Window decal for the 20s.
Racism isn't born, folks, it's taught. I have a two-year-old son. You know what he hates? Naps! End of list.
- Dennis Leary
I approached my father with a decal, “Can I buy this?”
My father looked down at the decal and then at me. He said a short clipped, “No.”
Although I had lived on this earth not yet 10 years – I knew what that “No” meant. That “No” meant put it back and get in the car.
I did.
You see – we (my father, mother, and I) had stopped at Stuckey’s on the way from Maryland to Mississippi on our annual trip to visit my grandmothers.
Stuckey’s was booming in the 60s. Founded in 1937 as a Pecan store, by the 60s it was what we now call a convenience store. My mother insisted that Stuckey’s sold junk and my father dreaded stopping there because I always asked for something – junk. But occasionally he would stop if we needed gas – and our big black 1963 Oldsmobile Delta 88 often needed gas.
Visiting Vicksburg caused me to become enamored with the Civil War and my father and I spent hours in Vicksburg National Military Park. In fact, we would leave Grandma Branan’s house and drive through the park to get to Grandma Ervin’s. With cousins in the Olds, we would stop to run through the fields and climb on the monuments.
Back at Stuckey's - What did I want to buy? A confederate flag decal for the car window.
Once back in the Oldsmobile I wondered, “Why did my father say “No” the way he did?” From the cavernous red backseat I worked up the courage to ask.
“Why don’t you want me to have the flag?” I asked softly.
My father looked at me in the rearview mirror and returned his eyes to the road, “It sends the wrong message.”
I could tell that too was the end of our discussion. After a while, I knew what he meant. Watching Walter Cronkite with my Father every night, I saw racism and Civil Rights unfolding in front of my young eyes. And, I knew the Civil War was about slavery. But my father’s 5 words made me realize the enormity of the war. It was not heroes on charging horses, not glorious.
My father taught me symbols matter.
It was the 60s, and the country was struggling with racism. Now it is the 20s (60 years later) and we are still struggling.
Teach your children well.
Teach your children well Their father's hell did slowly go by Feed them on your dreams The one they fix, the one you'll know by
- Graham Nash
How about you? What did your parents teach you? Share a Story!
Taste the Food – Second Helping
Teach your Children – Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
