Skip to header Skip to main content Skip to footer
Helpful Village logo
Add me to your mailing list
Youtube channel Facebook page
Header image for Pasadena Village showing nearby mountains and the logo of the Pasadena Village

Blog archive

October 2024

September 2024

August 2024

1619 Wide Ranging Interests
08/19/2024

1619 Wide Ranging Interests
08/19/2024

First Anniversary
08/19/2024

Alexandra Leaving by Leonard Cohen
08/16/2024

Muse des Beaux Arts by W. H. Auden
08/16/2024

The God Abandons Antony by Constantinos P. Cavafy
08/16/2024

Ch – Ch – Ch –Changes
08/15/2024

Cultural Activities Team offers an ‘embarrassment of riches’
08/15/2024

Engaging in Pasadena Village
08/15/2024

Future Housing Options
08/15/2024

Message from the President
08/15/2024

There Are Authors Among Us
08/15/2024

Villagers Welcome New Members at the Tournament Park Picnic
08/15/2024

Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night by Dylan Thomas
08/14/2024

A narrow Fellow in the Grass by Emily Dickinson
08/13/2024

Haikus
08/13/2024

One Art by Elizabeth Bishop
08/13/2024

Poem 20 by Pablo Neruda
08/13/2024

Still I Rise by Maya Angelou
08/13/2024

Trees by Joyce Kilmer
08/13/2024

July 2024

June 2024

May 2024

Emergency Preparedness: Are You Ready?
05/28/2024

Farewell from the 2023/24 Social Work Interns
05/28/2024

Gina on the Horizon
05/28/2024

Mark Your Calendars for the Healthy Aging Research California Virtual Summit
05/28/2024

Meet Our New Development Associate
05/28/2024

Putting the Strategic Plan into Practice
05/28/2024

Washington Park: Pasadena’s Rediscovered Gem
05/28/2024

Introducing Civil Rights Discussions
05/22/2024

Rumor of Humor #2416
05/14/2024

Rumor of Humor #2417
05/14/2024

Rumor of Humor #2417
05/14/2024

Rumor of Humor #2418
05/14/2024

Springtime Visitors
05/07/2024

Freezing for a Good Cause – Credit, That Is
05/02/2024

No Discussion Meeting on May 3rd
05/02/2024

An Apparently Normal Person Author Presentation and Book-signing
05/01/2024

Flintridge Center: Pasadena Village’s Neighbor That Changes Lives
05/01/2024

Pasadena Celebrates Older Americans Month 2024
05/01/2024

The 2024 Pasadena Village Volunteer Appreciation Lunch
05/01/2024

Woman of the Year: Katy Townsend
05/01/2024

April 2024

March 2024

February 2024

January 2024

Real Life Event with Racism

By Lora Harrington-Pride
Posted: 10/26/2023
Tags: racism, history, personal, lora harrington pride

After Dick’s encouragement, I am releasing to people who are interested, concerned and even unaware of racist happenings, some right here in Pasadena, stories about what I, and people like me have experienced.

 Once I have shared these “War Stories” that I want you to bear with me, I will extol the beautiful, kind, and generous things I have, and still am, experiencing in my relationships with people who don’t look like me.

 Our most common bond is our shared humanity, which we see first and foremost in each other, before we discover the other things that bind us.

 It has been, and it still is, a wonderful journey.  I can’t wait to tell you about it.

For today, here is a story of a little incident that took place and is part of my memories:

I was in a department store once and upon reporting to the cash register to ring up my purchases, the White associate started speaking to me in a heavy accent, replete with Ebonics greatly exaggerated.

I said “What part of the South are you from?”  Hearing my clear, accent-free, mid-western speech, he turned red and said more quietly, embarrassedly, “I’m not from the South.”  His speech was accent free, like mine.

I said, “Oh, you had me believing  that you were so far back in the woods, down south, that I was wondering how you got hired in this store.”  I smiled and walked away, leaving him regretting having mocked this Black person, having “assumed,” and given himself permission.

 

Lora Harrington-Pride

Blogs Topics Posts about this Topic