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!

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