A MEMORIAL DAY REMINDER

FROM MY NEXT BOOK: OUR CRIME WAS BEING BLACK

“In 1955 in Korea I developed very strong feelings of patriotism. I could be walking in the compound at 5 o’clock, and to hear taps being played, I didn’t have to see the flag being lowered. Just to hear taps being played I would get butterflies. My time came to be rotated back to the States. I had been out of the country twelve months when another gentleman and I, in uniforms, got to Amarillo, Texas. We were traveling by train and had a two-hour layover. We went down the street looking for a restaurant. Each one we got to was white. By tradition, we walked on. Then I told my traveling partner, ‘Man, this ain’t right.’ We were in uniforms.  We just came from Korea defending this country. We made a pledge that we would go into the next restaurant, regardless of what. The next one was all white. We walked in and saw all those big Texan hats looking at us. We walked in and sat down, being stared at all over the place. Then the waitress came over and said she couldn’t serve us. I pretended I didn’t hear her and told her I wanted a menu. When we didn’t respond to her asking us to leave, the manager came over. He told us he was going to call the police if we didn’t leave. That did something to me. I was a very patriotic American in Korea, and even before I got home I was denied service in a public restaurant.”