How often have I heard or seen this phrase, "I want my country back," used over the years since I was born in 1956, in Raleigh, North Carolina? I can't give you a precise number, but I can tell you that, though I've seen liberals employ these words on occasion over the nearly six decades of my life, most of the time it has been the mantra of white male conservatives. Indeed, many self-identified "Tea Party" members have repeatedly used this term as their personal call to arms.
What do they mean when they say that? To which supposed golden age of America do they want to return? Who can say what is in the hearts of such people? But I have some ideas based on my experiences over the years.
As a child born in the middle of the Fifties in the South, I knew at an early age that some people were considered inferior to me. The signs were all around - literally. I remember once, when I was three or four, a white woman stopped me as I approached a drinking fountain, thirsty after being dragged around on a hot summer day by my mother on one of her shopping trips to Raleigh's downtown. The woman, politely, but sternly, took hold of my arm, and told me I couldn't use that fountain because it was for "colored people." A fountain not much different than this one:
My memory is a little vague after that, but I do recall talking with my mother about it later. She must have been embarrassed, for she had a hard time explaining why there were different water fountains for people based on the color of their skin. It didn't make much sense to me as a child, and I imagine she had difficulty understanding how to explain the concept of racism to her incessantly curious little boy.
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