ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, February 8, 1996 TAG: 9602080099
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: Beth Macy
SOURCE: BETH MACY
Last week's column on racism in the Roanoke Valley sparked dozens of calls - from blacks and whites, conservatives and liberals, men and women.
So far the only negative comment I've heard came from the one person who didn't give his name.
``This is not your community,'' he said. ``You're just a carpetbagger. Why stir up trouble?''
Ron Biagiarelli, who is Italian-American, called to say he also hears racial slurs. ``I have heard `wop'... and other words that I didn't even know what they meant. I had to ask my dad what some of these words were because I'd never heard them before.
``People think just because you're white that it means you wanna hear racist jokes. And when you say you don't, they're insulted... I only wish somebody could speak out in a similar fashion about gay men and women.''
Selena Smith, a 27-year-old black woman, says most of the racial incidents she's faced came in elementary and junior high school. She remembers crystal clearly what her third-grade teacher called her all-black class as they sat watching a presidential inauguration on TV.
``I don't remember which president it was, but I'll never forget what she called us: `monkeys'... I think if a person could actually live a black life, they'd understand a lot of things.''
An African-American woman named Rhonda agreed: ``I think sometimes if we could step out of our own skin color and look through somebody else's eyes, it might make a difference,'' she said. ``I think we need more articles like that.''
Louise Mann, a white 68-year-old, called to offer the story of her brother Murl, who grew up in Northeast Roanoke ``despising black people. Just the sight of them made him mad.'' Seven years before he died, he became a Christian, then a preacher.
She said he regularly used his lunch hour on the railroad to teach Bible studies to fellow workers. At his funeral she met two black men, railroad workers, who had tears in their eyes. ``He promised me he'd do my funeral,'' she said they told her.
Her point on racism: ``When the Lord takes you over, he changes everything.''
Retiree Vince Reed says traveling around the world in the Air Force helped him understand the importance of diversity: ``When you're in another country you're `different' than you are in your own country,'' he said.
Reed says he later encountered racism among students when he taught ROTC at Patrick Henry High School. ``But one of the things I insisted upon was that the cadets must consider that each person had special capabilities, and you should accept that of other people.
``At the beginning, they were difficult and resentful. But after a few weeks, they learned to accept each other - and to think better of themselves.
``I think a good bit of the put downs that whites have about blacks is because whites themselves don't feel secure,'' Reed added.
Charles Reynolds, a 41-year-old black man, says he wasn't surprised by the racial incidents. ``Anybody who thinks it's not rampant has been living with blinders on,'' Reynolds said.
``Racism isn't something a child is born with, it's taught. But of course as long as it's taught you'll never get away from it.''
He recalled coming home from a third-grade class field trip to Natural Bridge.
``We stopped at a drug store and sat down on the stools, and then all of a sudden the teacher hurried up and ushered us out of there, so we knew something was up.
``As we were leaving, the man from behind the bar came out and wiped the stools off with a bottle of alcohol and a rag.'' Such incidents aren't easily forgotten, he said.
And Steve Wike, a white reader, e-mailed a note about how uncomfortable - and helpless - he feels when people make racist remarks. ``The thing that saddens me is my lack of response to their comments...I'm too old to get into a fist fight, and I'm pretty sure that's where it would end up...
``On most political and social issues I consider myself a conservative [one of your prejudiced editors used the word `moralist' the other day while referring to people who share my beliefs and convictions]. However, when it comes to racism, I guess I'm a liberal.
``Maybe all of us - liberals and conservatives - are `moralists' about some things.''
LENGTH: Medium: 82 linesby CNB