Went back to the area I grew up last week. Dubuque is changing like a lot of cities are. Where factories and rough bars once stood are coffee shops and bookstores. Where the packing house was once the citys main employer, it is now (i think) IBM. That left me feeling a bit nostalgic for old Dubuque, but this is a reminder of what old Dubuque was like for people of color. This piece on 20/20 aired around the time I moved there, leaving the Chicagoland area. Its funny, that same year was when I learned how to fight. At church, of all places, against white boys who were calling me a word I had never heard before: spic. Although this racial tension occurred over 20 years ago, it still pops up. As recent as 2005, there were worries about the old form of race riots, whites attacking and destroying black neighborhoods, over a stabbing. The city government and NAACP urged calm. Students were suspended for participating in White Power Wendesdays. Old men on my dads mail route uttered phrases like Were gonna get them. youtu.be/CfuU4BrnZ0Q
Posted on: Tue, 30 Dec 2014 21:58:01 +0000
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