Discussing Race Relations with Our Son Matthew
Your mom and I appreciate having the opportunity in
discussing race relations in America.
One thing you said that triggered this note that I must clarify. It was in reference to my statement that I
got jobs because I was black.
Saying this I don't mean to imply that my positions
at universities were any way inferior to whites or other races. I work hard studying at the universities I
attended. I earned my degrees like
everyone else. I recognized that I was
competing with many other brilliant students.
Some were more talented than me.
Nevertheless I always had a good self esteem. I considered being black a gift, and was
happy that I was born in Georgetown, Guyana.
In America I was considered a foreign black. This designation was never derogatory to
me. I was always proud of my
heritage. You see I came to America at
the right time. Barriers were being
broken down in the 1960’s with the Civil Rights Movement and the Vietnam
War. It was at a crucial time and the
place to be, and your mother and I greatly benefited from these changes. Rest assured that we were protected by living
mainly in campus communities where students were more liberal.
But your mother and I always thought about our
future, and we found our dream in living lives as educators. We also had many good friends that were
always willing to support us. So
undoubtedly living in the United States was a great blessing. We never did anything stupid since we were an
interracial couple. This was so wherever
we lived whether it was in Eugene, New York City, Oswego, Milwaukee, Columbia,
or Virginia Beach.
In spite of the civil rights unrest that raised its
head throughout these 50 years of our marriage we were still able to persevere
and live safely. Our only real
difficulty was when I suffered from manic depression that nearly cost our
marriage. But all in all we have always
empathized with the poor and downtrodden.
Your mom does a great deal of charitable work that I admire. To this day every month I send hundreds of
dollars to help out my family members in Guyana. As I have said that in the time of crises we
could only do so much. All of us have to
play our part in making this world better.
Thanks for all you and Shannon are doing. Keep up your work for greater social change
so that all lives in this nation would continue to improve. God bless!
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