As we have been reading the Great Gatsby and the Kentucky Cycle in class I have noticed very offensive, racist remarks made by white people to people of color. Because these books are set in the 1800 and 1900's I was not very surprised by these racist remarks. I never thought that people today thought like that but after reading this article from CNN, it is clear that this country still has people who clearly cannot get over the past.
According to the article a man named Untonia Harris was working for a white man at a cotton warehouse in Memphis, Tennessee. Harris had been feeling discriminated against for months by his white boss so finally he decided to record some of the things his boss was saying when he tried to drink from the water fountain. The recording shows his boss saying, "I need to put a sign here that says white people only." Not only that but after Harris asked him what will happen if he drinks from the fountain, his boss said, "That's when we hang you."
Making rude comments about someone's skin color is bad but threatening to hang them takes everything to the next level. That is not okay and that sounds like something someone would say in the Jim Crow era. I find it interesting that this happened in the South and I would make the bet that something like this probably would not happen in the North. Jim Crow Laws were born in the South and it is clear that some people still wish they still existed. What do you think? Do you think something like this would happen in the North?
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