Oh the ignorance of a child, especially growing up during the 60s and 70s attending a school
with 2 black people.
One I barely remember, one I will never forget...
It was a common practice to draw names to exchange Christmas gifts, and I was excited to draw my buddy Mike F.
Now I thought it was at the time very strange that Mrs. Nistler took me aside and asked,.....No pleaded not to tell the class his last name.
My ignorance, my child like innocence still could not see why ? Mike F. was my friend, and he was quite funny which when I look back on it now I wonder was it a survival mechanism.
Never the less he was funny and comical and I was drawn to a wonderful friendship.
So it came time and I gave Mike F. a book that opened up and there were rows of Lifesavers inside, I wonder if they still make those?
Still not understanding, I blurted out his last name, and all hell broke loose.
Mrs Nistler wacked the hell out of a kid named "Elvers" who instigated the immediate ridicule Mike F. suffered at the hands of my ignorance.
Mike's last name was Fudge, and he was Black.
One of Two at Manzanita at the time,
one I can barely remember, one I will never forget...
It was a time when Redding's black community's enclave included a community inside the Mercy hospital canyon, complete with ABC Groceries and another buildings I vaguely remember.
Unfortunately, truth be told that area had a very ugly monicore for years in the white Redding Shasta County community,
Coon Canyon...
We now at the George Floyd murder have a chance to right the wrongs in our community,
I strongly suggest that folks reading this also read , What's That Strange Fruit Hanging From an Anderson Oak Tree
We must heal the wounds of 23 years of black Shasta County injustice and oppression for a young black man found tortured and hung in an Anderson oak tree.. .Penis missing.
And then we will locally truly realize Martin Luther Kings dream of a "Beloved Community"
For only then will "Justice roll down as waters, and Righteousness as a mighty stream.”
Please call for the re opening of the Leo Colman case.
#JusticeForLeo
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