Archive for January, 2015

American racism and prejudices:
My mother and father were 2nd generation Americans . My grandparents on my father’s side had immigrated from Southern Italy. Grand parents.on my mother side emigrated from Poland. My parents met at a high school dance in 1932.
They had both changed their last names to Americanize.their future.
They both had stories of extreme prejudice when they were children. Name calling, insults, race baiting , religious discrimination …..I heard all of the stories growing up. On occasion I was subject to some of it myself even with a fully Anglo name.
When I see hatred toward Mexican immigrants or African-Americans in this day, I can’t help but think the discrimination my own family faced in the early 20th century.
Both my parents were Roman Catholic so I had a lot I f religious training. I go to mass to this day. I am one oi f those people who never had a problem with the church…. and I think my parents made sure I was safe. But I have had a close spiritual connection with Mother Teresa, pope John Paul, Michael Moore, Governor Jerry Brown, St. Francis of Assisi.
During the 1960s my dad ran a company in very white wasp Connecticut and he did something unthinkable… he hired Hispanics and African-Americans ….. I think it was after he heard Martin Luther King speak….. he said “the exact same thing happened to me and my parents…. we can’t let thus go on. It stops here with me in this company.”
Of course he was a combat vet from wwii and fought in Patton’s. 3rd Army. Gen. George Patton was the 1st general to integrate his troops when he called up a crack Negro Armoured division to break through Nazi lines when Patton’s white troops were surrounded. They ended up being the most accurate gunners If the war. My dad never forgot them. “They saved our lives…yes my life” he said The Negro troops also had the only top-secret night vision. Eisenhower had put Negro troops in charge if the red ball express which had night vission…..and so did their tanks.
So when I was a little kid growing up in my father’s company I spent my summers working on all black crews…where I learned how to work.
…pace….and about black American culture. I never learned prejudice. I actually learned cool colloquial terms, gospel music, military jargon and how to drink Gin and chew tobacco at the same time. That takes practice.
In my own company today in 2015 in Boulder we practice no discrimination. That is we give equal pay and opportunities to all people’s. Who ever does the best work gets paid and promoted.
from Boulder Colorado
Jann Scott
Jann Scotts Journal
then most sensitive city in the USA