50 Years Ago

As do so many, I recall events of 50 years ago this month. I was attending Wilson High in Long Beach, but was in Lubbock, Texas, on business with my family. One Sunday afternoon I went to the downtown Lindsay theater to see a new movie, “The Wizard of Oz.” Whites sat at the front of the theater, blacks sat in a balcony.

The picture was so universal in appeal that I thought we should all see it together; I moved into the segregated balcony, expecting a reprimand--but no one cared or noticed. Leaving, I went down “Q” street and stopped at the Texas-New Mexico-Oklahoma bus depot with its two drinking fountains, one marked “white” and the other “colored.”

I was in Lubbock again last month. The Lindsay theater is closed and for sale, and the once bustling downtown stores are virtually non-existent; shoppers go the malls. The T-NM-O depot still has its two drinking fountains, but anyone can drink from either. As I strolled down “Q” street, an interracial couple smiled and spoke to me.

SPENCER CRUMP

Corona del Mar