Peachy's Ramblings & Muses

So’s we start off on the right political foot, I’m using the term “colored folks” because that’s what blacks were called in the sleepy little Georgian town where I grew up. Colored drinking foundations. No colored allowed. The more refined of us were also warned very sternly that we were never to use the “n” word, and that “colored” was the proper word, unless you were from South Carolina where it was OK to say “nigras.”

Fact is though that even among the refined the “n” word was used often. There were colored people on the islands, in the town, in the country and all around. A lot were descendants of African slaves who toiled the rice fields in that part of Georgia.

They were a beautiful people but more often than not the white community didn’t think so. The standard of beauty back then was based totally on what an attractive caucasion looked like, and skin color and hair texture made it impossible to be on a competitive level with the enforcers of the standard bearer. I remember with awe though how the little colored girls and boys would dance up L Street, listening to music only they could hear. The little girls would have their hair done in what seemed like a gazillion pigtails, and they all had tall lean bodies. Their skin color was velvety black, and I couldn’t help but think they must have so much joy within themselves to dance and sing like this, in the public’s eye, and especially because of the way they treated as second-glass citizens in 50′s and 60′s Georgia. No one else seemed to share my awe of this though…all I ever heard were degrading comments, and as a kid myself, I couldn’t understand that. As a grown up now, I still can’t understand it.

Now flash forward to 2010, and I’m living back in Brunswick, Georgia, where my roots are. There are many blacks here (we’re now i the era of “politically correct” language). It has struck me over and over how beautiful the black people in this part of Georgia are. They are tall, velvety black skin, high cheekbones, haunting eyes, and you just sense right away their proud heritage. Today, I started thinking about how proud and privileged I am to have been raised in a society that included these beautiful people. I also wondered if Brunswickians are really aware of and appreciative of the diverse cultures they live with. I hope so.