Читать книгу Racing Toward Recovery. The Extraordinary Story of Alaska Musher Mike Williams Sr. онлайн

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I was able to dance between the two races. I was able to be accepted by the white side and I was accepted on the dark side, the black side. I think about that time a lot. I also had a Polish friend and we talked about it a lot. I would say he was a real Polish guy and not a white guy. We would discuss this thing about whites and blacks not socializing. I said, “You’re a Pole, not a white guy, even though your skin is white. I am an Alaska Native. I’m not a white guy or a black guy. Let’s try something.”

Since I was accepted by the black guys we decided to go over to a group of black guys and see what happened if we tried to mix. I told my friend, “You’re a strong Polish person and let’s try to convince them that you’re not white, that you’re a Pole.” He agreed to see what would happen.

We walked into this black bar and we saw a table and took it. All of these black folks were looking at us and staring at my Polish friend. We just sat down and nobody said anything, but they were looking. After a little while I was served a beer, but they would not serve him. After another little while a couple of black guys came over and said, “Hey, what are you doing in our place? You don’t see any white guys here. This is a black establishment.”