When i was a boy
- Thread starter Steven Royston O'Neill
- Start date
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Pretty much the same for me.
Good job we have moved on and not stuck our heads in the sand.
Their will always be people who are not tolerant but that's life.
I must say Syd this kind of "honesty" (for want of a better word) is exactly what is needed...... weve covered a lot of stuff on these boards and if you could some how get the essence of it Its the most meaningful
I talked to an old timer who remembered "concert parties" walking out of the town to pit villages Ryhope and Silksworth There were some players "blacked up" One of the miners gave the "minstrel" , who`d jumped over into a garden, a shilling for "frightenin` our lass"
My Grandmother was born in 1898 she once called me into the house in a semi panic " Come im!!! theres a Blackman!"...A Sikh had come down our street and was knocking on a door....I went in ...but remember thinking !!!!...This was 50`s Sunderland....not much different ,in places ,to the villages
When i was lad we used to play in the woods and walk down to the river a couple of miles away. Recently moved back on to my old estate literally a street away from my old house (dad still lives there) My kids aren't allowed past my dads house. Mind you our lass reckons i was dragged up not brought up hahaha!!
Out at light back at dark was the way it was BACK in the day (early 80's
)
Out at light back at dark was the way it was BACK in the day (early 80's
)
As a moderator I know youd be looking at the word "They".......as in " Theyre all over here on benefits"..... "Theyre all over here taking our jobs" " They " cant be doing both....I know you didnt say that but thats the classic argument.....Who are they?
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'They' have been here since the 1950's and the whole "Banana Boat" nonsense...
Often I think the problem is xenophobia rather than racism - people are people, so why should it be, you and I should get along so awfully? (Martin Gore)
As a moderator I know youd be looking at the word "They".......as in " Theyre all over here on benefits"..... "Theyre all over here taking our jobs" " They " cant be doing both....I know you didnt say that but thats the classic argument.....Who are they?
What's amazing to me is that there's only 5 or 6 years between me and syd, and we only lived 10 or 12 miles apart. And yet we grew up in different worlds! We knew about black and asian people because we had students (male and female) from the African and West Indian colonies (as was) and from India and Pakistan at Sunderland Technical College, then situated at the bottom end of Durham Rd. My mother was a strong racist, pulling me to one side in the street if a "Jew-boy" was approaching and she regarded "blacks!" as little more than apes. But us young'uns kind of admired the students because the first thing a black guy bought when he could afford it was a nice suit and, especially, a white shirt. The white used to gleam against the black and brown skins and they always looked bloody immaculate. "Most hip, man".
*****philia was rife on the Fulwell End at Roker. It was common knowledge that if a man stood in front of you with his hands held behind his back, you'd best move because 'Eeee, he'll get your willie!' Some of them were well known for it. There was a well known guy who usually stood behind the goal among the kids, pick out one of a suitable height, and slip his hands round your thighs and press against your bum when the crowd got excited and wouldn't notice. I never had the experience but knew well how to avoid it!
Shop keepers and doctors were about the same as you describe. And foreign take-aways hadn't arrived. But drugs were a bit different. A lot of men had come home from places like Borneo, Singapore, North Africa and the Middle East with a liking for substances, and, in the late-1940s the demand for them in Britain rocketed. The 1951 Dangerous Drugs Act was pushed through to stop the flow. It was a silly rush job which grouped e.g. hashish with heroin (and we still haven't sorted the mess out). LSD came in from California at first in the mid-1960s. I was in my twenties by then and took it once a week for seven years, till about 1975. Very good for me in a lot of ways, though it did do some people harm.
The big difference, then and now, was domestic violence. Today, some do-goodie social worker would have gone to court to ensure that I didn't remain in that house with those parents. I'd have been forcibly removed (which I would have liked to be honest). Going just a bit further back, my grandfather was considered an eccentric at Wearmouth Colliery because he never beat his wife.
Thanks for this post, syd. It was a genuine eye-opener for me. Sunderland isn't on the main railway line, and national bus services were unheard of so my north-east had no choice but to look outwards. Walks down the docks with grandad on Sunday afternoons opened up the world to me - "Where's Valparaiso grandad?" "Where's Oslo?" All these ships from magical places - wow! Your small village just ten miles away was just as foreign to me when I read it - amazing world.
*****philia was rife on the Fulwell End at Roker. It was common knowledge that if a man stood in front of you with his hands held behind his back, you'd best move because 'Eeee, he'll get your willie!' Some of them were well known for it. There was a well known guy who usually stood behind the goal among the kids, pick out one of a suitable height, and slip his hands round your thighs and press against your bum when the crowd got excited and wouldn't notice. I never had the experience but knew well how to avoid it!
Shop keepers and doctors were about the same as you describe. And foreign take-aways hadn't arrived. But drugs were a bit different. A lot of men had come home from places like Borneo, Singapore, North Africa and the Middle East with a liking for substances, and, in the late-1940s the demand for them in Britain rocketed. The 1951 Dangerous Drugs Act was pushed through to stop the flow. It was a silly rush job which grouped e.g. hashish with heroin (and we still haven't sorted the mess out). LSD came in from California at first in the mid-1960s. I was in my twenties by then and took it once a week for seven years, till about 1975. Very good for me in a lot of ways, though it did do some people harm.
The big difference, then and now, was domestic violence. Today, some do-goodie social worker would have gone to court to ensure that I didn't remain in that house with those parents. I'd have been forcibly removed (which I would have liked to be honest). Going just a bit further back, my grandfather was considered an eccentric at Wearmouth Colliery because he never beat his wife.
Thanks for this post, syd. It was a genuine eye-opener for me. Sunderland isn't on the main railway line, and national bus services were unheard of so my north-east had no choice but to look outwards. Walks down the docks with grandad on Sunday afternoons opened up the world to me - "Where's Valparaiso grandad?" "Where's Oslo?" All these ships from magical places - wow! Your small village just ten miles away was just as foreign to me when I read it - amazing world.
......Good send us Ba ,Cisse.... and all the rest youve just decided to kick out......
When I was a boy we were living in the deep south of America and I saw racism at it's worst. This includes parents of kids I was at school with and I had considered myself one of thier friends.
My mum had a perm (US fashion in the early 80's) and whilst driving us to school we stopped at some traffic lights. A pickup pulls up next to us and they spot my mothers hairstyle. They got out the car and started shouting abuse at us, banging fists on the car etc because her hair was tightly curled.
We played football (you know, the soccer variety) and the coach of the team was a black man. Several familes would rather thier children not play football because of this. I became best friends with the coaches son and they would come over for BBQs to our house and we all got on very well together.
The neighbours would throw dog **** over the fence because of who our guests were. Thier neighbours kids would tell me I was going to hell becuse of who I was friends with.
My mum had a perm (US fashion in the early 80's) and whilst driving us to school we stopped at some traffic lights. A pickup pulls up next to us and they spot my mothers hairstyle. They got out the car and started shouting abuse at us, banging fists on the car etc because her hair was tightly curled.
We played football (you know, the soccer variety) and the coach of the team was a black man. Several familes would rather thier children not play football because of this. I became best friends with the coaches son and they would come over for BBQs to our house and we all got on very well together.
The neighbours would throw dog **** over the fence because of who our guests were. Thier neighbours kids would tell me I was going to hell becuse of who I was friends with.
FML that's FTW!!!Anyone else think there's a bit of a contradiction between saying that homophobia didn't exist and that you were told to stay away from the only gay in the village ?
Hmm, think not! The 'They' you highlighted and I referred to are people from foreign shores who come to this country and take take take when they haven't paid any stamp or made any input into our society or communities. If they come as workers,doctors, lawyers and yes, footballers and they do so legally and abide by our laws and financial legislation, then fine, bring it on.
In 1960, when I worked in J L Thompsons shipyard, we had one black lad - an apprentice called Joe who worked in the plating shop I think - and he was the only non-white out of god knows how many thousands working there at the time.
However I never recall any visible antaganismm towards him.
Whether that was because I was so young and didn't notice it, I really don't know.
I remember he was an outstanding footballer who played for JL's in the Wearside Apprentices league and perhaps that was his vehicle for deflecting any potential intolerance from his work colleagues?
In those days, competition between the various football teams in shipyards and associated industries was intense, particularly at apprentice level and the regulars enjoyed enviable status in the workplace.
I know because I was never good enough !!
However I never recall any visible antaganismm towards him.
Whether that was because I was so young and didn't notice it, I really don't know.
I remember he was an outstanding footballer who played for JL's in the Wearside Apprentices league and perhaps that was his vehicle for deflecting any potential intolerance from his work colleagues?
In those days, competition between the various football teams in shipyards and associated industries was intense, particularly at apprentice level and the regulars enjoyed enviable status in the workplace.
I know because I was never good enough !!
Hmm, think not! The 'They' you highlighted and I referred to are people from foreign shores who come to this country and take take take when they haven't paid any stamp or made any input into our society or communities. If they come as workers,doctors, lawyers and yes, footballers and they do so legally and abide by our laws and financial legislation, then fine, bring it on.
Statistically they pay more tax, collect less benefit and commit fewer crimes than the native population.
Incidentally, I'm one of them
I remember he was an outstanding footballer who played for JL's in the Wearside Apprentices league and perhaps that was his vehicle for deflecting any potential intolerance from his work colleagues?
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He wasn't Shola's dad was he?
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He wasn't Shola's dad was he?