Ishvara: Thanks :-)

By Kansascity (209.242.125.95) on Friday, May 18, 2001 - 05:11 pm:

My mother could not make that decision for me about which water fountain to choose to drink from: she is a person who also has a mixed heritage.
She is Bohemian/Jewish/German. She did not consider herself to be so-called 'white'. At the time, I did not know this about her background.
Besides, she is not a 'Southerner" but is from the north part of the country which has its own issue with religion and race.
Her mother, my Lutheran grandmother married a Bohemian/Cahtolic. In the small village, lumbertown where they lived their was much predjudice against Catholics for some reason. She was even spat on for marrying out of her religion.
My father, well that is a different story. It is odd that he was attracted to my mother's smile when there were race/sex/religion issues that later got in their way. (They came of age during WWII).
My father being German/Italian/Catholic insisted my mother convert from lutheran to his religion...which she did. However, he has spent all of the 52 years they have been together trying to transform her into something he deems appropriate. He basically has smashed her identity and damaged her core personality.
Nevertheless, she is strong and believes that divorce would not be right in their case...so she stays with him using the Catholic rational against divorce.
Frankly, I am amaszed that they are still together. I try to remember only the good times.

By Frankie (128.164.161.243) on Friday, May 18, 2001 - 10:21 am:

My concern is that the Southern accent is disappearing. I've met a number of people from the South - and I'd say half did not have an accent. But an attractive woman with a Southern accent - wow!

By Roberto (64.12.102.153) on Friday, May 18, 2001 - 09:52 am:

Kansascity:

Why did your mother allow you to be different in a time when going against the grain for a white person would penalize one to be called a "nigger lover" and be scorned by the community in which one lives? ~ Roberto

By Ishvara (38.163.112.117) on Friday, May 18, 2001 - 08:43 am:

Kansas city liked your story very much. Sounds like your mother was a very strong lady!

By Modulis (216.249.87.138) on Friday, May 18, 2001 - 02:06 am:

Wyatt, you lucky, lucky, lucky guy! :-D Yeah bro, wouldn't mind plopping some blonde southern belle right down on the rebel flag and well, you know...and dedicate that to Emit Till.

Roberto, I loved that moth to the flame analogy. I think that really explains a lot.

By Kansascity (209.242.125.241) on Friday, May 18, 2001 - 12:55 am:

Drinking from the "colored" water fountain:
In Fort Worth, Texas around 1956 or so....my mother (born and raised in northern Wisconsin small town)and I took our first ride on the city bus downtown.
Before the bus came, my mother gave me one of my most important lessons on social conduct: Never call anyone a......I had never before heard the word used at home or elsewhere. I remember feeling afraid after she warned me of dire consequences if I ever used that word without saying what those consequences could be .
After boarding, we sat near the middle. The bus was full at that point. I remember turning around and staring at the way people were divided by race: whites in front & blacks in back. I kept turning around (precocious as I was) smiling, looking, and wondering even at that young age...thinking to myself what is going on? It is as if it was yesterday. That memory is so clear.
People in back of the bus would try to avoid my eyes and furtive glances. They looked straight ahead. I turned back around when my mother poked me.
Then later we were strolling down the streets of downtown Ft. Worth, window shopping, stopping at the drug store etc...and I was thirsty. So, when we found the water fountain's...there were two...which I found a bit confusing. I wasn't sure which one to use. I had not read the signs yet. At that age I could read. I recall looking at my mother, wondering what to do. Decisions! Decisions! There were 2 water fountains in a very small drug store!
Anyway, my mother didn't say a word. Then, she turned around and waited for me to make my own decision. I looked back at the 2 water fountains and read the 2 signs for the first time: WHITE COLORED...I was really thirsty. Texas is a hot place. I decided I would drink from the "colored" fountain. I stepped up on the rickety wood steps and had a good long drink. However, as I did this, I overheard an elderly woman fussing at my mother and then me. I stopped drinking at that point, turned around and quickly glanced over my shoulder to see what all the fuss was about. My mother, dressed in her pretty suit, high heels, gloves, purse, and hat...completely ignored (but with no disrespect) that woman and allowed me to continue to get a drink of water. The disgruntled older woman walked away while talking to herself.
My mother and I seldom ever took many trips downtown after that....but it wasn't because of those issues.

By Roberto (205.188.196.21) on Thursday, May 17, 2001 - 06:16 pm:

Wyatt:

I remember my grandmother use to tell us that in her time, her mother would tell her brothers to always look to the ground when a white woman approaches and never speak to her. If she starts a conversation with you, to avoid being beaten, or worse lynched you get the hell out of there or say a prayer. ~ Roberto

By Roberto (205.188.199.157) on Thursday, May 17, 2001 - 05:51 pm:

Southern white women are intriguing to me. To me its like being a moth that skirt near flames. There is a certain danger in them that I find fascinating as a black man. Maybe its because of the history. There was a time by just looking into their eyes meant death to you. ~ Roberto

By Wyatt (63.48.110.35) on Thursday, May 17, 2001 - 04:29 pm:

Hey guys,

Some fantasy, but it has been reality for me. As a Southerner, I was able to and did date Southern, blonde, blue eyed belles. I even married a Southern belle from South Carolina( my first wife). Fortunately she was of the well bred type, well educated and not a flag waver. But as a teen I got to make out with flag wavers and liberals alike.

I love em all.

By Modulis (216.249.83.227) on Wednesday, May 16, 2001 - 08:16 pm:

That's true Roberto. Sometimes we do want somethign we can't have. Here's a crazy fantasy, have a wild escapade with a southern blonde-haired blue-eyed woman with a strong southern accent. Of course the bed sheets would be Confederate flags. That would be the ultimate payback! Hahhah.

By Roberto (64.12.105.159) on Wednesday, May 16, 2001 - 11:03 am:

Modulis:

Even the "red neck variety" can be alluring. Is it wrong to want something you know you can never have? ~ Roberto

By Modulis (216.249.86.206) on Friday, April 20, 2001 - 02:01 am:

You know, in the last year or so, I have found a beautiful woman with a southern accent to be even more attractive. That is of course as long as it isn't that redneck type accent, but the one that sounds more gentle and refined. It's a real turn on. Unfortunately though, we're talking about the South, and such women probably wouldn't be into brothas anyway.

By Roberto (152.163.207.73) on Thursday, March 22, 2001 - 02:58 pm:

Wyatt:

You are a man of culture and exquisite taste. Take care brother. ~ Roberto

By Wyatt (207.106.60.6) on Thursday, March 22, 2001 - 12:49 pm:

Roberto,

Being a southerner, born and bred, I too love the southerner accent. I love the soft, lilting and confident sound and inflection in the love belle voices. My mother and my grandmothers would speak insuch a manner that was soothing and poetic. Belles from the state of South Carolina and Mississippi are the best. Genteel to the core and traditional mannerisms are sexy to me. Texas drawls are ok too, but the creme de la creme are the ones from the Grand old lady of the South, South Carolina. I love the voice of Eudora Welty, Flannery O'Conner, Lena Horne, Dixie Carter. The sound is like butter on a southern bisquit, soft as a southern breeze off the gulf, warm as the sun dancing on Lake Marion, comforting as the lap of my dear sweet old nanny.

I love 'em and miss 'em, living in exile in the North.

By Roberto (64.12.104.159) on Wednesday, March 21, 2001 - 11:18 am:

I love a woman with a "Southern Accent", that "Southern belle speech", I do declare! this turns me on. I do not know why. Any of you brothers out there feel the same way and if so why? ~ Roberto