Good job!
Thank you for your American story
I will never understand where the hate comes from
Sounds familiar! I’m the youngest of seven kids and my dad was also AF (he retired in 1971). I loved being a kid during that time.
Excellent post! Thank you.
“I’m a proud black man”, said the black man.
“I’m a proud Asian man”, said the Asian man.
“I’m a proud hispanic man”, said the hispanic man.
“I’m a proud white man”, said the racist.
Excellent writing...Something everyone should take to heart...
Bkmk
No one can control what color or sex they are born with so to blame anyone because of their color is an evil created by people who want to divide us and to create chaos. Period.
Thanks for putting that together.
Few people today understand the hatred German Americans faced, especially in WW1, but WW2 as well.
AF brat & retired Air Force here. Went to high school in a small, mostly German-origin town in Southern Illinois. I used to walk a mile or so home from school and used to stop to talk to a very elderly German couple who were often in rocking chairs on their front porch. They were quiet at first but eventually we carried on conversations. A local kid later told me with some surprise that those two hardly ever talked to outsiders after the rough treatment they had during the wars. This was 1961.
Army brat here. Three different junior/middle schools.
Personal observation ... Blacks are approximately 14% of the U.S. population ... yet in advertising today both print, TV, etc., they are way over balanced ... Whites and Hispanics both well in the majority are underrepresented. Much of this occurred post George Floyd ... you know the Prince of Fentanyl.
I didn't subject my sons to moving. They mostly grew up in Mira Mesa. Plenty of diversity in the community. My middle son is fluent in Spanish just from his association with friends in the neighborhood. Unlike my father spending months at sea with the Navy, I was frequently traveling for business around the US and Europe. My sons didn't experience having a move of the household until 2000 when we left from San Diego for our final location in Pocatello, ID.
Good write-up on your family experiences. Being in a military family brings a unique set of disruptions to family life.
Nice essay! My dad spent 24 yrs in the USAF & we lived in several states as well as England for 5 yrs. I was the middle child in an Irish-Catholic family of 3 kids & grew up mainly in the 50s, 60s & 70s, but otherwise much of what you wrote speaks for me too.
“This brings me to the heart of what I call “The White Gaslight”—a insidious form of societal manipulation where white people are systematically demeaned, labeled as inherently racist, and made to question their own reality,”
And the ones leading that charge are mostly white themselves - so called “allies” of other races. Self loathing whites, a strain similar to self loathing jews.
Every group is allowed to promote and defend their group’s interest except whites. And if you try you’re a racist! One of the most powerful and successful weapon the the left has unleashed on us.
But we are the ones that made that a powerful weapon by the way we react to it.
Until we stop cowering at the mere mention of the word and learn to accept the insult and return the favor and say “yes I’m a racist and so are you. So stick that up your a**?”
What would be your response if someone called you a racist for defending white’s interests?
White gaslighting is very real.
I naively felt the same way. Obama never wanted to be a uniter. His goal was always motivated by a desire to dismantle the America the founders gave us.
You and I share a similar upbringing, genealogy and many views.
The whole black / race thing is old, over used, cliche, and “stupid.”
Everyone can give examples of being picked on, EVERYONE.
Today in America you have special programs, benefits, entitlements to create equality where there is none. We have taken this idea of equality to mean outcomes, not the frame work of rules and opportunities.
I too am a father.
I have two children, a daughter and son.
Having served both in the military and for the FBI until retirement, I can without any doubt state that my daughter only has to meet the absolute bare minimum standards and she’s get a job with the FBI, if she just keeps her nose out of trouble a career in the military would be catapulted forward, while my son better exceed the requirements because the competition is far more fierce for him both in getting a position and with promotions.
We “discriminate” against white males and Asians in the name of equality and fairness.
That’s not how it’s supposed to be.
If it’s a private corporation, a private citizen giving his money away, he can do what he wants.
But we’re talking about federal money. Everyone’s money, American tax money.
The difference between an EARNED benefit and a free ENTITLEMENT has somehow been lost.
This is your story? Very good-I was a Navy Brat as well, Dad retired in 1973 as a Commander after 30 years.
Your analysis is spot on.
Awesome post!!! So true.
My Dad (Irish & German) met my Mom (Ukrainian) when he was in the Navy in 1954. After leaving active duty, he became an engineer which opened up new horizons for all of us. At 9, the six in our family traveled as far as San Antonio by car to visit my Grandma in the early 60’s. Although my Dad grew up in IL & TX, we had no idea there was prejudice except oduring that trip when my folks stop in a town down south for medicine for my baby brother, we were asked to leave when the saw our MA license (remember the Berrigan Brothers?).
At 12, we had a chance to go from MA to Kwajalein (Army Base) Marshall Islands, for Dad to work on the ABM program. Dad and Mom took the money from our flights to LA and instead drove the southern route to see that part of the US US. Dad always said we’d never be rich but we’d be educated.
Kwajalein had people from all over the world. We encountered many people with many customs and ways of life. We were also fortunate to meet and grow close to many Marshallese friends. Dad & Mom also took the family to Guam and Japan during that time. Two years later on our way back to MA, the family flew to Alaska and drove the northern route across the US making 50 states and 3 countries by the time I was 14.
That trip home was the first time I really saw prejudice against blacks, as one of the relatives wouldn’t allow us kids to watch Julia and The Mod Squad. We walked across the street and watched it on his daughter’s TV.
My first job after college in 1978, I was asked by my Egyptian supervisor why I (a woman) was taking a job from a man and his family! I answered that no one was feeding me but me. I eventually became an EMT and volunteered with the Rescue Squad in Boston. No matter what the circumstances, we always cared for each patient as best as we could. Color, language and race didn’t matter
I joined the AF in 1983. I was stationed in Japan for 2 years, Hawaii & Germany for a few months each, traveled through Asia and Europe, and then was stationed outside DC. I again met people from many races and ethnic groups and was blessed with many friends.
I decided dealing with racism is easy, you are either a jerk or not a jerk and jerkiness is colorblind.
God made us all unique and with different qualities. I have friends from all over the world I met from my jobs, traveling, and church. I alone can decide if I am going to do my best to make the world a better or worse place because I’m in it. I always ask God to continue to make it better by my service to every person I meet.