My Personal History of Racism: Northern or Southern, Which one is Better? [By better I mean worst]

The only thing that annoys me more than being expected to defend to/educate white trolls on the Internet is the fact that so many Black People STILL live in The South!!

Many Folks cite the fact that all their family is still down there and I'm fighting the question I feel should be WHY?! WHY are all ya'll still living there?!

My Backstory

My mother washed up in San Francisco Bay with a bunch of WAVES (Navy Nurses) and didn't miss Lake Charles, La. one little bit. Her stories of growing up in the South were actually Cautionary Tales. Although she had a degree from Dillard University, she happily stayed in SF, had my brother & I and availed herself of the then-free City College & SF State. Her goal was to raise us to "be comfortable in any social situations any place we were, anyplace in the world." (It worked, too. Big  Bro and myself are  excellent dinner guests, multiple forks and all. )

She would travel down every year or two to visit my grandparents until our grandmother passed, but it was a hassle to bring my brother and I Down South because growing up in SF in the late 60's & 70's we were both successfully assimilated. While she always insisted we sit in the front on MUNI it was strange when in 1974 we rode the Hound to La. and she pushed us all the way to the very back -- of course I  figured it out eventually.

Yes, I know there's racism up here, too. I've been the recipient of it growing up in Northern California on more than several occasions, most notably on my daily morning mile walk to Castro Valley HS; the same redneck driving the same red truck yelling N--ger at me daily like clockwork. I don't know where that East Bay bigot is today but he does deserve a plaque for commitment  & consistency.

My mother was furious when I told her about Cletus of the Red Truck. Like many people in 1980, she never thought I or bro would ever be attacked so viciously for our skin color in the SF Bay Area. She hadn't been subjected to such cowardly, ongoing verbal abuse in Louisiana!

She was understandably hurt and outraged not to mention that it triggered her Mom Hebert (mama bear) and she started to fear for my safety. She called CVHS to complain but the school did an 'auto search' and ascertained that none of the students had a red truck. That fucker was a grown man going out of his way just  to scream "N--ger!" at least once daily at a 16 y.o. girl just trying to get to school everyday.

[Side note: Later that year, we were getting gas with my mother's friend, and she was checking her oil when a red truck pulled in opposite her car.  The dude actually thought he could toy with a Grown Black Woman like he could a high schooler. Here's how it went down:

"Hello, Nigger!"
"Hello, Honky!"
Silence as he got back in his truck & drove away.]

Meanwhile, in the late 80's, us decent working artists, musicians, Deadheads and those of us who worked at Tower Records, BGP or the I-Beam while living in Upper Haight had to contend with both bridge & tunnel racist skinheads and the packs of raccoons emigrating from G.G. Park. The pussified whisper of the skins'  "N--ger, N--ger go away..." was laughable compared to what I went though in CV.  At least the racoons were scary!

But I pay attention to none of it; the worst thing you can do to the haters is set their asses to Ignore. It's hilarious how people who hate you will start in with the Charm Offensive once they realize that you clearly DGAF about them or their BS. That is my racist experience "up North."

If anyone wants to add to the discussion, please do so in the Comments section.