Paul J. Mercer,
Lakewood, NJ
These words were from my father in the very early 50s. My Dad and I were watching the world go by waiting for Mom while parked outside the store she was in. We did not yet have a TV, I had not gone to school yet and I had no idea that anyone looked different than those people I saw at home or family get-togethers. Suddenly, my little hand rose to point at a man walking down the sidewalk by our ’49 Buick. A large hand gently pushed mine down as Pop offered these words. Using the accepted term at the time he said, “don’t point, you might hurt the man’s feelings.” He went on to say that the man was a negro and a brief history of where Negros came from. He left the lesson on slavery for a day when his 4-year-old was a tad older. A great lesson that provided many rewarding relationships with people of all ethnicities as I grew older.
