IN May 2001 I combined a business trip with pleasure and rode my bike down to Louisiana. I obviously covered several states, 'Bama being one of 'em, and thought the same as many here stated, it was beautiful. Lots of very nice people, but I did get some experience with the racism.

I stopped at a small gas station on the sid of a side road and when paying for the gas, was alone in the store with the clerk (a nice African-American gentleman about the age to retire). I was just trying to make small talk with him; asking about the weather, was he busy, nice area, yadda yadda and all through the one-sided (more or less) conversation, he seemed very nervous and kinda twitchy. I found this weird and passed it off. When I got to the plant site in Geismar I was visiting, I mentioned it to a couple of guys over lunch one day. They told me he was nervous because generally, white folk don't talk to "them" and he probably figured I was going to rob him. In my ignorance of racism and prejudice I asked who "them" was and I basically got laughed at.

I found this attitude a little disturbing and said how I thought this feeling towards humans of a different race died in the '60's and early '70's. Again they laughed at me and I allowed the subject to die there, but it always stays with me.