Ethnic Discrimination In My Generation

Ben Vitale

The latest increase in demonstrating and rioting has created the impression that we are in a centuries old syndrome of abuse and discrimination against the black community. My wife and I looked at each other and said… that is not what we experienced!

In 1955 I was a teenager who lived in Boro Park Brooklyn. My wife lived in Bay Ridge Brooklyn… We cannot remember any animosity toward the Black population… In fact, we distinctly recall just the opposite!

My generation who were born after WW2 had a very positive association with the black community through entertainers and musicians that we admired! The black entertainers and musicians were my role models! There are probably a few of you out there that are running for your high blood pressure medicine! LOL! My crowd of about 40 teenagers loved and respected black entertainers such as the platters, the Coasters, the Del Vikings, the Drifters, and the Flamingos, Chuck Barry, Louie Armstrong,  and Earl Garner. Every night we gathered on the street corner and made a feeble attempt to imitate the singing groups that we admired. Our positive association with black entertainers inspired lifelong changes to our development as we became adults! My wife studied opera singing, and I studied trumpet and guitar. Obviously, I did not have enough talent to compete with the black singing groups, but it was fun trying!

As an adult I worked directly with what I will now call the multinational community in Patchogue NY. I promised the M community that I would not publish names and details of the Multinational community members for fear of retribution by some crazy person. The bottom .0001% of any population does consist of criminals! As an adult I worked with the Multinational Community toward the same goal… that is to make it safe to walk our streets! We worked together as family!

I actually feel that what I have written so far is representative of my generation. As you may have already surmised… I will not allow anyone to rewrite the book of my life, when they never experienced it! For those of you that got heartburn because of what I have written… I will be glad to supply you with a few antacid tablets! LOL!

Pro and contrary views please make comments to this post. 

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White Privilege Didn't Work For Me!

Ben Vitale

I attended some of the best schools and experienced something that you wouldn’t expect! It is often said that people with white privilege have access to the best schools… That’s true, but along with the good comes the terrible! Better schools guaranteed better education… not at all true! There are other factors that usurp your skin color!

I am intentionally being ambiguous and not providing the names of the schools that I attended! I do not want to cause them to have problems.

I attended the best Jr high school and high schools, but my experience was less than favorable! Racial discrimination is not the only thing that will cause an academic experience to be a nightmare! When I attended Jr high school it was stylish to wear a black motorcycle jacket, even though I was too young to drive a motorcycle. I am white but the school administrators did not see that… they saw the black motorcycle jacket that I wore to school! Before I even took my first class, I was assigned a seat in a class room with all of the school misfits… the bullies, and criminals! I spent three years watching the criminal element threaten and distract the teacher. I was personally threatened by the bullies constantly! The principal handled this situation by penalizing the victim and giving a free pass to the bully! If the principal dared expel the bully, he would become the victim! For three years I just watched the criminal element throw spit balls at the teacher! I learned absolutely nothing!

In my first three years of high school I attended a school that was considered the best of the best! The problem at that school is that it catered to the student that were on track to attend Yale or Harvard! To be a member of that club you wore a white bulky knit crew neck sweater. The sweater identified you as a future scholar! I wore my black motorcycle jacket, and you can guess how well I fit in with the college bound! LOL! Once again, I found myself in classes with undesirable students! Again, I did not learn a thing in my first three years of high school! The point that I am trying to make is that it was not my white skin color that got me into trouble but the color of my black leather jacket! The school branded and treated me like a hoodlum, because I flaunted my black motorcycle jacket, instead of a white bulky knit crew neck sweater!

White privilege is usurped by wearing the wrong uniform!

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