of all his statements that are not reflections of his personal situation. On deeper examination, however, this doesn’t stand up. I’m not sure paternalism is the right word, but since he used it, we’ll go with that. I lived my early years in a suburb of Chicago (LaGrange) that was all white, as far as I knew. There was a part of town that was literally “across the tracks.” I’m not sure of the racial make-up of this area (I was eight when we move away) but it was either inhabited by blacks or lower income whites to the best of my memory. The ethnic factor was whether someone was of Polish descent; that’s the only thing I remember. Not that the neighborhoods were ethnically segregated; I just remember that some people were Polish and some were not. We saw black people when we went to downtown Chicago, to Comisky Park to see the White Sox play, or to Brookfield Zoo. My family moved to Atlanta in 1961. I can remember seeing lots of black people a lot more often; we went downtown Atlanta more often than we did downtown Chicago. The immediate neighborhood was all white, but when I went to high school the area included a few pockets of black families. I recall that many of the blacks at the high school were among the most popular of all the students. I made my first black friend in 9th grade chorus class of all places. This was the school year 1967-1968. On that day in April, I remember Marvin saying,” Atlanta’s gonna burn tonight.” That’s all I remember him saying. He and I and two other white kids spent the rest of the class cutting up in the back of the room as usual. I don’t think he said another word about it. At the time, I had
EDFS 5209
September 19, 2012
“Paternalism strengthened the system of white supremacy by softening its sharper edges and covering its patent injustices with a patina of friendship.” This quote from page 25 of Tyson’s book appears, on the surface, to be his most accurate assessment of the “civil rights era” of all his statements that are not reflections of his personal situation. On deeper examination, however, this doesn’t stand up. I’m not sure paternalism is the right word, but since he used it, we’ll go with that. I lived my early years in a suburb of Chicago (LaGrange) that was all white, as far as I knew. There was a part of town that was literally “across the tracks.” I’m not sure of the racial make-up of this area (I was eight when we move away) but it was either inhabited by blacks or lower income whites to the best of my memory. The ethnic factor was whether someone was of Polish descent; that’s the only thing I remember. Not that the neighborhoods were ethnically segregated; I just remember that some people were Polish and some were not. We saw black people when we went to downtown Chicago, to Comisky Park to see the White Sox play, or to Brookfield Zoo. My family moved to Atlanta in 1961. I can remember seeing lots of black people a lot more often; we went downtown Atlanta more often than we did downtown Chicago. The immediate neighborhood was all white, but when I went to high school the area included a few pockets of black families. I recall that many of the blacks at the high school were among the most popular of all the students. I made my first black friend in 9th grade chorus class of all places. This was the school year 1967-1968. On that day in April, I remember Marvin saying,” Atlanta’s gonna burn tonight.” That’s all I remember him saying. He and I and two other white kids spent the rest of the class cutting up in the back of the room as usual. I don’t think he said another word about it. At the time, I had