Here’s a story your girlfriend/wife will get a kick out of.
I am white. My whole family is white, however our last name is mostly thought of as a black name.
In the 1960s my grandfather was planning a vacation for the family, which included my dad as a teenager.
So in those days, no internet, phones existed but were a hassle to find the phone numbers for places in other cities as phone books were local only.
So my grandfather writes a check for what it cost for a family vacation in mertle beach. He mailed it directly to the hotel. The hotel had ads on television which told you where to mail the check and how much. You did this months in advance. They mailed you back the list of dates you could reserve for, you mailed back the completed form, they cashed your check, and mailed you back a confirmation letter stating everything was set with your reservation.
At least thats how it’s SUPPOSED to work.
My grandfather 5 months ahead of the vacation sends off his correct check, does everything the right way, money in the bank, innitial forms completed, ect ect ect.
Three weeks later he gets his reply from the hotel.
“Dear Mr (Family last name), While we do appriciate your interest in staying at our resort, we do not allow (pretty bad word here, starts with N) at our establishment. Whites only.” They also stamped his already filled out check with “VOID”, and returned it, ripped in half.
I’m too young to ever known my grandfather. My only memory of him is me in the late 80s his hand dangling off the side of his hospital bed. I remember him talking, but I was shorter than the hospital bed. So I only saw his hand. I’m told that he was a mostly calm individual who just worked his ass off to provide for his family. What made him happy was making others happy. But when he got mad, it was like a tornado. If my dad, or aunts heard him yell, they knew shit was getting real.
So my dad is upstairs in his room as a teenager when my dad got that rejection letter. Suddenly he hears from my grandfather downstairs “ALRIGHT GET YOUR ASSES DOWN HERE!!! NOW!!! EVELYN, GET MY CAMERA!!!”
Evelyn was his wife, my grandmother. He NEVER yelled at his wife. He yelled at the kids when they fucked up. He never yelled at his wife. So you better beleive all my aunts and my dad raced down there in an instant to not make things worse. They saw my grandmother setting up a camera. My grandfathers face literally red with anger. None of them saw the letter, so they had no idea who fucked up, or what happened. They just knew not to poke the bear. Lots of “Yes sir. Right away sir.” until they could figure out what’s happening and why.
“ALRIGHT!!! NOW THAT WE’RE ALL HERE, WE’RE GOING TO TAKE A GOD DAMNED FAMILY PHOTO!!! AND WE’RE ALL A HAPPY FAMILY!!! EVERYBODY SMILE!!!”
The way my dad told the story, he was sure even neighbors several houses down were smiling in their own living rooms, to not further anger my grandfather. I’m sure he’s exaggerating, but it helps set the mental visual of my family nervously smiling with a pissed off man behind them using a squeeze pump to take a family photo.
He sent back to the original hotel a letter with a copy of the rejection letter. His new letter read:
“Dear (hotel managers name), in light of our recent correspondance, I have included a recently taken family photo. In your rejection letter responding to me, I was informed you do not allow people of color on your grounds. This is a mentality that I cannot tolerate. I will not be seeking any further reservations with your establishment as I do not conduct business with racists. America is a melting pot, with which all men are created equal. We’ve faught wars over this, both foreign and civil. Our country will not move forward until civil rights and liberties are respected by all for all within our borders. I will seek my family vacation elsewhere.”
Included was that photo. Just to show them that despite our last name, everybody WAS white, and it was a white person looking down on their racism.
I know this post was long winded, but you being called a racist by clueless idiots who don’t know what they’re talking about just reminded me of the story my grandfather had to deal with racists…who were clueless idiots that didn’t know what they were talking about.
And all because people lose their ability to think when dealing with sensitive subjects.
