I remember all too well the culture shock when I moved to the Memphis TN area having been raised in a small town in northcentral Wisconsin. There just weren't and still aren't very many blacks in this area unless you go to bigger cities. So Memphis was quite the shock as I got my first real dose of racism and prejudice at its worst.
I remember getting wrote up at work for using a term that was considered offensive to my black co-worker. A term that I had grown up using and had no idea it had "racial" meanings attached. When I tried to explain that I wasn't raised with the term carrying that meaning, they didn't believe that I hadn't discovered differently in the few years I had been in Memphis. I was accused of being racist and wrote up. Even though my supervisor was a black woman that I had grown very close to. Higher officials did the write up in spite of her coming to my defense.
Probably one of my best memories of all is the time I ran out of gas on Interstate 240 in the Frayser area of Memphis. Those that know the area will probably cringe a bit. I was about to start walking to the gas station a couple miles down the road when a black man pulled up. He offered to take me to the gas station so I climbed in. (I know, I know...stupid thing to do and color definitely isn't the reason why!). He took me to the station and proceeded to fill my gas can with his own money while I waited in the car. A white man pulled up to the pump on the opposite side and while he pumped his gas he glared back and forth at me and then at the black man I was obviously with. I feared he was going to start a fight and silently prayed he'd leave my help alone! Ultimately he took me back to my car, poured gas in the tank and saved some for the carburator (older car - no injectors). He made sure it started and made sure I made it to the station to fill up. Then he left.
While many criticized me for this, there were others that said God sent me a black angel.
Anyway, as for the "black" word, I have yet to talk to anyone personally that finds it offensive and I obviously use the term. But if someone had a problem with it I'd simply apologize...what else can one do? Things have just gotten too crazy!
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