Civic Participation and Community Action Sourcebook

Section Three

Prejudice in a Small Town

by Douglas Griffith

One of my employees and I were working in a New England town installing vinyl siding. It was a very warm spring day, the type of day on which you drink a lot of water and complain about the heat. After we had finished the job, we stopped to have an ice cream cone.

We pulled into the ice cream shop and noticed it was a little busy. The people in line included a black woman and her young daughter, who looked to be about eight or nine. As I got in line to get our ice cream cones, I noticed how friendly the man serving the ice cream was to his customers. He would serve the ice cream and then take their money.

When it came time for the black woman to order, the man serving the ice cream asked her very rudely what she wanted. She told him, and he asked her for the money, before he would fix the ice cream cone. She paid him, and he then gave her the cone. It was the little girl’s turn next, and he had the same attitude with her. He harshly demanded the money and then gave her the ice cream. I could see the hurt and disappointment in the little girl’s eyes. The man never said “thank you” to them even though he had done so to the white people he had served.

When it was my turn, I approached the window. He asked in a very friendly manner what he could get for me. I told him what I wanted, but I also explained to him that I thought he had been quite rude to the black woman and her child. He did not seem to care.

After saying goodbye to my friend, I got back into my vehicle and drove down the main street of Lancaster, hoping to find the woman and her daughter. I spotted them walking on the sidewalk, and I pulled my vehicle over, got out, and approached them. I introduced myself, and she did the same. I expressed my disappointment in the way she and her daughter had been rudely treated at the ice cream shop and explained that I didn’t think this was characteristic of how other people in town would behave. She told me that he had been like that before, and she thanked me for stopping. But I can’t forget the look in that little girl’s eyes. I could only picture how I would feel if that had been one of my own children.

As a child, I experienced discrimination, and I know the effect it can have. I can remember when I was in the sixth grade at a Catholic grammar school. One of my fellow students nominated me for a class officer position. After he had nominated me, the nun spoke up and said, “This is an important position, and I think you should be careful whom you nominate,” leaving the impression that because of the neighborhood I came from, I was not capable of handling that position. My name was removed from the list of nominees. That was over forty-five years ago, and I still remember the hurt I felt.

I guess that’s why I felt I needed to speak up and show my concern. What happened at the ice cream shop may seem like a minor incident to some people, but through the eyes of the young girl, it may not have been so minor. It brings me back to what happened to me as a child.

Douglas Griffith was a student at Second Start in Concord, NH in the spring of 1998. He obtained his GED in June, 1998 and graduated with his wife and grown children all in attendance. He was encouraged to get his GED by his daughter.

Reprinted with permission from The Change Agent, Issue 8, February 1999 and the author.

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