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By Patrick Alther Rappahannock News Contributing Witer
(An open letter to Steve E. Ralls,) Mr. Ralls, I salute your courage in writing your letter of July 23. Your account of your experience at Rappahannock County High School, as a member of an unpopular minority, and one who realized he was somehow “different” from the rest was very thought provoking. I would like to share something of my own experience as a student at Rappahannock High in the 1960s.
Back then, in the civil rights movement era, the object of bigotry was the African-American. In my senior year, there was one girl who attended for a while, and later dropped out.
Years later, I read in the Rappahannock News of how she could not stand the hostility and harassment she faced. I did not see any of these events (but I have no reason to believe that they did not occur). What I did see was the silence directed toward her, the ostracism.
Maybe once I heard another white student speak to her. There were the racist comments about her, but as much as anything, no one wanted to be seen as the one who wanted to make friends, or reach out to this “outsider.”
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