Today America’s shame, white supremacists, have a leader soiling the sheets in the White House. The truth is that white supremacy has been active in America since its inception in 1776. This is the single factor which has always prevented our nation from being labeled as ‘great.’

At 72-years of age, I grew up in a country of prejudice and bigotry. I heard negative comments about ‘niggers,’ ‘Japs,’ ‘spics,’ and ‘kikes.’ For the most part I ignored them, but when anyone hears hate-filled names frequently, it is only natural for any human to either believe them, or search for reasons why they are hated by your family and friends.

Prior to attending high school, I had little or no contact with African Americans, Japanese Americans, Hispanics, or Jews. Raised Catholic, I became more aware of Hispanics before I was a teenager. My church was in a poor community, and the dioceses was forced to add a wing to the Church of St. Gerard Majella to accommodate a growing number of Mexicans who moved into our community.

However, it was not until my junior year of high school, at age 16 that I attended school with blacks, Japanese, and Jews. Leaving Catholic high school and attending Venice high school was life altering. Although my parents moved to Los Angeles when I was five-years-old, I had not experienced the real ‘City of the Angels’ until then.

The Republican Party has always considered everyone as inferior unless they were white and Christian. I became interested in politics when I was about 10-years-old. Dwight D. Eisenhower was running for reelection.

I didn’t understand much of what I was seeing on television during the Republican convention, but I remember the crowds and the excitement. I wanted to know more. This was when I first became interested in history. Just four years later, when I was beginning high school, my interest peaked with the nomination of John F. Kennedy.

Younger Americans could relate to him, and it was also no surprise that minorities were proud to have a younger man who supported their current situation in America ‘on their side.’ Racism and bigotry remained a part of the Southern culture. I later learned that branches of the Ku Klux Klan existed throughout America.

After the tragic assassination of President Kennedy when I was a senior in 1963, I decided to join the United States Air Force when I graduated in 1964. I was stationed in San Antonio Texas and Biloxi Mississippi until I was medically discharged in 1965. I was shocked by the level of hatred I witnessed against blacks during a duration of just six months.

I have lived in only three places in my life since my parents moved from Idaho in 1952. I grew up in Los Angeles when it was the greatest city in America. I moved to North County, San Diego in 1977 when it was the fastest growing area in America. This was the first time I experienced culture shock.

Los Angeles was very liberal. We believed that everyone was our equal until they proved otherwise by actions which could or did harm those we loved. I’m not claiming that the entire city was without problems, but the general attitude was void of bigotry.

I quickly learned that San Diego County was much more conservative, and Republican. During my first few days in La Costa I heard comments which seemed racist. Then I began to notice that everywhere I went I rarely saw anyone other than whites. It was just a few months later when I learned that “I was not in Kansas anymore.”

Today I live in the suburbs of Reno, Nevada. Prior to my move here, I had been a customer in Las Vegas. I quickly began to realize that the differences between Northern Nevada and Southern Nevada were extreme. Here in the north our population is dominated by right wing extremists.

I love where I live. This area is one of the biggest secrets in America. We have all four seasons. They are mild and beautiful. However, I have not always enjoyed many of the people I encountered. It is changing today, but not long before I moved here in 1986, Reno was known as the “Mississippi of the West.”

To sum this up, racism and bigotry remain a huge problem in America. Unlike many others I do not believe that these evils are escalating because Trump is our illegitimate president. Although hate crimes have increased by 800 percent since his nomination, this is nothing more than the fact that these people who hate America have come out of the shadows now that their leader watches television in the West Wing.

Millions of Americans have always displayed fear and hatred against anyone of color. Nothing has changed, and it never will until parents cease to teach their children that whites are superior to all other races and fabricate tales about imagined evils by minorities based on lies and personal prejudices.

Some good news. My generation is dying off. Younger Americans are far less bigoted and judgmental. Diversity is growing with every passing year. Soon ‘pure whites’ will be nothing more than a bad memory.

Every citizen has a choice; love your country or hate it. If you love it you support the Constitution and everything it stands for. If you do not, you are not a real American.

Please tell others about my blog and how important the truth is to our nation’s future. Thank you.

Op-ed by James Turnage

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