Chapter 3:

All American Girl vs Injustice

Chapter 3:

 

Today, I want to share a super scary and sad story with you. This experience took place in the summer of 1984, in Martinsville, Indiana. Now at that time, unbeknownst to me, Martinsville was the “KKK capital of Indiana.” *Note—this is not the “official” KKK capital of Indiana, but it’s how we all have referred to it.

 

In the summer of 1984, my friend (who eventually became my sister-in-law) and I went to visit her brother (my future husband) at Indiana University, in Bloomington, Indiana.  For those of you not from Indiana, Bloomington is where Billy Knight coached basketball for many years and is the setting for the movie, “Breaking Away.”  Yes, the Little 500 bicycle race is a real thing.

 

My friend, M (protecting names again) is a tiny, light-skinned, black woman, with the biggest smile you can imagine and probably 98 pounds soaking wet.  She could make you smile just by flashing her smile.  She was very kind and loved by everyone.  She and I were inseparable for most of my senior year and the summer after.  Her brother, R, was attending a special program at IU for the summer, so M and I decided to visit for a weekend.  Since I was going to attend IU in the Fall, I thought it would be fun to get to know the lay of the land.

 

We hopped in the car on a Friday afternoon to head to Bloomington.  It was a great road trip until we got hungry and decided to stop at McDonald’s in Martinsville.  We lived on McDonald’s back then (cheeseburger, small fries, medium coke = $1.25) . . . who didn’t.  As we were sitting in the restaurant, we started noticing people giving us some dirty looks.  We were trying to figure out why.  No one said a word to us, just glared at us.  Finally, one brave man came over and said, “Honey, ya’ll need to leave now.  This crowd is getting ready to string you up.”  I was appalled! I started to argue with him, but he was very firm, but kind.  He said that we were in the wrong place and that this town doesn’t like “her kind” speaking of M.  Now you know, I wanted to fight at that point, but M grabbed my arm and said, “Let’s go.”  The gentleman walked us to the car and made sure we got out of there safely.

 

We were both shaking and when we got to IU, told R and his friends the story.  Mind you, the special program he was attending was for black youth to prepare them for college life, so everyone there, except me, was black.  They all started in at once telling us how we should never stop in Martinsville.  It’s the “KKK capital of Indiana.”  How could we not know that?  Well . . . easy . . . she was 14 and I was 18 and we were naïve.  No one had ever told us.  We easily could have avoided the situation if we had only known.

 

But here’s where I got pissed (as if I wasn’t already).  Why should we or anyone have to worry about eating a meal in McDonald’s or anywhere for that matter?  It’s 1984 not 1963.  Our grandparents fought for Civil Rights.  We de-segregated schools and businesses.  We no longer had “white only” bathrooms and water fountains.  Why should we just duck our heads and leave where we aren’t wanted?  Their answer?  Because we don’t want to die yet.  That, my friends, is the bottom line. WE. DON’T. WANT. TO. DIE. YET.

 

It is now (gulp) 36 years later (I had to check the calculator for that number).  I’m 54 and still trying to understand why we have such a blatant outburst of racism.  Believe me, there will always be prejudice in the world as we all have some form of it, whether we want to acknowledge it or not.  But outright racism . . . the systemic abuse of a particular race to keep them from having the same rights as everyone else . . . has got to stop. Look into your heart and see what you need to do to help stop the madness.  Maybe you can’t physically protest or march (I can’t), but we can all do something.  Write to your elected officials, tell your family and friends, don’t let people get away with making racists statements and posts . . . most of all #Vote.

 

 

#vote  #blacklivesmatter  #JesusSaves #nojusticenopeace #wecandobetter #askthequestions #learntheanswers #stopthemadness #wedontwanttodieyet