When LBJ was Vice President, his personal chef – a black woman – had a family emergency and had to return home to Texas. He let her borrow his car for the long drive from Washington D.C. There were still a lot of businesses in the south that would refuse to accommodate blacks in the early 1960’s.
After telling him about her trip on return, LBJ angrily remarked on what a disgrace it was the “the Vice President’s chef, driving the Vice President’s car had to stop and shit along the side of the road” because no gas station would accommodate her.
Personally, I cannot wrap my brain around seeing another person as inferior to myself, much less to the point where I would deny them the ability to use the bathroom and force them to go outside like an animal.
And yet, that and much worse have been the lived experience of many people in this country from day one. “Freedom” and “Equality” have always been lies for many Americans. If we had any moral fiber as a country, we would have shipped the Statue of Liberty back because it was an undeserved gift that did not and has never truly reflected our national values.
That’s not to say that things haven’t improved. They definitely have in some ways. But the same attitudes that denied the VP’s chef the ability to use the bathroom because she was black still exist in people today. They haven’t magically vanished. And those people are working overtime to make life difficult for anyone they see as inferior to themselves.
Those people need to fuck off. But they won’t until either something changes their minds or they are forced to.
When LBJ was Vice President, his personal chef – a black woman – had a family emergency and had to return home to Texas. He let her borrow his car for the long drive from Washington D.C. There were still a lot of businesses in the south that would refuse to accommodate blacks in the early 1960’s.
After telling him about her trip on return, LBJ angrily remarked on what a disgrace it was the “the Vice President’s chef, driving the Vice President’s car had to stop and shit along the side of the road” because no gas station would accommodate her.
Personally, I cannot wrap my brain around seeing another person as inferior to myself, much less to the point where I would deny them the ability to use the bathroom and force them to go outside like an animal.
And yet, that and much worse have been the lived experience of many people in this country from day one. “Freedom” and “Equality” have always been lies for many Americans. If we had any moral fiber as a country, we would have shipped the Statue of Liberty back because it was an undeserved gift that did not and has never truly reflected our national values.
That’s not to say that things haven’t improved. They definitely have in some ways. But the same attitudes that denied the VP’s chef the ability to use the bathroom because she was black still exist in people today. They haven’t magically vanished. And those people are working overtime to make life difficult for anyone they see as inferior to themselves.
Those people need to fuck off. But they won’t until either something changes their minds or they are forced to.