An elderly black man was interviewed by the very popular “People of East Texas” Facebook page. The interviewer admits that he (or she) never asked the elderly man about “Black Lives Matter” or about race. They simply asked him, “If you could give a group of 10,000 people a piece of advice, what would you tell them?” He responded with, “Stop fighting”. And when the interviewer asked the elderly East Texas man to elaborate, here’s what he had to say:

“I don’t get all this ‘Black Lives Matter’ – ‘Blue Lives Matter’ divide. I been around here since ’57 and I never been to jail. All I see now are these young-in’s running around getting shot because they think they can do whatever they want. That’s not how it works, but you can’t tell them that. I know what real racism looks like and I haven’t seen the likes of that ugly face in years. What needs to happen is unity. Respect your fellow man and 99% of the time, they’ll respect you back no matter what you look like. I’m living proof of that.”

(Tyler, Texas)

Here is the first response to his statement from a white, male, East Texas resident:

And all of the comments are from white people… I guess his life doesn’t matter to the blm.

The same Facebook user, without having any knowledge about who was behind the East Texas Facebook page, accused the post of coming from a  bigoted and racist East Texas city:

This could be true. And the city that posted this is one of the most racist and bigoted cities I’ve seen so I could understand that

Another white, male, Facebook user attempted to support the views of the first Facebook poster, calling the elderly gentleman’s comments a “catchy line” and suggesting that racism is a “constant factor in their lives”.:

Ignore the hundreds of thousands who say racism is a constant factor on their lives and latch on to a handful that have a catchy line. Seems the logical way to handle it.

The “People of East Texas” Facebook administrator quickly jumped into the comment section to explain exactly how the interview question was asked of the elderly gentleman:

To clarify, the city of Tyler did not post this. I am an individual. BLM was not brought up in the conversation at all from the interviewer standpoint. The question I asked was, “If you could give a group of 10,000 people a piece of advice, what would you tell them?” He responded with, “Stop fighting” and then I asked him to elaborate in a very non-leading fashion as I normally do.

With that being said, If I were to come across anyone that felt very strongly in one direction or the other, I would have no problem posting their comments as they state them. Everyone gets a chance. This just happened to be what he wanted to talk about.

Another Facebook user congratulated the “People of East Texas” on how they responded to the hateful and negative comments:

This Facebook user responded directly to the person who made the first two comments with the best comment ever that included: “Hatred is where you look for it, and so is love and understanding.”

Not to argue, but I am from Southern California, have family all over the deep South, and have lived and traveled all over this country. I have lived here for most of my life (moved here in 76) and respectfully disagree. Hatred is where you look for it, and so is love and understanding. I love East Texas and am proud to call it home. Be blessed.

And finally, an 81-year-old man on the Facebook thread claims he grew up in the area, and shared a story about his own personal experience that refutes the ugly charge made by the first commenters, that East Texas is a “racist” city:

I’m 81 years old and grew up not too far from Tyler.Our neighbors just down the road were some of our best friends.I ate from their table if I happened to be there at noon and Alma called us for dinner.Sol was a WWI survivor and had lost both legs.If he needed a ride someplace Dad gave him one.I rode to town with Sol on his wagon many times.At killing time we shared Hogs or beef and many other types of food.Black and white lives mattered back then and the blues were all respected.

Bravo, to this elderly man for bravely speaking the truth and for not wanting to follow the popular crowd who, after 8 years of living under the most divisive first family in America’s history, feels it’s their obligation to promote racism, hate and division.

Peace…