We are the same age.
Grew up in a south side Chicago suburb which as all white but my Grandparents lived about 20 minutes away in a bi- later tri-racial area. (I was born at the same hospital as Michael Jackson. My only claim to fame!!)
Next to my Grandparents house was a playground. (Actually, it was an empty lot but my Grandfather would mow it every week so the neighborhood kids had a place to play. The houses in the area were all 2 story apartments with no back yards.)
Every Sunday we would go to their house for lunch. After lunch my black and white friends would come over to play. (”Kick the can “ was a biggy.)
When I heard MLK talking about judging people by the content of their character, I thought “HUH. Who doesn’t???”
My friends were nice and fun. And they liked the same cartoons and cereal that I did!!
A few years after that, the first black family moved into my town. Someone threw a molotov cocktail into their living room window.
Well we were German and it made more sense to me that because of WWII they would attack us.
I actually immediately started to avoid our living room window until my dad noticed and gave me a talk and calmed me down.
(I became friends with the girl whose house was attacked. (We both had a crush on Davy Jones!))
Then I learned about racism. All I could phantom is that these people were just sick and they are bringing back this sickness now. Beyond disgusting and immoral.
I think we can all thank Obama for screwing up race relations.