Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Today's Discussion
I feel that a lot of where your early attitudes come from about other cultures depend on where you acquire those attitudes and how you feel about the person who tries to impart them to you. A lot of my early negative exposures to other races came from my grandmother who I did not respect very much, so I did not put much credence on her negative opinion of other races. On the other hand, my mother, who I respected very much, had an experience where she was not served in a restaurant in Portsmouth because she was there with a friend who just happened to be black from nurse's training. She got up and left with her friend. She didn't realize it at the time, but she was a rebel in the fight for equality. I always felt very proud of my mother for her forward-thinking ways for the 1950's in southern Ohio, and I took on her views of race relations as a young child. So, I think you probably listen more to the people you respect more.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Chris, I would absolutely agree with your perspective. Growing up, as I did, I found that my parents were opposites in so many ways. I don't know that I actually respected one parent more than another, but I did tend to identify more with my father than with my mother. Dad was simply more open to things. Consequently, mom and I had more disagreements about issues of equality and diversity than my dad and me.
ReplyDelete