General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: White DUers: Tell Your Stories [View all]Maeve
(42,279 posts)was when we first moved out to Oklahoma City in the early 1980's and were trying to find an apartment. We didn't know the racial lines in the city and went to see a place I liked because it was really close to a Catholic church and the houses seemed nice. The landlord was black and startled to meet us and told us we probably wouldn't be comfortable in the neighborhood. It soon became clear we weren't wanted as tenants, so we left. But we had other places to try and it was no big deal...later, we were told that there were some lines you didn't cross in OKC.
The house we eventually bought out there was in a lower income area and I was startled one day to be asked by a young white child "Are you white or are you Mexican?" (I had long dark brown hair, but if my skin was much paler, I'd be translucent) I told her "Irish", which I think confused her more....I don't think I'd ever imagined kids sounding that judgmental before.