I Don't Care What Color My Friends Are
There is a line in the movie "Free Enterprise" (a must see for Star Trek fans, by the way) that features Phil LaMarr's character sarcastically asking one of the leads, "Where are you other 'friends of color'?"
My earliest school years were in a private school where the student population, while mostly white, was diverse enough to make the argument that the ratio was closer to 60:40 (technically "mostly", but not grossly so). It was in such an environment that the kind of innocent racial equality that children know before their immediate family or society teaches them otherwise was quietly fostered. There was no sense of segregation among varied communities within the classroom or on the playground. We were all just kids learning and playing and being children.
When I entered the public school system in a tiny rural town after my family moved during a period known as "White Flight" (though it was more a desire to get away from the big city that drove my parents to subject us to middle-of-nowheresville) I was in a school that, by accident of local population, was predominantly white. In fact there was only one black family in town who's various children had been through that school system over many decades. None the less, there was no distinction when it came to friendship and acceptance as the town became more diverse during its earliest growth spurt.
Over my adult years I have had friends of every color who have come and gone as people always do in one's life. I would not go so far as to say this gives me a sense of pride as frankly it should not. Why would having friends be a mark of distinction? Pointing out differences deliberately solely to distinguish oneself as being racially or culturally accepting tends to undermine the spirit of what one is trying to point out in my opinion. But then that illustrates the level to which race or culture matter not when it comes to establishing a meaningful friendship with me.
Still, whenever we entertain a large group of friends, inviting just everyone with the full knowledge that not all will make it (if absolutely everyone came to a party or event it would literally be standing room only in the house), I can't help but smile and think of that scene in "Free Enterprise" and have a laugh to myself that I would not be asked such a question.
My earliest school years were in a private school where the student population, while mostly white, was diverse enough to make the argument that the ratio was closer to 60:40 (technically "mostly", but not grossly so). It was in such an environment that the kind of innocent racial equality that children know before their immediate family or society teaches them otherwise was quietly fostered. There was no sense of segregation among varied communities within the classroom or on the playground. We were all just kids learning and playing and being children.
When I entered the public school system in a tiny rural town after my family moved during a period known as "White Flight" (though it was more a desire to get away from the big city that drove my parents to subject us to middle-of-nowheresville) I was in a school that, by accident of local population, was predominantly white. In fact there was only one black family in town who's various children had been through that school system over many decades. None the less, there was no distinction when it came to friendship and acceptance as the town became more diverse during its earliest growth spurt.
Over my adult years I have had friends of every color who have come and gone as people always do in one's life. I would not go so far as to say this gives me a sense of pride as frankly it should not. Why would having friends be a mark of distinction? Pointing out differences deliberately solely to distinguish oneself as being racially or culturally accepting tends to undermine the spirit of what one is trying to point out in my opinion. But then that illustrates the level to which race or culture matter not when it comes to establishing a meaningful friendship with me.
Still, whenever we entertain a large group of friends, inviting just everyone with the full knowledge that not all will make it (if absolutely everyone came to a party or event it would literally be standing room only in the house), I can't help but smile and think of that scene in "Free Enterprise" and have a laugh to myself that I would not be asked such a question.
56-60, M
