Supreme Court mandated racial busing - deep thoughts regarding
Memories, actually.
Dateline 1971
Louisville, Kentucky
Ballard High School
Beautiful new brick structure with great architecture, with a central courtyard (for smoking and chilling)
Skip ahead to 1974
Busload after busload of Blacks shipped in.
Immediately, my girlfriend is thrown up against the lockers and her fundraising candybars stolen, along with the cash she'd raised.
Every second ceiling panel torn out.
Lamp fixtures hanging by electrical cords.
Graffiti on every wall of lockers. Obscene graffiti. "Kill whitey."
Don't even think about going to the courtyard for a smoke or to relax. The Blacks took it over. It became bullying central.
Where were the principals? Corporal punishment of White kids for "scaring Blacks."
People always ask me, "Mikey, what radicalized you?" and I always answer, I'm glad you asked that question.
I grew up inside The Washington Beltway .. in 1971 . we were forced to switch schools .. They called it Bussing .. take one busload of white kids and dump them in an all black school and watch what happens .. I am thinking of Louis Armstrong's " It's a Wonderful World " . we all sang and hugged and showed each other our pictures .. Nope .. door opened and we were unwilling participants in " Opportunistic Predation or The Running Man Game " we were on safari ... and we were the hunt .. they beat the crap out of us every day and stole our lunch money , stole , on the hour and the teachers even jumped in .. within the first week I was in the Vice Principals office .. How us whites cause problems . learning was impossible .. this explains my lapse in proper diction !! .. Dad later told us .. He had to save his children . He worked in Arlington Va for The Department of The Navy and moved me and my two sisters and mom to southern Maryland. . put us in private Catholic schools and ... Saved Us .. he made the daily commute of 2 hours each way .. Took us away from this social experiment . looking back . " Thanks Dad "