The Ugly Racism of Brunswick, Georgia.
White and Colored drinking fountains were standard in Brunswick when I was a kid
From Cold ‘Coon & Collards:
In Brunswick, Jim Crow laws stalked the land like marauding bandits. Signs in the front of every bus proclaimed: “These seats are reserved for White Race only.” Drinking fountains were prominently marked “White” and “Colored”.
I ran afoul of these rules early on. One hot summer day, I ducked into the downtown Woolworths store on my way home from the library. The tall, stainless steel water cooler along the wall was labeled Whites only. A sign hung over it: Out of order.
I pressed the button anyway, but, as advertised, it didn’t work. On the same wall, a few feet away, a stained and cracked porcelain water fountain was labelled “Colored”. I tried this one, and it worked.
As I was quenching my thirst, I heard a screeching noise, and felt an adult hand clamp onto my shoulder, pulling me away from the water. A middle-aged white lady had hold of me, her employee’s badge swinging from her neck.
“Just what do you think you’re doing?” she asked, her voice quaking with anger.
“Uhh, getting a drink?” I responded hesitantly.
“You drank out of the colored drinking fountain! What would your mother say if she knew about this?”
She propelled me out the door, onto the sidewalk, and said, “You should be ashamed of yourself!”
I walked on home, not ashamed, but thoroughly frightened by the Woolworths lady.
At my grade school I had to raise the Confederate battle flag along with the American flag every morning. The Confederate flag had a small state seal along the hem which wasn’t really visible when it flew. I was used to segregation and prejudice after living in Arkansas previously, but in Brunswick, the message was advertised with signs and flags.
I was unpleasantly reminded of this ugliness when Ahmaud Arbery was chased down by two dimwitted white men, then shotgunned to death. Arbery was jogging in a white neighborhood, and since he was black, the two crackers went after him. Two months passed before the white father and son were arrested and charged with murder.
It remains to be seen if the charges will stick, or the killers will be aquitted, like another self-styled vigilante was in Florida a few years back. The Deep South hasn’t changed enough, and the Civil War is still simmering, a century and a half later.
Growing up in the South, I was upset by the racial hatred some white folks held onto like a treasure. When I wrote my memoir, I wanted to recall the reasons I rejected racial hatred, and grew to love my black brothers and sisters. Read Cold ‘Coon & Collards if you would like to know more.