Are You a Spic?

I am a big fan of using images to help me replay images in my mind from when I was a child.

One of the defining moments of my life occurred at the North Drive-in Theater in Denver, Colorado  sometime when I was around seven or eight years old.  My parents and I went to the North Drive-in Thereat located in Thornton, a new northern suburb of an ever-expanding Denver

The time would have been around 1954 or so. I am not exactly sure about the year, but I remember what happened with absolute clarity.

There was a children's playground located just below the big screen.  My parents were sitting in our green 1952 Studebaker car. I went to the playground to play on the teeter-totter or merry-go-round until what-ever movie started.

I started to play with a kid my age. He was a Mexican. I figured that out. He was brown skinned. We were having fun until I asked him "Are you a Spic?"

He immediately left me. I was puzzled.  What had I said?

I grew up in a family of Rednecks from Missouri.  Baptists!  I heard the most vile words about other people out of my Mother's mouth.  My Dad didn't say those hateful words - mostly.

The current President of the United States is saying hateful things about others.  I did not know any better when I was a child. He and I are basically the same age now. Okay, he is a year older. He is supposed to be smarter. I figured out that I really hurt that little boy. I have never forgotten what I said or the impact it had on him.