I am sat watching a film on netflix named 'Mud bound'. It got me thinking of all the times i have heard people tell people that it is important to travel, to become worldly knowledgeable as it creates a learning and understanding of different cultures and ways of living. I believe the majority of people i knew mistook the sentiment and ended up in India or Thailand trying to find their selves. Mudbound is a film that is part of the black lives matter movement, which is confused by the black lives matter global foundation, but it seems over privileged middle class white people, who believe its fashionable and politically correct to follow, are, with out a shadow of a doubt, have no idea what they are doing and what they are contributing too. The following link could provide some facts on the matter, from Bill O'Reilly, who was fired from fox news and later slurred by the press for speaking out.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUcYkSu0JG0&list=LL&index=90
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61do-MF8aw0
The film got me thinking of the time i spent living in Harrisville Mississippi from 1985-1995. From when i arrived, i slept the night and woke in the morning. After taking my cousin to get the school bus and watching her board it, i sat on quad watching the bus drive off in to the distance, only to turn my gaze at the sound of another school bus, only this bus had a sign in the drivers window saying 'colords only' and as sure as i am sitting here, there were nothing but black people sat on that bus. That was my first taste of a country that supported the division of blacks and whites.
Now i am the son of a Romany Gypsy who also went to school with the children of the over privileged white middleclass people, who believe in fashionable political correctness, i named earlier, so i had my fair share of racist abuse, and terror from people with the same skin color. I am sure you know the type I am talking about, the ones who do lunch and talk about what charities they support while looking down their nose at the homeless man begging in the street. It was their children that made my life misery at school, it was their children that put my emotions in touch with the black people i was visiting in Mississippi as an 11 year old and it was their children that taught me the strength i have today.
My time traveling the southern states of America, brought me together, with the most influential people I have ever met. I would get great pleasure at the checkouts of Macy's or J C Pennies, when I would go the black man, who's job it was too pack our groceries and I would stand by his side and help him pack, while asking him questions about his life, his school, his likes and dislikes and asking him the best places to go buy the trendy clothes.
In American supermarkets at the time, it was the stores policy to push your shopping trolley to the car for you, as they were liable for any damaged caused by trollies, the majority of the time it would be the black man's job to do this. By the time me and the black guy had packed our shopping loaded it in to the car and took the trolley back, we were the best of friends. I was overwhelmed with his reaction to my reaction to him, I promise you that it brought a tear to both our eyes. Until that moment I was unaware that I had the power to influence some body in a way that could make a difference to somebodies day
The moment they realised that I was an English Gypsy, who had suffered similar treatment that the hands of white people, it was like a long lost brother reunion. This spurred my want to visit such places like The Lorraine Motel in Memphis Tennessee, where Dr Martin Luther King was shot and killed, the Bishop Charles Mason Temple in Memphis, Tennessee, where Dr Martin Luther King gave his last speech and the bridge in Montgomery Alabama where Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat.
My cousins loved me being there as they were able to go against the teachings of their elders, they were able to be their selves around me and freely express their views with out fear from conflict from the elders in their family, who in their day as children where used to seeing slaves.
Being in a country that allowed racism was one of the most bizarre feelings I have ever experienced and a feeling that i will never forget and visiting my family who I love so very much, who grew up in a society that taught them to be racists, is a concept that i still struggle with today.
WWG1WGA