Bret Booher

A journal entry:

I am the white guy, or at least the token white guy. I mean, Lee gets to be Jewish and Chris gets to be Vegan while I'm just the white guy. Not that Jewish and Vegan really equate in any way other than both are not the average WASP American white guy traits. I dunno, and I'm the most conservative white guy in the group. IS that why people want to hear what I have to say? Not because of how I think but of what I represent? It's sad that I have to think in these terms, that I have to recognize the politics of race but then I am the white guy. When we talk in class it is the white guy who is the bad guy. What does it say that I have to ignore the fact I just get along with most of the black people in the class better than the whites? I mean twice in Chicago I went out with people and I was the only white person. And even though I was just wanting to hang out with friends I still had to recognize the situation for what it was. The white guy was the minority. Why can't I just be hanging out with friends?

I have connections to Southside through my family and was surprised when this project came up. Both my dad and my uncle were afraid the project would be revisionist history. And although what the newspapers said about the incidents was mainly a white voice, I don't think it was THE white voice. A lot of people weren't heard, black and whites. I hope we can succeed in showing the complexity of the issues and realize a broader perspective than what we normally see.