What little I know about racism...

[calfoxwc]

I told the story about grade school a long time ago. The only kid in our school who was black was my best friend. I saw some kids hate him,complete with the usual slurs, etc.

   This is one other story I don't believe I ever told. Back in my AF days, at Keesler AFB, one day after I'd been in our squadron for about 3 months, some guys from another squadron came to talk to a lot of us as a quick group. They said a friend of theirs was transferring over to our squadron, because he had serious racial hatred problems. He hated white guys. These were three kind friends of his, but they said he HATED. They knew it was a lot to ask, but they asked if we could go an extra mile and just try to stay out of his way, although that may not help him stay out of trouble.

   He ended on a far wing, and soon got into it with several guys ...white guys and black guys....and they moved him to the other side of the squadron. Our wing, our floor.

So, the new guy, starting from the first workday of the week, has the job of buffing the floor. Anyone who has been in the service knows about buffer machines... and this kid was no exception, of course, except, he was royally pissed. About the fourth day, he was buffing the floor, I was on sink cleanup detail with two close friends, and we finished our cleaning up, and I left to walk down the hall, carrying my shoes. We always carried out shoes til we got to fall out below the top of the stairs, as to not mar any of the floor. The other two guys' room was 2 doors down from the bathroom, mine was at the end of the hall.

So, I had to pass him as he was finishing up buffing.

   As I passed him, two steps past him, nearly to my room, there was an explosion up side my head. I never have remembered getting to the wall, but I do remember my face and hands sliding down the cold tile of the wall. There was screaming and yelling, and footsteps. BTW, you don't want to ever be late falling out into formation downstairs. The squadron commander was serious about that - we always made a serious point of being ten minutes early before he started his speech.

   the other two guys were good friends, and they desperately tried to get me up so we could make it in time. But there was no way, everything was out of focus weirdly, and there was no way for me to get up, even with them helping. so, I told them to go on without me, or they'd get in trouble, too. and to tell "L", our squadron student airman leader, the red rope, and a close friend of mine, what happened and I'd try to make it when I could.

   They weren't going to leave me, but they said later that evening, that I started shaking like I was cold, they laid me back down on the floor and ran for help. I don't remember that. They also said he hit me with a loop of heavy duty buffer cable. Three times, two on the back after the first one on the edge of my noggin. I never remembered the second two at all. They weren't surprised. They just had come out to see him swing and hit me in the head, and they screamed at him and he ran off.

   I opened my eyes after a while, and realized I had to get up. When I finally made it around the corner of the building, leaning on the outside wall for support, I had a little trouble getting away from the building, but gradually got there. The commander asked if I was okay, and asked again if I was sure about the time I got into formation. Our commander had just finished his usual 15 minute speech.

   We marched every day to class, but this morning, everything I looked at looked weird. Out of focus maybe? Until I started getting so dizzy I couldn't stay straight, a few friends caught me, and when I got my bearings back, they slowed down for me.

   About halfway through the day, I started being fine. Except for a big lump on my head.

When we got back to our barracks, I was fine, but a lot of guys kept me busy talking to me, bringing me coffee, ...I found out later a couple of them called back home to relatives who were in the medical field, and they told them to keep me awake most of the evening.

   So, I was exhausted, but I had my roommate from S. Louisiana, friends on our floor, and guys from around the squadron stopping in and telling me some of the best jokes you would ever hear. I should have written them all down.

"L" stopped in. I told him it sucked. If I don't file charges, everybody will think I'm the biggest wimp on the planet, and if I do, he goes to prison, surely believing, in his racist hate, that I pressed charges because I was white and he was black. And he'd probably kill somebody he also didn't know next time. He just said he believed that the first part was definitely not true, but agreed with the second part.

   a LOT of guys, 3,5 at a time, from all over, stopped in, to let me know they had my back 100% no matter which way I decided....because nobody should ever have to bear the brunt of whatever the hell was wrong with him. That included a lot of guys from his floor, and guys from the other squadron who found out,...

who happened to be black.

   Turns out, "mel" ? enlisted because it was better than going to jail. and every single guy who knew him in the other squadron said there was something seriously wrong with him, they just didn't know what...but that he HATED racially. HATED white guys.

   They said he didn't even know me, we all left him alone and tried to do our best to give him his best chance. That went out the window.

They all, every single one of them, said he had his last chance and blew it. They hated to see a brother go down in prison and ruin his life forever, but it was his doing, and I was the last guy he should ever have hit. Apparently, he wanted to get kicked out of the AF, after getting away from a jail sentence. The three friends of his explained to him, that it was probably assault with a deadly weapon, and he would go to a military prison for years and years.

  I had something like ...48 hrs ? to file charges. Knowing that my entire squadron was supporting me in filing charges - those guys were great. I was so humbled to have their support. From all over the country, all walks of life, it didn't matter. A bunch of great guys.

    So, after I really started feeling like myself again, I went to bed, and got up early the next morning. I think it was then Saturday.

Anyways, I thought I was going to file charges any minute that first day, and if I recall correctly, half of the second day. Still, guys from anywhere in the country, all sorts of backgrounds, stopped in and said they backed me 100%. "L", our red rope, excellent guy from Florida, stopped in several times, and said he'd go with me to file charges. When  "L" was the only guy in my room, I asked him what he'd do. He said he knows what he would do, military UCMJ all the way. I told him that I just realized an hour ago, that the story I told him before, about nearly dying in the woods that winter morning in the fifth grade, how it changed me for the rest of my life. I said I was going to definitely file charges, but now I was confused. Maybe it would be a life changer for him.

or not. He just said he trusted me to make the right decision, and that I'd have to live with the decision I made.

    with 4 hrs left to decide, some fellas dropped in again, and I asked them to go get "L", that I needed to talk to him. "L" got there, and I told him that for all the guys who supported me 100%, and for the two friends/witnesses who said they would testify for me no matter how scared of it they were. lol...

   and maybe, this once, this Mel? kid would find a new life, and go let everybody know we were going to drop it.

The next morning, some of his "friends" on his floor, stopped in and asked me to meet with "Mel" upstairs, he really wanted to talk with me. I was still po'd, but they talked me into it. So, I went up and met with him. He quietly said he heard about how I had a second chance at life from my days as a kid. He asked why I didn't turn him in, file charges.

    I looked at him and told him three things - (since I had been analyzing all the reasons I was going to send him to prison...it was easy off the top of my bruised head with the big bump on it).

   1. I told him I finally decided I was fine the day before, not hurt permanently, or bad enough, to let him ruin his life permanently.

2. I told him I didn't want him to have always figured I filed charges and sent him to prison because I was white and he was black.

3. I told him I was seriously pissed about it, and at him - and that the most vicious, most dangerous thing I could do to him in revenge...was to make him stay in the Air Force for 4 whole years, right along with me.

His face looked like a completely different guy. He quietly promised me I would never be sorry, never. We shook hands and we walked away from each other.

     He transferred once again, to somewhere, and I had "everybody know my name"...I had friends everywhere.

About two months later, I was with a bunch of friends from our coffee house, which was on Fri/Sat nights in the basement of Chapel Two, in the mess hall, around our usual long table. A big, muscled, husky guy came up to our table, and asked for me. He sounded like he was going to kick my ass.

   He said he was trying to track me down, and just had to face me. My friends were looking sideways at me, and I got up and said "hi, man, that's me, what can I do for ya? And as I stood up, all the guys and a few gals stood up. He cracked a big grin and laughed, and told them he was just having fun, they could sit back down, me and him were cool.

   He said he wanted to tell me that we had a friend in common. He came to him and told him about me, about the guys in our squadron, about himself.  He talked about how Mel ended up working with him on a volunteer racial relations board. He told me that "Mel" tells everybody the story about what happened between him and me, and how he got his "second chance" at life. And he dedicated it to helping other folks who have racial hatred ruining their lives. He said he has heard the story so many times, from Mel telling others, that he knew it by heart.

He told me that I should be proud of giving him his life and future, that he was a new wonderful, changed man who was going help him help a lot of people in his life. He said "God Bless You, that took a lot of grace and courage."

  That meant so much. None of us ever knew what made Mel hate, but that was a wonderful end to the story. I told everybody in our squadron in groups - around the ping pong table, friends here and there about that big guy who told me about Mel.

That's most of what I know about racism, which isn't much at all.

  

   

[OldBrownsFan]

Good story Cal. You obviously made the right decision. As a person of faith I believe in giving people second chances. Glad to hear the man you gave the second chance to used that second chance to do good for himself and others.

[hammertime]

Nice Cal

really cool for you to share that.

 

sucks that some ahole will find faults with it.....

[calfoxwc]

1 hour ago, hammertime said:

Nice Cal

really cool for you to share that.

 

sucks that some ahole will find faults with it.....

Thanks

[calfoxwc]

My life would have been a lot different I think, without the trauma of very nearly having my life cut short. Having a miracle that saved my life - I knew God's grace, and love, that saved me.

I made promises to God back then, a scared kid with my .22 mag rifle I still have today, laying by my side, on the top of "Mossy Hill", later in the spring of that year.

There are a few other stories I won't tell, but that would never have happened, except for my promises I made to God back then.

[TexasAg1969]

7 hours ago, calfoxwc said:

There are a few other stories I won't tell, but that would never have happened, except for my promises I made to God back then.

Some day I will tell you about my promise to God and everything I did to fulfill it. I'll PM you about it when I get there. All I can say for now is that there comes a point in life when you realize you've kept it and the deal is off because when you are given your earthly life back, it's not forever.  That is when there is the realization it was for your soul, not just your life. And the stakes to fulfill the promise likewise is for souls, not just lives. And corny as it sounds, that part of the deal is never done. And thank God it isn't.

[DieHardBrownsFan]

I'd have 

9 hours ago, calfoxwc said:

I told the story about grade school a long time ago. The only kid in our school who was black was my best friend. I saw some kids hate him,complete with the usual slurs, etc.

   This is one other story I don't believe I ever told. Back in my AF days, at Keesler AFB, one day after I'd been in our squadron for about 3 months, some guys from another squadron came to talk to a lot of us as a quick group. They said a friend of theirs was transferring over to our squadron, because he had serious racial hatred problems. He hated white guys. These were three kind friends of his, but they said he HATED. They knew it was a lot to ask, but they asked if we could go an extra mile and just try to stay out of his way, although that may not help him stay out of trouble.

   He ended on a far wing, and soon got into it with several guys ...white guys and black guys....and they moved him to the other side of the squadron. Our wing, our floor.

So, the new guy, starting from the first workday of the week, has the job of buffing the floor. Anyone who has been in the service knows about buffer machines... and this kid was no exception, of course, except, he was royally pissed. About the fourth day, he was buffing the floor, I was on sink cleanup detail with two close friends, and we finished our cleaning up, and I left to walk down the hall, carrying my shoes. We always carried out shoes til we got to fall out below the top of the stairs, as to not mar any of the floor. The other two guys' room was 2 doors down from the bathroom, mine was at the end of the hall.

So, I had to pass him as he was finishing up buffing.

   As I passed him, two steps past him, nearly to my room, there was an explosion up side my head. I never have remembered getting to the wall, but I do remember my face and hands sliding down the cold tile of the wall. There was screaming and yelling, and footsteps. BTW, you don't want to ever be late falling out into formation downstairs. The squadron commander was serious about that - we always made a serious point of being ten minutes early before he started his speech.

   the other two guys were good friends, and they desperately tried to get me up so we could make it in time. But there was no way, everything was out of focus weirdly, and there was no way for me to get up, even with them helping. so, I told them to go on without me, or they'd get in trouble, too. and to tell "L", our squadron student airman leader, the red rope, and a close friend of mine, what happened and I'd try to make it when I could.

   They weren't going to leave me, but they said later that evening, that I started shaking like I was cold, they laid me back down on the floor and ran for help. I don't remember that. They also said he hit me with a loop of heavy duty buffer cable. Three times, two on the back after the first one on the edge of my noggin. I never remembered the second two at all. They weren't surprised. They just had come out to see him swing and hit me in the head, and they screamed at him and he ran off.

   I opened my eyes after a while, and realized I had to get up. When I finally made it around the corner of the building, leaning on the outside wall for support, I had a little trouble getting away from the building, but gradually got there. The commander asked if I was okay, and asked again if I was sure about the time I got into formation. Our commander had just finished his usual 15 minute speech.

   We marched every day to class, but this morning, everything I looked at looked weird. Out of focus maybe? Until I started getting so dizzy I couldn't stay straight, a few friends caught me, and when I got my bearings back, they slowed down for me.

   About halfway through the day, I started being fine. Except for a big lump on my head.

When we got back to our barracks, I was fine, but a lot of guys kept me busy talking to me, bringing me coffee, ...I found out later a couple of them called back home to relatives who were in the medical field, and they told them to keep me awake most of the evening.

   So, I was exhausted, but I had my roommate from S. Louisiana, friends on our floor, and guys from around the squadron stopping in and telling me some of the best jokes you would ever hear. I should have written them all down.

"L" stopped in. I told him it sucked. If I don't file charges, everybody will think I'm the biggest wimp on the planet, and if I do, he goes to prison, surely believing, in his racist hate, that I pressed charges because I was white and he was black. And he'd probably kill somebody he also didn't know next time. He just said he believed that the first part was definately not true, but agreed with the second part.

   a LOT of guys, 3,5 at a time, from all over, stopped in, to let me know they had my back 100% no matter which way I decided....because nobody should ever have to bear the brunt of whatever the hell was wrong with him. That included a lot of guys from his floor, and guys from the other squadron who found out,...

who happened to be black.

   Turns out, "mel" ? enlisted because it was better than going to jail. and every single guy who knew him in the other squadron said there was something seriously wrong with him, they just didn't know what...but that he HATED racially. HATED white guys.

   They said he didn't even know me, we all left him alone and tried to do our best to give him his best chance. That went out the window.

They all, every single one of them, said he had his last chance and blew it. They hated to see a brother go down in prison and ruin his life forever, but it was his doing, and I was the last guy he should ever have hit. Apparently, he wanted to get kicked out of the AF, after getting away from a jail sentence. The three friends of his explained to him, that it was probably assault with a deadly weapon, and he would go to a military prison for years and years.

  I had something like ...48 hrs ? to file charges. Knowing that my entire squadron was supporting me in filing charges - those guys were great. I was so humbled to have their support. From all over the country, all walks of life, it didn't matter. A bunch of great guys.

    So, after I really started feeling like myself again, I went to bed, and got up early the next morning. I think it was then Saturday.

Anyways, I thought I was going to file charges any minute that first day, and if I recall correctly, half of the second day. Still, guys from anywhere in the country, all sorts of backgrounds, stopped in and said they backed me 100%. "L", our red rope, excellent guy from Florida, stopped in several times, and said he'd go with me to file charges. When  "L" was the only guy in my room, I asked him what he'd do. He said he knows what he would do, military USMJ all the way. I told him that I just realized an hour ago, that the story I told him before, about nearly dying in the woods that winter morning in the fifth grade, how it changed me for the rest of my life. I said I was going to definitely file charges, but now I was confused. Maybe it would be a life changer for him.

or not. He just said he trusted me to make the right decision, and that I'd have to live with the decision I made.

    with 4 hrs left to decide, some fellas dropped in again, and I asked them to go get "L", that I needed to talk to him. "L" got there, and I told him that for all the guys who supported me 100%, and for the two friends/witnesses who said they would testify for me no matter how scared of they were. lol...

   and maybe, this once, this Mel? kid would find a new life, and go let everybody know we were going to drop it.

The next morning, some of his "friends" on his floor, stopped in and asked me to meet with "Mel" upstairs, he really wanted to talk with me. I was still po'd, but they talked me into it. So, I went up and met with him. He quietly said he heard about how I had a second chance at life from my days as a kid. He asked why I didn't turn him in, file charges.

    I looked at him and told him three things - (since I had been analyzing all the reasons I was going to send him to prison...it was easy off the top of my bruised head with the big bump on it).

   1. I told him I finally decided I was fine the day before, not hurt permanently, or bad enough, to let him ruin his life permanently.

2. I told him I didn't want him to have always figured I filed charges and sent him to prison because I was white and he was black.

3. I told him I was seriously pissed about it, and at him - and that the most vicious, most dangerous thing I could do to him in revenge...was to make him stay in the Air Force for 4 whole years, right along with me.

His face looked like a completely different guy. He quietly promised me I would never be sorry, never. We shook hands and we walked away from each other.

     He transferred once again, to somewhere, and I had "everybody know my name"...I had friends everywhere.

About two months later, I was with a bunch of friends from our coffee house, which was on Fri/Sat nights in the basement of Chapel Two, in the mess hall, around our usual long table. A big, muscled, husky guy came up to our table, and asked for me. He sounded like he was going to kick my ass.

   He said he was trying to track me down, and just had to face me. My friends were looking sideways at me, and I got up and said "hi, man, that's me, what can I do for ya? And as I stood up, all the guys and a few gals stood up. He cracked a big grin and laughed, and told them he was just having fun, they could sit back down, me and him were cool.

   He said he wanted to tell me that we had a friend in common. He came to him and told him about me, about the guys in our squadron, about himself.  He talked about how Mel ended up working with him on a volunteer racial relations board. He told me that "Mel" tells everybody the story about what happened between him and me, and how he got his "second chance" at life. And he dedicated it to helping other folks who have racial hatred ruining their lives. He said he has heard the story so many times, from Mel telling others, that he knew it by heart.

He told me that I should be proud of giving him his life and future, that he was a new wonderful, changed man who was going help him help a lot of people in his life. He said "God Bless You, that took a lot of grace and courage."

  That meant so much. None of us ever knew what made Mel hate, but that was a wonderful end to the story. I told everybody in our squadron in groups - around the ping pong table, friends here and there about that big guy who told me about Mel.

That's most of what I know about racism, which isn't much at all.

  

   

When I was stationed at Ayers Kaserne, Kirchgoens, Germany in an infantry unit attached to the 3rd Armor Division race relations were a rock bottom (1973).  The blacks all hung out together and if you were white you didn't cross the parade grounds at night alone.  One white guy was on guard duty from another battalion and was found murdered by his relief.  They caught 2 black guys (they found there bloody uniforms in the dumpster).  

[calfoxwc]

2 hours ago, TexasAg1969 said:

Some day I will tell you about my promise to God and everything I did to fulfill it. I'll PM you about it when I get there. All I can say for now is that there comes a point in life when you realize you've kept it and the deal is off because when you are given your earthly life back, it's not forever.  That is when there is the realization it was for your soul, not just your life. And the stakes to fulfill the promise likewise is for souls, not just lives. And corny as it sounds, that part of the deal is never done. And thank God it isn't.

We'll have to sit around a campfire someday. Thanks !

[calfoxwc]

2 hours ago, DieHardBrownsFan said:

I'd have 

I know. So would "L" have. But I took a chance - it's really tough to explain, except for nearly dying that day, deep winter single digit cold morning in the woods. It that had never happened, I would simply have filed charges and been fine with that.

I will also tell you this - I went for a few weeks later....our squadron was right next to the Chapel, and stopped in to see Chaplain "Smith", a Baptist minister. Who, happened to be black. He knew all of us really well, and was a really great fun human being.

I asked him about the upcoming church retreat.  He talked about their plans for it, and told me he had a visitor just a few days ago - couldn't tell me who. Said this visitor came in to talk, and my name came up. Tears streaming down his face. He said he couldn't tell me who, but If he could, I would really be surprised. I told him he was that was mean, sir. He laughed and I left. I figure I know who the person was. The first day, I would have, but I was too busy being hurt and hearing a bunch of the funniest jokes from a lot of guys. lol

I had the last laugh of it all - I tortured him for 4 years of service in revenge. LOL

[calfoxwc]

2 hours ago, DieHardBrownsFan said:

When I was stationed at Ayers Kaserne, Kirchgoens, Germany in an infantry unit attached to the 3rd Armor Division race relations were a rock bottom (1973).  The blacks all hung out together and if you were white you didn't cross the parade grounds at night alone.  One white guy was on guard duty from another battalion and was found murdered by his relief.  They caught 2 black guys (they found there bloody uniforms in the dumpster).  

that is so strange - we had the opposite, no draft, all volunteers...the draft ended earlier that year, but guys knew they still wanted to avoid the Army, because of the draft's effects. I enlisted...in 1973, November. So it was 74 in Biloxi.

[TexasAg1969]

2 hours ago, calfoxwc said:

We'll have to sit around a campfire someday. Thanks !

And cook up some squirrels. 😁

[calfoxwc]

3 hours ago, TexasAg1969 said:

And cook up some squirrels. 😁

and dumplings you betcha.

all our friends know how I like my s'mores, btw. I like them made with no graham cracker and no marshmallow. LOL