OLD SOLDIER DESCRIBES INJUSTICE ON THE PLANTATION

I believe the stories told by others have an effect on the present situation people live in. The black man approached me and began a tale that kept me spell bound and intrigued for over an hour. His story connected the old struggles of non-whites on the DCF Plantation for respect and jobs. Power brokers started an agency in Hartford named The Department of Children and Youth Services in 1969 and blacks, the old soldier recounted, could not get jobs. "A white hiearchy did not want us to have those jobs. I applied for a job at Long Lane  [now called Connecticut Juvenile Training School ] and was denied. Eventually we secured jobs at Long Lane as Diagnostic Secure Treatment Unit personel [in 1970s]-where the youth were locked up." As the man continued it became clear to me his plight in the 1970s and 80s continues today in 2013, as a legacy of white supremacy, within a new DCF Plantation type structure. At the old Long Lane this racism stood out, white supervisors used certain blacks to enforce apartheid. "Cornell the racism then did not hide, it manifested itself in a raw form." Certainly today the story within DCF Plantation or CJTS is different: policies and procedures are the fulcrum used to keep non-whites "in their place". Management also have become sophisticated in using certain blacks and whites as control agents; this tactic is in full swing not only at CJTS but the entire plantation. A link from the plantation's past connected me to our struggle in 2013: the past is prologue and relevant in a struggle such as this.The old soldier then pulled up a pants leg to show scars from dog bites from years ago. "Cornell, years ago as a boy in Birmingham Alabama, I marched with Martin Luther King. Those cops turned on the water hoses and let dogs go on us [as children] we fought them [racists] then. It is necessary to fight now." He looked at a watch then smiled. "Well this story is over; hope you keep fighting for equality on the DCF Plantation like I did. Watch your back."