My name is Bishop William B. Caractor. I was born in Manhattan, New York in 1948. I was given to my grandmother
to be reared on a farm in Edgefield, South Carolina. Those years were the roughest years that any child would
have to endure. During my childhood, there was a law called Jim Crow (Separate but equal). Black men and
women, no matter how much money they had, what social status or occupation, they were classified as niggers.
Schools were segregated, black students were placed in non-regent classes because they were considered not
college material. Most families lived on the white plantation master's land, and was subject to eviction, rapes, and
any course of action that the taskmaster felt was appropriate.
Later in life, due to Civil Rights legislation, things began to change. The white taskmaster can no longer keep
children of school age in the cotton fields, corn fields, potato fields, etc., because of these laws. Black people no
longer had to go to the back door of restaurants, got to separate water fountains, nor say "Yes Sir," or "No Sir," to
any white person half their age.
Due to Affirmative Action, people of color began to soar in the realm of politics, education, law enforcement,
psychology, and military life. Housing was one of the things that people of color had a problem obtaining, and
today, housing has separated this country. Take for example, Garden City, New York. I came home from fighting in
Vietnam, and was jogging when a white police officer pulled up beside me and asked me a question. "What are you
doing in this town?" I told him that I was jogging, and he told me, "Find somewhere else to jog." The Department of
Social Services really was in Garden City, New York, behind Bloomingdale's, yet it was given a Mineola address,
picture that.
To say that there is equality in this country is only well wishing, and to think that there will ever be a change in this
country, that will get global attention is well wishing. I am now 61 years old, and still a victim of racism. Racism is
shown even in our cemeteries, where we bury our loved ones. Racism shows up every Sunday morning in our
churches, and to think that it will ever change is to well wish. Racism shows up in our court system. No longer do
they dress people in stripes, but they dress them in injustices. No longer do we have to go to the back door, but we
must be careful as to which door we enter in today's times, and to say things have changed is to well wish.
The KKK that was prevalent in the 50s, 60s, and 70s, is prevalent today. Only now, they have the police
department to infiltrate and take out their white racism out on people of color. To think things have changed is to
well wish.
President Obama had not been in the office three months before they classified him. The highest office in the land
has to be brought down to the thoughts and ideas of racism. To think that that will change is well wishing.
This is just a few paragraphs to put you to thinking.