Charles William,
Riverside, CA
White Baby boomer who grew up in lower socio-economic minority neighborhoods east of Los Angeles, parents “quietly” racist but also very religious. Teenage years in early 70’s marked by race riots at junior and senior high schools, I was involved directly and indirectly in many race-related violent incidents. Higher education and personal research helped me understand and adjust my attitudes over time and in my career in technology I worked with many ethnicities at all levels of 2 large institutions, including workers reporting to me. MLK’s I Have a Dream speech has shaped some of my thinking but also Rodney King’s “Can’t we all just get along” comment following the LA race riots in the early 90’s. I long for the day that media and our social culture doesn’t have to specify, classify, qualify, or count race in every single statistic or story about our society.
