Lu Ann Joplin
The Villages, FL
I was in junior high, she was in high school. I’m white, she’s black. She asked if she could sit with me. I said sure. It didn’t occur to me it could be a problem. I really got the treatment everyday when she got off the bus. The bus driver did nothing about the taunts. One day they took my coat and I told my parents. They gave the bus driver an earfull. I wasn’t brought up to see anyone as different. When I got to high school I was on the newspaper staff. Once we were having a meeting at my house. There was a black girl older than me on the staff. She asked what my parents were going to say when she walked in the door. I told her they would probably say “Hi.” She showed up and of course in my home it was no big deal.
