Hey! I hope you are warm where you are! It has starting to turn cold here! I am not ready for having to wear a coat! It looks like summer is over!

Did you get to go on a vacation this summer? I did get away for a few days. I went down to Kentucky to visit some friends. I took Clio with me because the friends I visited just happened to be where I got Clio. I did end up bringing home a new dog. I had no plans of it but well, Clio found a playmate and the dog needed a home!

I also learned a lot when I was down there about the South and other areas of the country. I have heard that living in the South was like living in a different time frame but until I spent some time down there and listened to the stories and saw a few things for myself did I realize how true it is. It was interesting in hearing about not only the prejudice towards the blacks but how getting a job is based on who you know more then if you are capable of doing the job. It makes if very difficult for some to make a living because of it. Those who feel they should get a job based on merit along don't survive. They find they have to call up that person in the right position they know to ask them to pull some strings so that they can get a job. For some people that is hard to do. They feel its 'job performance' not who you know that should count.

I am not basing this opinion on just one person's say so I have heard it before from people I know who live in the South. I never thought much about it until this visit. Sure you have the 'who you know' thing all over but not to the extent you do in the South. Other places have it mostly in connections with only certain types of jobs or in promotions not in just getting a job or in connection with people getting allowed to…not do the work like everyone else is made to do.

It was also interesting in how the local governments don't want to bring in more business so that more people can get jobs. They are too afraid that the new business bigwigs will take over their position in the community and they will no longer have power. A rather childish view. If they knew what they were doing they would realize the more the community profits they more they would profit. I guess that is just too much of an adult business thought process to understand.

The people I visited have lived in different areas of the country. The south is not the only place there is prejudice. They actually found prejudice everywhere they went. The difference was each area was prejudice against different types of people. The south the blacks, in an other areas the Indians, in an other areas people from different countries, not one area had the exact same prejudices but they all had them.

I think that is an important point to know. Like the story of a black woman they knew who married a black man from a different area. Where he came from there was no real prejudice against blacks. His whole attitude about life was different then hers. Things that upset her did not phase him. They moved out of the south and the next time my friends saw this woman her first comment was how they and her husband where right about not all whites are prejudice against blacks and how it had changed her life to experience this.

I think that is a very important point. It's the idea that everyone feels the same outside of an area as the people in a specific area feel the same. I think it is what prevents the biggest strides in breaking down prejudice views. Its not only the attitude of the one being prejudice that counts but the one who the prejudice is against that keep the walls up between different people of this world.

You cannot blame the woman who thought the prejudice reactions where the same everywhere. The stories I was told about the south and what black endured over the years is pretty scary. My friends said when they first moved there they had seen movies about prejudices but always thought it was exaggerated for the sake of entertainment. They found out what you see in the movies is probably truer then anyone wants you to really know.

Its not only attitudes about people that hold down some of the areas in the south but the people there. They are so glad when they do get a job that the big companies can come in run a shop below the EPA or OSHA standards and get away with it. No one working at the companies will complain. They will endure many things just to have that job. It was also interesting how the company even knew when the fire marshal was coming in for an inspection and how things where as they should be during the visit but afterword went back to unsafe conditions.

I questioned my friends over and over. It all did not make sense to me. They would tell me that there are a lot of people connected to the Internet. They do watch TV. It did not make sense to me that with all this they were not throwing a fit about the things holding them back in that area of the country. I do not understand with all the information available to them why they do not seek change. Apathy I was told. They did not care to change; they did not care to learn; they just did not care. This amazes me because I've never known anyone who actually felt that way. I mean sure people I know people who from time to time feel like giving up but most of them one way or another change the conditions they do not like. They find a different job, they move, they take a stand and fight for what is right. I don't think I've ever known a person who just accepted life as it was if they did not like it.

It's not the lack of education or access to information that seems to be the problem. Maybe it's the type of information we are using or the way it is presented. Maybe we should approach things as if they do not exist? What I mean is, instead of showing or telling us black and whites can get along, present things as if they already do. Human nature tends to go with the flow of things that seem normal to you. If seeing black and whites (or any and all of the races) as if they always worked together then maybe it would be more commonplace.

As I wrote that I was thinking about what people see. I do not watch much TV. I do not have the time. Yet, stopping and thinking about what I know is on TV and in the movies I wondered why I had a hard time thinking of shows that have both blacks and whites in them. The movies are some what better about showing blacks and whites working together but what about TV? People watch general TV more then they watch movies. How many shows show both blacks and whites together? I can only think of one. Its on Lifetime - Any Day Now. And it is a great show! Most shows are either all white or all black?

Do you see anything wrong with this picture? Think about it!

Keep Warm and Safe!

Lynn Beck

LBeck99703@aol.com
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