BEING A WHITE GUY

I am a white guy who grew up in Los Angeles decades ago.  My high school was the only one in Los Angeles to have a blend of people of color, and white students. 

However, I only came to know my first Native American person when I was 26 years old.  I had been teaching in a Fresno, California high school when I noticed all the Black students were in one classroom, separate from others.  When I discovered the principal was segregating the students, I brought it to the attention of the State. 

 I was a first year teacher, having just turned twenty-three.  Before notifying the State, each of the twenty two teachers agreed to share what they knew to the investigators.  Officials arrived.  A hearing was held, and I was terminated.  Afraid of losing their jobs, none of the twenty-two teachers spoke up at the hearing.  

 The principal remained for another 10 years.  The unresolved segregation continued.  I was still 23 years old, had one wife and two small children, and in search of a new job.
 
Of course, the termination was a blessing.  Not only did I find a job, I became aware that some people will stand up for others, and some are not ready to.  I was hired to "counsel" Native Americans and coordinate a government sponsored project to allegedly train young native people (Indians) to be welders and electricians. 

 I had never known a Native person except in movies.  I had believed that "Indians" were all the things that "white people" were not.  Soon, I discovered the meaning and practice of the word Sacred.  Soon, I discovered the meaning of Relationship and family.  It was Linda Worldturner, a Lakota Sioux 18-year-old young woman who told me, "everything in life is about relationship."  

My life changed.  For three years, I learned to transcend all my learned beliefs about Native people and culture, and instead found "home."  I soon became an advocate, among the all-white staff, for the 200 students from many tribes around the country. 
 
That advocacy role was a natural one.  I knew my time at this project was limited, yet 
the job and income was secondary to advocate for fairness and justice.  No choice. 

By this time, I realized that my work in the world was to find ways to bring people together, to see the third side to things, and to practice seeing, not only through my own eyes, but the eyes of others as well.