Absolutely true. I grew up in northern Indiana in Elkhart. The county seat, Goshen, which prided itself on its Christianity, would not allow blacks to stay over night and I think the same was true in Salem, Oregon, where I live now. Black people then lived in a thin line south of the railroad in Elkhart and that's the only place they …
Absolutely true. I grew up in northern Indiana in Elkhart. The county seat, Goshen, which prided itself on its Christianity, would not allow blacks to stay over night and I think the same was true in Salem, Oregon, where I live now. Black people then lived in a thin line south of the railroad in Elkhart and that's the only place they were found in Elkhart County. I saw my first racism incident in Chicago when I was about 7 or so, but had no idea that black people lived in Elkhart. I had no black classmates, and then only a few, until I reached high school. I had a friend from southern Indiana (Bedford) tell me that the racism was so thick there, that you could cut it with a knife. Both sides of my family were racist and more since they disliked anyone who wasn't exactly like them. I heard plenty of racist remarks and other biases growing up. I still hear them from time to time. We have a black owned restaurant in downtown Salem and the owners have BLM signs and also a library inside. Of course, they have been the target of local wing nut cases. They are moving shortly into a larger space, so they do have lots of support and interesting good food as well. And a side note about why I hate the 4th...someone fairly close by popped off a couple firecrackers at around 5:30 am this morning.
Medford, Oregon (my home town) was one of the last cities to stop enforcement of the Sundown Laws. Eugene, Oregon (my current place of residence for the last 38 years) had an interesting situation in the past 15 years or so. There was a "Reynolds" St. in one of the subdivisions that grew up after WWII. Out on the west edge of town (south of where this subdivision is) there was a Black community, and a Christian Methodist Episcopal Church built by local families. Sam Reynolds was the pastor there. Upon his retirement, the congregation petitioned the city to name the street "Sam Reynolds Street." The city refused, allowing the name "Sam R." St. because it would be "too confusing" to have streets with such similar names. It wasn't until 2018 that the street was named "Sam Reynolds St."
Sidebar #1: there was an arson fire there in November, 2021; no suspects or arrests to date.
Sidebar #2: Quentin Reynolds is the pastor for the other predominantly Black church in town, Bethel Temple Church. This building was built in the past 15 years, also in west Eugene, replacing a smaller church in unincorporated Glenwood, which is a curious area between the cities of Eugene and Springfield that neither city particularly wanted until the past 5 years or so. Quentin is Sam Reynolds' son.
Absolutely true. I grew up in northern Indiana in Elkhart. The county seat, Goshen, which prided itself on its Christianity, would not allow blacks to stay over night and I think the same was true in Salem, Oregon, where I live now. Black people then lived in a thin line south of the railroad in Elkhart and that's the only place they were found in Elkhart County. I saw my first racism incident in Chicago when I was about 7 or so, but had no idea that black people lived in Elkhart. I had no black classmates, and then only a few, until I reached high school. I had a friend from southern Indiana (Bedford) tell me that the racism was so thick there, that you could cut it with a knife. Both sides of my family were racist and more since they disliked anyone who wasn't exactly like them. I heard plenty of racist remarks and other biases growing up. I still hear them from time to time. We have a black owned restaurant in downtown Salem and the owners have BLM signs and also a library inside. Of course, they have been the target of local wing nut cases. They are moving shortly into a larger space, so they do have lots of support and interesting good food as well. And a side note about why I hate the 4th...someone fairly close by popped off a couple firecrackers at around 5:30 am this morning.
Medford, Oregon (my home town) was one of the last cities to stop enforcement of the Sundown Laws. Eugene, Oregon (my current place of residence for the last 38 years) had an interesting situation in the past 15 years or so. There was a "Reynolds" St. in one of the subdivisions that grew up after WWII. Out on the west edge of town (south of where this subdivision is) there was a Black community, and a Christian Methodist Episcopal Church built by local families. Sam Reynolds was the pastor there. Upon his retirement, the congregation petitioned the city to name the street "Sam Reynolds Street." The city refused, allowing the name "Sam R." St. because it would be "too confusing" to have streets with such similar names. It wasn't until 2018 that the street was named "Sam Reynolds St."
Sidebar #1: there was an arson fire there in November, 2021; no suspects or arrests to date.
Sidebar #2: Quentin Reynolds is the pastor for the other predominantly Black church in town, Bethel Temple Church. This building was built in the past 15 years, also in west Eugene, replacing a smaller church in unincorporated Glenwood, which is a curious area between the cities of Eugene and Springfield that neither city particularly wanted until the past 5 years or so. Quentin is Sam Reynolds' son.