YES. Be that guy!

I love these! Mind if I steal 'em?

wiry slim guy with a huge heart who when he was a kid taking the bus in 1930-40's Portland, Oregon would get up and let black women sit. He got his little ass whipped too. He used to talk once in a while about being in Japan after the surrender with the fleet and walk around Tokyo. Whenever he saw someone being berated by someone else he always stepped in. He didn't know from cultural stuff. He just knew someone was being abused and humiliated. Period. My little skinny sweet dad was the best man I ever knew. HE WAS THAT MAN. If he can be, so can anyone. This DU'er is my hero. Thank you for this story.

Just from reading accounts of ordinary Germans it was dangerous to show or say anything negative against the party.
Children would denounce their parents for stuff like that.

(Obsessed with WWII)

“Fear the time when the strikes stop while the great owners live - for every little beaten strike is proof that the step is being taken … fear the time when Manself will not suffer and die for a concept, for this one quality is the foundation of Manself, and this one quality is man, distinctive in the universe.”
― John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath

It takes courage and strong character integrity to buck the crowd.

If we could be confident that there were people watching our backs, things would be VERY different.
As it stands, if your friend wasn't there, the guy likely would have had to just take it.

for your friend!

Many to you, M0rpheus.

Seriously. I will call out a salesperson tailing someone, a clerk ignoring someone and serving everyone but that person, et al It's the micro aggressions that are grinding too.

I can take the up-front stuff. I know how to deal with that.

It's the little things that add up. If I called them all out, I'd be yelling damned all day.

I appreciate the support.

It's similar but not the same, as a women I know how wearing micro-aggressions are.

I appreciate the support. No thanks needed. Every human deserves to be treated with respect and dignity. I'll take the slings and arrows, without taking over as the White Savior if that makes any sense. Destroy the Kyriarchy!

Sadly feminism doesn't get this. Mainstream feminism has a race problem, (and a class problem).

Hugs to your daughters. My good man, it will be stopped. It has to be.

....the resulting kicking and screaming is part of the fun.

Great stuff, thanks for posting this!

Julie

So the racist fucks would have gotten the opposite of their desire.

everywhere across this nation, people are getting more and more tired of rw racist bullshit

What happened here is one small step toward ending it. I applaud the gentlemen involved. What they did was courageous, and helps to make the world a little better.

Rascist pigs and their crap. Black skin or black hearts - you really have to think hard to see where your heart comes down? Oh fuck me please.

who is maybe facing some hard times when those racists come back at a time when noone is there to help her.

She's Hispanic, so this type of behavior is no doubt very familiar.

Had the four uttered threats or anything, the police would have been called. Amazingly, they left without any trouble, more in shock than angry.

But I am going to call to follow up with her and make sure she's okay. (freemay20 went there, doing a favor for me.)

Thanks for this post

... I ran with very imposing SHARP and AntiFa Skinheads. I wasn't a Skin myself - more of a punk / mod hybrid. Where we were from (Dallas), there were a lot of Hammer and WAR boneheads. Let's just say that it was very satisfying to see that they (Hammer and WAR) weren't able to intimidate us. Yes, fights were the norm, but if you saw the size of our multicultural SHARP and AntiFa Skins, your best bet was to back away ... or in the words of Heisenberg, "... tread lightly." Jewish, Black, Puerto Rican, Mexican and White Skinheads coming together to beat back those bigots ... well, there's no better satisfaction.

Especially the way the walked and talked - until they came to the same venue as us. Then they'd scurry away really quick. Of course, it did get scary when one of my good friends was stabbed, but he turned out okay and recouped in the hospital.

Fun days.

They hated bigots. I'm just sick about those asshole in the laundry mat. I'm glad your friend was there. I always speak up when I see or hear bullshit like that.

People assume b/c I look "Aryan" I approve of racism. "What the fuck did you just say?"
America is one of the most racist country if not the most racist country in the world.

Let's change that. Speak up.

... was derived from sort of a merger between the British Mods and the Jamaican Rude Boys. It was a working class subculture that pretty much cared about partying and music - rock steady, ska, Motown, etc, and then in the later years, punk rock (which has its own fusion of styles, too). Eventually, though, due to Southeast Asian immigration (in England), part of that subculture factionalized off into their own racist/nationalist segments. So, the representatives you see on shows like Geraldo are the racist variety.

In the Skinhead subculture, Racist/Nazi/Nationalist factions are referred to as "Boneheads." Still referred as that to this day.

It should be noted that there are even more subdivisions like just simply non-racist, then you have RASH (Red and Anarchist Skinheads), SHARP (Skinheads Against Racial Prejudice), and TRADS (Traditional Skinheads - which is just simply not political).

And yes, we always need to speak up. Without speaking out, you are passively endorsing such bigotry.

Hope that helps explain the whole scene.

For more information, here's a Wiki entry on it:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skinhead

It was an honor to be a part of the scene, even though I wasn't a Skinhead (I didn't shave my head) myself - I was more into the Mod/Punk look myself.

Edit to add pictures:




SHARP Logo


RASH Logo

I'm tall, stocky, bald and heavily tattooed...my mother was a DAR whose family came over on the Jamestown boats and I'm 3rd generation Irish on my fathers side....I'm probably more "Aryan" than 99% of those nazi wanna be f@ckers....I live to get them talking, because I grew up down south....lived here all my life....then I show them a picture of my very much black wife.....the expression is always priceless...I don't get much crap from them either....being a big, bald tattooed scarey looking Irish guy comes with some perks! I grew up around the east Texas area...I remember seeing a lot of those "boneheads" when we'd hang out with friends in Dallas....douchebags all....

... a lot of the boneheads, when with their friends, would talk a lot of shit. But you'd isolate one or two, and not in a threatening way, say we saw one at the movies, or at a bar, or store - we would always have discussions, and then they'd start agreeing with us.

They weren't even committed to their racism! Well, until the next time we'd see them all together.


I wonder if you and I ever hung out in Deep Ellum or Lower Greenville back in the day.

Anyhow, great to meet you.

Longview/Tyler area, but I had a lot of friends that either went to school or work around the metroplex area, Rockwall and garland more specificly, so we'd make the 90 minute trip to big D and hang out for the weekends...which was definetly more exciting than Kilgore! I had a friend of a friend who knew and grew up with the guitarist and drummer from pantera...the brothers...I remember hanging out at a metal bar called Matleys and going to their practice sessions when they weren't touring...spent a lot of time hanging out and boating on lake Ray Hubbard. We also used to cruise ladies outside of Le' Bares and hit on them when the shows ended...yelling at hookers on Harry Hines blvd! Lol....crazy fun times back then!

... at there "All Nudie" bar they owned. I think it was called Legends (off of I-35, I think). We'd bring our own liquor, hang out with the band, and look at naked girls. This was towards the end of the 90s, though.

And yeah, Harry Hines - what better name for a boulevard where the hookers hung out. Good times, good times.

Edit to add: I was never really a fan of Pantera, but they took a liking to me because I'd always walk in with Dallas Stars paraphernalia on my person. They loved the Stars as much as I did, so they took a liking to me and let me hang.

Mid 80's, when terry glaze sang for them and they were wearing spandex and had big hair. Nobody believes me when I tell them they were once a hair band! I saw the last two Texas jams there in 85 and 86, before it became the monsters of rock(and before I knew what a dick Ted Nugent is/was). It was such a cool place to grow up and live back then....I go home and just shake my head at how everyone has become so uptight now....

On edit....a fond memory I have is hanging out with them....pantera...Darrel the guitarist, his brother and the bassist, out at some farm way out in BFE between canton and garland(hell it might have been saline for all I know...lol),drinking shots of bourbon, smoking a lot of herb and getting in close with a few of their groupies singing parodies of quiet riot songs! You're absolutely right....good times with some really talented fun people....I was never a huge fan of them either, but they were really cool to all of us. Years later I had a chance to see damage plan play a festival in Orlando, and in between songs I shouted out something about hanging out at that old rock club....it must have caught his ear, I was only about ten feet away from him, but I'm sure he didn't know who I was or who said it, but he suddenly looked right at me....a few weeks later he was shot and killed onstage....I felt pretty weird about it to be honest. Sad waste of talent.

I guess that's what turned me off from them. I was punk rock guy myself.

Also thrash metal before they took up the genre strangely enough....I put a personal story on the edit of my last post you might like.

Shame what happened to Dimebag.

I really do wonder if we ever crossed paths in Deep Ellum or Lower Greenville.

Well, next time we're both in Dallas, we'll need to have a beer.

For the holidays....if we make it up this year I'll send you a pm for sure. Good talking and thanks for letting me reminisce!

I'm going to Dallas either in November or in December. I'll do the same. Hope to meet ya.

One of my friend's older sisters always said she dated a guy from Pantera when they were still a hair band. (I knew her to be on honest person so I have no reason to doubt her. Also I had a crush on her so anything she said was honey to me. lol) I grew up in Dallas in the 70s but left in the early 80s when I was 19 or so - I never really got out to the club scene there but we were all into metal. We were the long haired guys who hung out with the non-racist hardcore skins.

I lived in Irving, Garland, Duncanville, and Arlington at various times.

Thank you for the links and info. I'm a huge thrash metal fan and bands like the Exploited, The Dead Kennedys, Butthole Surfers etc. And the Sex Pistols natch.

Cool pic!

Awesome bands.

In Dallas, there used to be a kid's show called Mr. Peppermint Place. Guess who played Mr. Peppermint? That's right, Gibby Haynes's Dad!!!

I'm not a thrash metal guy, but I'm sure you'll get a kick out of this song:

There are a lot worse.

A small immediate pain to avoid a potential larger one.

For the both of you, it was innocent play. For the older sister, it was potential danger.

But that is lived knowledge.

She was caught talking to a white girl on the way back from the store. This earned the attention of some older boys, who grabbed her, and stuffed her in a burlap sack. They hung her in the sack on a low-hanging branch and smoked her. As in smoked over a hickory flame like sausage.

She got herself free when the bottom of the sack gave from the heat. From one small interaction she got Kidnapped, smoked, burned (burns she carried for the rest of her life), and beaten by her mother because she should have known better!

To her last day, she didn't trust a white person. That distrust was learned the hard way.

bolder. but it isn't 'racism'. so they think.

I know many people who were PROUD to say they're racist...until Limbaugh told them they're not racist.

I definitely don't feel everyone who disagrees with or dislikes Obama is a racist, but I would venture to say that the vast majority who listen to people like Limbaugh ARE.

(Damn...that was fast! Is that 1-poster -- New Moon in the 6th -- gone already?)


I grew up in a fairly big city, in the north in the 70's. Racism and bigotry were the norm...unfortunately both are still prevalent, including in the younger generation in that same area.

It truly is all over, not only in small towns.

Again, it's institutionalized and systemic. Granted, there are many reasons as to why individuals have such a narrow worldview (not the least of which is fear...fear of "The Other," imho).

Actually, I'd say it accomplished a lot. Three people were very empowered today. They SPOKE UP. They can rest well tonight, knowing they simply did the right thing. But, sometimes the right thing isn't always easy, as we all know.

As for the four young men, we'll likely never know what they came away thinking or feeling. There's a chance their eyes were opened a bit, especially since they did leave without any trouble, rather than in a combative, threatening way. Maybe their eyes were opened in some way, in a positive way.

I don't view this as "do-gooder" stuff: It's simply being a decent human being and realizing that we're all in this together.

Stories which exemplify that, especially when it involves members of our own community, can help us in our everyday lives sometimes. Give us courage...hope.

It is a HUGE issue still, and I'm committed to combating it every step of the way and have for 40+ years, trying to bring attention to how it IS systemic and institutionalized. It must be approached from many angles.

That said, one step at a time -- so long as that step is in the right direction -- matters, imho.

Welcome to DU.

(Okay, edit to add that if this person creates yet ANOTHER identity and posts here in this subthread, I'll ignore it.. )

I have a feeling if your post was removed, there's a good reason for it. For what it's worth, I didn't alert on your post. I simply answered, sincerely.

I don't pay attention to the myriad identities some people have here on DU. My brain can't keep track of that stuff.

But I agree with you about discussion being necessary, about all issues. There are terms of service here, though, and I respect that.

I am 74 now, but I remember the racism down there during those eras. There were separate restrooms and drinking fountains for blacks and whites, and blacks had to sit in the back of the bus. In the early '50s, I remember a bus driver who refused to move the bus because a black man got on and sat in the front. The driver said the bus was not going anywhere until that man moved to the back. He finally did. I attended segregated schools, so never really mingled with blacks, mainly because they had their own neighborhoods away from the white areas.

My mother had black maids come in to clean the house. I was afraid to touch them because I thought their color would rub off on me. I didn't know any better because that is how I was raised. Even though we were originally from the North, my mother was still pretty much of a bigot. She was of the thought that black people were just fine and everyone should own one. Her parents always had black help in the house.

Though I have lived in other states in the North, South and West, I now live in Georgia and amazingly there is not the bigotry I expected when I moved here.

Thanks for the thread, OneGrassRoot.

"Don't assume I share your prejudices"

I no naka no kawazu taikai wo shirazu.

and hate. Small minds.. haters gotta hate

I am proud of our fellow DUer

I've seen it from sea to shining sea--it's not limited to any region, unfortunately.

I've seen racism in Europe, in Asia, and in the Middle East.

People are just not always nice to one another, and that's a damn shame.

I was trying to express that it's everywhere, not only where I live, which happens to be in the South.

Stories like this need to be spread far and wide. Not only to hold up a mirror to people who might ignorant and mean, but to encourage the better nature of the timid to stand up and be counted.
...................................

Here's my little bit of true life encouragement. Even here in the notorious MidWest boonies, where kids take in hatred of others with their mother's milk, one of the men whose ignorant and hateful comments have sorely tried me just the other day up and volunteered that there was too much animosity and prejudice in the world, that even our town had a lot to answer for, and it has to stop. Somewhere sometime in the last couple weeks, he must've had his Selma moment of greater vision because believe me you never heard language more hateful than his always before.

Now that was an apology, cloaked and murmured though it was. I used to tell best friends elsewhere that I live and breathe to hear him admit he's been wrong and learn to love the President instead. I'll never press him to openly recant, but that's what he really did in the most face-saving way he could. It wasn't my victory anyway. It was his own, over himself, likely due in large measure to President Obama's sterling deportment and work for the good of all, even those ranting racists who hate him. That's a powerful witness, a nearly irresistible force.

He can profoundly disagree with Obama on any number of points and feel that he's a weak President.

All I would expect is that he judge this President the same way he would judge any of the others and that skin colour is irrelevant.

Then we have started to make progress.

And we'll never all be on the exact same page at the exact same time anyway. I'm always happy to see any kind or amount of progress.

Very eloquently said, btw.

Thank you for sharing this here.

Even more I appreciate your posts. Others are far better than I at explaining policy. If I have much to contribute at all, it's likelier to be a mere personal illustration for or against what's already been said.

sharing it so eloquently.

I want to share more of my story and background after sitting with what happened yesterday. The main point thing that is clear to me and I hope to let others know is that CHANGE IS POSSIBLE.

CHANGE in people, CHANGE in me, hopefully CHANGE FOR OUR COUNTRY. This goes back to where I was raised, how I was raised and the environment I was raised in. I'm sharing this so that maybe it will give others hope, make them believe and feel their efforts are not in vain when it comes to CHANGE. I know others here have shared similar stories.

As OGR mentioned, I'm in my early 50s. I was raised in a very bigoted, racist and, yep, Republican environment in Wisconsin. In high school comments were made and hatred was obligatorily dispersed when the first people of color were admitted to our school. I was right there with the hometown majority. One of my friends from that general area admitted later in life that he had never seen a person of color, in person, until he was 19. This was the area in which I lived.

I played soccer as a child in the late 60’s, and this team was not restricted to just my area. The interest was not enough in my area and the teams and league were metro-wide. I had a friend of color on my team. I never understood how I could hear such hateful words come from my father toward people of color, yet my friend was welcome in our house to play with me. Hell, my father even drove 40 minutes to pick him up and take him home so we could get together. It was confusing. This day, 45 years later, and I still do not understand.

After high school and into college, I worked at a local bar. It was mainly local buddies and local blue-collar, white workers. Everyone seemed to get along. I realize now why they got along; they all had the same views. They were all Republican; I am sure now that they did not know why.

And they were all, to some extent, racist. I recall, as if it was yesterday, when an African-American was in the bar with his construction crew after work. My friends, and some locals came in, and I was continually asked, “What is he doing here?” I remember not responding and not even acknowledging their question. I feel that was the first time I felt that there was something wrong with my beliefs, or at least my learned and accepted beliefs. But I didn't speak up then.

My adult history was one of voting Republican and making the racist comments I had learned and had accepted as “normal” speech. I look back and realize I was the same as the people I get so upset with today.

I did not know the facts behind any issues, or my beliefs and views. I did not know why I wanted to vote for a person. I could not answer one political question intelligently. All I knew was that I could not have one of those hippie loving, destroy America loving, liberal, and lastly, N word loving people be in political office.

I admit fully I voted Republican until 2008. I give myself credit for growing out of, well at least questioning the views of race that I was raised upon. The racist comments I heard now and then bothered me. By this time I had friends (true friends) of color and we respected each other and were open with each other about issues of race. It was something I do not think I had experienced with my white friends in the past; we always had that uneasy feeling being open about race. I can tell my friends from my past are uncomfortable with me now but they don't say anything.

To me, that's the odd thing about racism, as so often it goes unsaid and unrealized and not discussed.

I met OGR about 8 years ago. It must have been the right time, and maybe I was searching for something to help me understand this tension I felt about how I grew up and how I actually felt about things.

I was introduced to her idea of Wishadoo not long after we met. When she first started sharing it with me, and even after the website was up and running, to be honest I did not understand it until about 5 years ago. She got me to help a person that had asked a minor request. I did it and things made sense to me at that point. I saw it, it was so simple, WE ARE ALL THE SAME!!! It made me realize it does not matter with regard to the color of a person’s skin, of a person’s income, of a person’s religion, or of a persons living situation. I saw what mattered is that WE ARE ALL THE SAME!!!! Yes, we can all help each other.

I have been very active since that time in helping others. I've also become really outspoken about politics and racism and all types of bigotry.

I speak my mind when others are being negative towards other people whether I know them or not. I realize that the world and the community around me are bigger than me, bigger than my ego, bigger than my need to feel important. Yes, that wanting to be important can cloud things.

I don't mean this to be a promo for Wishadoo or lovefest for OGR, but that was a time of big change for me. That thing you could do, that “little” bit of contribution you feel is too small, that gentle or kind word of encouragement, could be the thing that makes the person in need feel whole and take the next step to accomplish the goal they have in mind.

She says it all the time, but I've experienced the truth that helping others – or as she is always careful to say "being of service to others" – helps ME. It's a gift to ME, even if it's as simple as offering someone encouragement when they're going through a rough time rather than avoid them because I'm uncomfortable.

All this is to say that I have learned these important things:

People can change; I AM AN EXAMPLE OF THIS! We need change and we have to have the courage to stand up to make these changes. When we see people wronged, we need not be afraid to stand up for what is right. We need to keep pushing for REAL equality for all.

I've been speaking out against hate for years now and standing up for people whenever I'm in the position to do it. It's not being a do-gooder (another thing I was taught to hate), it's being a decent human.

But yesterday, in that Laundromat, I honestly didn't even have to think. All I knew was that I wanted to be of service to that gentleman who was on the receiving end of hatred.

(Funny story: If you don't know OGR, she swears like a sailor and is proud of it. She said her response had she been there may have made things worse. She said, "I have no doubt what I would have done, though maybe it wouldn't have been helpful. I would have said, 'Are you fucking kidding me with this shit?!!!!'" But seriously, we've been talking about the different scenarios and what may or may not have been helpful. Me being able to back the guy up physically if it came to that was probably a big factor.)

I just wanted the guy to know I was on his side and stood with him whatever he wanted to do.

I wasn't thinking about color or religion or politics or a damn thing. I saw a fellow human being sitting next to me, treated like shit, and I stood beside him.

Though I do not know his name or anything about him, I DO KNOW we stood together for what was right. I DO know the racists left that laundromat with their tails between their legs, and I DO KNOW, a third party, the person working there, stood for what was right.

Thank you for your words of support and appreciation to me, but it is something I should have been doing my whole life and we all should do continually, without giving it a second though. It needs to be the norm, not even worthy of a thread like this.

"I just wanted the guy to know I was on his side and stood with him whatever he wanted to do."

And that is fucking priceless.

Can we put that in huge glittering letters please? I've seen some ignorant people on here who don't understand that

there is no such thing as reverse racism

that being white is like being born with rich parents, no matter how poor/disadvantaged in real life you are. White privilege 101.

dragging out your black friends** bringing up your black boyfriend, ***(my favorite!) and watching Spike Lee movies doesn't mean you're an ally.

Saying Native Americans were a noble race, black folk are good dancers, and Asian women are such good wives is highly fucked up.

Yeah I didn't own slaves, and would have fought for the Union (which a family member did) and I wasn't responsible for the genocide of Native Americans and theft of their lands, but I benefit from those past actions. I'm a colonizer period.

I don't like it, I hate it, it goes against everything I believe in, but instead of feeling guilty, I and the rest of us privileged people need to fight against the effects of it. Without taking over and speaking above as a white savior. Phew.

Listen to someones lived experience, not your book reading about racism, and don't take it personally if you are called out for your own racism.
Been there done that, am a better person for it.

P.S. OMG please check out these links.

**http://www.blackpeopleloveus.com/

***http://www.blackpeopleloveus.com/

http://www.bigbadchinesemama.com/