Penny for Her Thoughts: Where, Oh Where? Part 1 [of 3]

To an Alternative Reality?

By Penelope Griffiths

I’ve only lived in the USA for three years, but I visited this country multiple times after the 1980s. The shortest visit was just for five days but most of my visits were for from three weeks to the full permitted twelve weeks.
    I’ve travelled east to west, north to south, taking in the sights and sounds from city to mountain to rural and back again. From the beginning, as much as I love the US, I have always felt the undercurrent of racism and homophobia in varying degrees, wherever I went.

    After returning to the United Kingdom, back in Blighty, I never experienced those feelings. For all the UK’s faults, racism and homophobia are not huge issues. Less racism could be because there was never slavery of Africans on those shores – despite the fact that many slave dealers were Brits. And homophobia had been a part of life there, for both peasants and Royalty alike, for centuries already – a benefit of living an ancient country?
    As a kid in the Swinging Sixties – you know, that era of free love, Woodstock, Isle of Wight, etc. – for me to hear that there was segregation in the US was mind-blowing. Surely this couldn’t be true? The “greatest” nation in the World separated people because of the colour of their skin? Who were these Americans? Why would they do that? On the one hand suppressing Black Americans, and on the other applauding them for their singing or their athleticism? All very confusing to a kid.
    Now, we knew what apartheid was as it was happening in South Africa. White South Africans were fighting for their lands (rightly or wrongly), and that was abhorrently expected, because South Africa was a “young nation.” But the US? Plus, the UK and Europe set sanctions for trade, sports, etc., in order to hold them accountable. And eventually – though it took decades – apartheid ended. The US voted with the UN in the 1960s to sanction South Africa, but only to stop armament trading (surprise surprise!), with no other real sanctions. But how could the US do otherwise when they were still practicing Jim Crow?

On one hand, the US holds itself up to be devout. Yet when I was a teenager, the “porn industry’” shifted from Germany to the United States, as well as nudie magazines – Playboy, Penthouse, Hustler, etc. – whilst they banned the word “bitch” or “damn” in films, on tv, etc. Very contradictory indeed.
    As a young kid, our favourite game was Cowboys and Indians, with the “heathen” Indians being the baddies. It wasn’t until the movie Soldier Blue came out (in 1970) that I realised the genocide that had actually been carried out in the US, and started to read up on the subject.
    Now, don’t get me wrong. The British have a whole load of black marks against them. As the British Empire spread across the globe, it ousted indigenous tribes or exploited them for its own gains. India, for example, was ruled by the British and, whilst they could have changed India’s disgusting caste system, they chose to support it because it suited their needs, in effect keeping the poor poor forever and disabling them from rising no matter how hard they work. Shame will forever be on Britain for its crimes. But the United States is on a whole different level altogether.
    The “gay” scene in the UK was a much gentler affair than the scene in the US. Homosexuals were called “poofters” or “nonces” or “Nancy boys.” We all knew who was “gay,” but we usually didn’t bother them, especially if they were the town’s hairdresser. There of course were people (men) who, for whatever reason, would attack a gay man, but it wasn’t a frequent occurrence. After all, it was illegal in the UK to be in a same-sex relationship, so people did not draw attention to themselves. Even if they had been beaten up, they wouldn’t report it for fear of retribution. The situation changed as the years went by, and in the late ’70s “gayness” burst out loud and proudly. I am amused at the interest in other persons’ “sexual preferences”; I’m not interested in your bedroom antics – they’re strictly your own business.

I moved to the US just after the 45th POTUS came into office. Well, I have felt like I’m living in an alternative reality – as though I am in a movie like The Truman Show, but that fact hasn’t been revealed yet. That Trump was POTUS was in itself amazing; this several-times bankrupted, orange, reality “star” was POTUS?
    Well, why not? Americans has already had a B-movie star in charge (Reagan), so I suppose Trump was a natural progression. Right from the beginning, he was outrageous in what he said. One thing you can’t deny: he never hid his racist, homophobic, misogynistic, lying self. But what was – and still is – astonishing to me (and to the rest of the world) is that many Americans supported – nay, exulted in – his disgusting rants.
    WTF was going on? How would this end? Four long years’ worth of heinous speeches and despicable actions might even roll into eight! What was happening?
    Then, in the fourth (the next election) year, Covid-19 happened.
But I’m jumping ahead of myself. Let’s go back [in Part 2, on March 19] to what led up to my moving to the US.

Copyright © 2021 by Penelope Griffiths