Editor:

White Privilege. This is a piece of Political Correct B.S. that the blacks establishment has coined lately to escape their lack of education and ability to get and hold employment. In the history of the United States of America all new groups of immigrants have suffered a certain amount of discrimination in becoming citizens and it didn’t matter the color of your skin. The Irish who came over here in large numbers saw signs of “Help Wanted, no Irish Need Apply.” The Italians were regulated to their own section of town and were not allowed to move into better areas out of their Ghetto.

When the Great Depression hit the county and saw so many people, mainly whites, migrate to California they were all Okies no matter what state they came from and don’t think that the Farm Organizations didn’t whipsaw them back and forth and work them like dogs at the lowest wages they could get away with. That was one thing that brought on the labor union movement. If anyone has not read John Steinbeck’s “The Grapes of Wrath,” they should as it is the most vivid description of the Great Migration. The author became the most hated man in California for telling the truth and showing the power structure for what it is and how it works.

By the time my family moved there in 1941, the hard edge of the employment industry had passed but it was still hard work but the pay was better than we had it in Oklahoma. The hourly wage was .25 for stoop labor so for a nine hour work day you made $2.25 while in Oklahoma it was $1 per day so instead of eating biscuits and corn bread we were able to have sliced store brought bread on the table and we thought we were living “High on the Hog.”

When war was declared in 1941, the young able bodied men volunteered in large numbers and the Selective Act drafted men so it created a labor shortage and when school was out in June of 1942, I got my first full time job at the age of 12 years. After signing up for Social Security I had a daily wage coming in with money in my pocket. I was employed all my life including the time I spent in the Navy and there the pay wasn’t that great but the food was good and all you want of it.

Now I think there is Privilege in this county but it doesn’t have anything to do with color. Now Bill Cosby once told the black people, “Hay, quit blaming Old Whitely, get some education and take care of yourself.” Good advice from Mr. Cosby.

Bud Olinger

El Dorado Springs