I still luv butter and I still luv Paula Deen

Okay.....this might be a train wreck post.....but man.....all I can say is that Paula Deen told the truth....companies are dropping her like flies....and she could have lied but she told the truth.  And I for one...still have much luv for her.  FACT! I have never considered myself to be a Racist but realize that I am 52 years old and times have changed soooooooooooo much since I was a kid...but guess what?  I changed with them.
My niece Heather asked me today..."What did Gramma and Papa teach you?"( because I do have a lot of people who are a different color than me group of folks that come into the store and only want to deal with me and they have been doing that for years. ) And I don't think I was really taught anything about this except to look at the  situation and to move on past that and try to make a change.
I live in Bakersfield California....I live on the outskirts called "Oildale"....where there seriously as legend goes....used to be a sign on the bridge as you were crossing over that said something like "N" don't let the sun set on your butt...there are still groups here of "white supreme-ists" (sorry don't quite know how to spell that one even with a spell check.)  But finally in this day and age...Oildale is not a segregated area.
When I worked at the post office in the late 70's my best friend and confidante ....was "Rodger Dodger"...black as the ace of spades...and I even bowled on a bowling league with him back then called "The Black People's League" yep there were a few token white people on that league...but can you .. imagine for a minute... even at that time era if someone had started a bowling league called "The White People's League"....???????? Major Drama I would think.
Rodger used to come over to my house about twice a month and visit....and he would seriously actually "duck" every time a car drove by if we were standing out in the front yard...kind of as a joke....but it was real to me....and imagine my sadness and dismay a few years later when he was actually killed at a very young age in a drive-by shooting gangster style in his own neighborhood... where he was an innocent victim....in front of his home ?  My best friend was an innocent victim of violence. And violence does occur in every color of the rainbow.....it is what it is.

My hubby grew up on "the South Side" and has more friends that aren't exactly white..and the neighborhood that he grew up in as predominately "black" is now typically "brown" and to me....it's a bit  ironic about how many of the people still living there in that neighborhood  are hatin' on the brown town (that today they are suddenly in the middle of)

All I can say is that today  most of my customers in my day job seem to like me..they trust me... and I myself  am not a saint....yep..years ago I probably used the "N" word...the same way I used the "FAG" word..the "Retard" word etc.etc. It may have been in a joking manner..or a wrong manner..but yep....I did it and am not ashamed to admit it. Thank GAWD I won't have all of these companies no longer endorsing my products because of this :)

At the same time..today one of my long time customers brought in his Mother -in-law who just moved back to Bako.... they brought with them  the cutest little girl I had seen all day....I was talking to her....she was ignoring me like she was afraid to answer or talk to me and customer says "It's not just you....she ignores everyone even me when she is in one of her moods"..and I told her.."Come on girl...can't a silly old cracker like me at least get a hug?"...And at the end of it all....we became girlfriends :)

I know that there are indeed a lot of people out there who are still racist and (maybe we all have a bit of that instilled in us if we truly look inside.... )  but this is how I think....
In today's age..I would not look at certain people and call them the "N" word...but if it is truly an offense..(I think it is in my world at least) ---- In my opinion STOP! STILL using  that word with each other and think it is "okay" to use that word and keep using it. STOP!
I myself did not put anyone on a boat and ship them off to America to become slaves.   That wasn't me.  And I think this might be why so many people in this country get so upset about being "blamed" for what our ancestors have done.  And continue to keep on "hating " certain groups of people.
At the same time....many many of these people who tend to fall back on that "race card" are probably not aware that many many "crackers" view corporate America in the same way that they do.  We feel they are not on our team or our side....we feel that the "lobbyists" and the people with money control the country and the government and that "they" are against "us". We feel like we are getting "taxed" and "hosed" every time we turn around or bend over.

In my opinion and the reason I chose to post this post that may be unpopular with some---ThisTOPIC  has no "issue" or "color" story.  I come from a family of  "melting pot Americans"..we are all mixed something.  And once we get past that and stop trying to blame someone else for what happened all of those years ago....we might be able to overcome the fact that we all are a beautiful rainbow.

And I only wish that the person I will go to my grave "knowing" as my best friend "Rodger Dodger"..was still here to hold my hand and tell me that "no matter what happens...we can get thru this together"