May 15, 2025 • 9 mins
In this powerful follow-up to “What They Didn’t Teach Us,” Anthony Reeves reflects on the unique experience of being raised as a Generation X child in a newly desegregated America. Guided by Baby Boomer parents who grew up in the thick of segregation, Gen X kids were thrust into a world of new laws but old attitudes.
This episode explores the community-based parenting tools passed down from the Civil Rights era, the unspoken rules that protected us, and the critical role of the Black church as a cultural anchor. A must-listen for anyone seeking to understand the transition from overt to covert racism—and how a generation learned to survive it.
🎧 Listen and follow for more untold stories about race, resilience, and generational transformation.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/in-the-know-with-tony-reeves--5596987/support.
This episode explores the community-based parenting tools passed down from the Civil Rights era, the unspoken rules that protected us, and the critical role of the Black church as a cultural anchor. A must-listen for anyone seeking to understand the transition from overt to covert racism—and how a generation learned to survive it.
🎧 Listen and follow for more untold stories about race, resilience, and generational transformation.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/in-the-know-with-tony-reeves--5596987/support.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
If you were born between nineteen sixty five and nineteen eighty, welcome.
You are a part of Generation X. As you've probably
noticed in a couple of videos, I've talked about what
life after Jim Crow was like, and I want you
to understand that even being raised in that area, in
that environment is very different. So with that, let's talk
about today about what it was like growing up and
(00:21):
surviving and being raised after Jim Crow. The purposes of
(00:44):
Jim Crow most people point to. Nineteen seventy is effectively
the dividing line between when old historic Jim Crow actually
ended and when we moved into this new desegregated, integrated society.
In part, a lot of that had to do with
the fact that the famous Civil Rights Act of sixty four,
the Civil Rights Act of sixty four, Voting Rights Acts
of sixty five, and the Fair Housing Act of sixty eight.
(01:05):
By this time, a lot of schools had already started
desegregating in response to Brown Be Bored. But imagine a
situation where you've come up from a specific standpoint, where
you've grown up in a segregated society where there were
very clear rules about where you could and couldn't go
in dangers that you had to be acutely aware of
to now a desegregated environment where a lot of those
(01:28):
things are not as overt, but there are still some
challenges and dangers that you need to raise your child
to be prepared for that may not be readily visible.
So this was the unique challenge that a lot of
parents who were raising kids, especially black generation ex kids
in the South, had to face and reckon with. It's
(01:49):
also important to remember that the Black churches was also
a community hub. Now, let's just be clear, most of
us are fully aware of the fact that the role
of the Black church, especially during the Civil rights these
were places where we organized, These were places where they
were safe havens. These were places where they would rally
individuals from marches post Jim Crow. It also takes on
(02:10):
an added importance it's a community hub as well. So
what ended up happening was the church took on a
greater significance in terms of not only being a place
of worship and a place of faith and all the
other civil liberties and civil rights things that they did,
it also became a place where it was a community hub,
especially for young people. So that we can maneuver within
(02:31):
each other's communities in a manner that made us feel safe.
Most of us have heard the phrase it takes a village,
but I don't know if you really appreciate the impact
of what that statement means in a particular context. For me,
growing up as Generation X, it meant three things. One,
(02:55):
any adult within your circle could discipline you. If they
knew your family and they knew your people, they could
discipline you if you did something wrong. Two, they could
call you out. In other words, if they saw something
that you weren't supposed to do, they could put the
wills in motion to notify the powers that be that
you were up to no good. And number three, they
(03:18):
had the right to tell your parents. Now, for most
of us who went through that experience, we probably don't
have fond memories of that time, but in retrospect, it
was a powerful reminder of a few things that we
didn't really take consideration. It let us know that there
were people around who were watching out for our safety.
They were there to make sure that we did not
(03:38):
do anything that put ourselves in harm's way, and they
were there to serve as a surrogate to correct any
behavior that they believed was inappropriate because they were operating
on behalf of our family. It also let us know
that we were not just merely going to have to
worry about one individual. It's one thing if you worry
about your mom or your dad. There's another thing when
you have to worry about every adult that you interact with.
(04:00):
They possibly could step in and take a particular course
of action to correct whatever thing that you're doing. Remember,
one of the things that we often don't take in
consideration is that coming out of Jim Crow that there
was still not clearly defined areas in terms of knowing
where the safe places were and where the places weren't
(04:21):
safe in terms of where they were previously. But the
reality is is that there were still people who still
had hostilities from Jim Crow, and they carried them into
this new period of time. So for us who were
a member Generation X who had never experienced these unlike
our parents who had dealt with this on a regular basis,
the adults took an extra measure to ensure that they
(04:42):
kept us on the straight and narrow so that we
would never do anything that would put ourselves in harm's
way or do anything that would result in being a
justification to put us in harm's way. If you grew
up in the same town as your parents and ended
up going through school in the same town as your parents,
(05:04):
I'm going to tell you about a phenomenon that is
probably familiar with you. I know your people. That was
a phenomenon that I, as well as many of my
classmates experience. At every juncture of our educational experience, you
almost invariably were going to run into an adult, meaning
a teacher, who was going to look at you, look
(05:24):
at your name, look at your facial expressions, and then
play the I Know your people game where they are
just determined to figure out who they know. That was
an important thing. It meant a free flowing amount of intel.
So that means each particular point you had someone who
not only knew your people, but they also did not
(05:46):
have to wait on your people to come and contact them.
They could contact them directly. That was the nature of
what it meant to say, I know your people. All
those people calling you out, they were calling you out
to let you know that there was an infrastructure available
around you who were going to keep an eye on
you to make sure you were safe. Part of the
(06:11):
reason why I'm having these discussions and having this series
about this is because a lot of times we've talked
about history with relations to the Baby Boomers and everything
that they've done, and then we've kind of jumped over
Generation X to go to the Millennials and Gen z
Ers and Gen Alphas, mainly because the younger generation now
have such access to technology and different things, and they're
(06:32):
living in this new world order in a manner where
they have a fully realized desegregated, integrated society. However, there
had to be a generation that had to undergo through
that transitional period of time. Yes, there were quite a
few Baby Boomers who had the opportunity to experience the
transition from Jim Crow into this desegregated society. There was
(06:52):
a generation of us that still had to go through
and maneuver through a particular environment in a manner. And
our parents who grew up in that tumultuous, traumatizing rough
period of the Gym Crow period as well as the
liberation of civil rights and so forth, they had to
figure out how they were going to maneuver their children
in such a way so that they can protect them
(07:13):
against this new world that neither they or their children
had ever experienced. And so what they did is they
relied on a lot of the same tools that they
utilized during their upbringing to allow for an opportunity to
protect us during hours. But I know these aren't all
of them. I bet you probably have some unspoken rules
too about what it was like growing up at Generation X,
Like Generation X that could be in your area of
(07:36):
the country or in the South, take a moment, please
come in. Let me know. I love to hear about them.
And more importantly, if there's a one topic about it
that I've missed that you're like, Hey, you did to
talk about this? Let people know about this one was
like Generation X, let me know, be more than happy
to address it. Thank you very much for taking the
(07:57):
time for tuning in. As always, take the opportunity share
with me if you have any other unspoken rules about
what it was like being black Generation X growing up
in your nick of the woods. This is part of
my series not only acknowledging Generation X. I can't speak
to any other ethnicities experiences, whether it be Asian, Native, Indigenous,
or even white. I'm sharing it from my standpoint being
(08:20):
a member of black Generation X, and for those of
you who are like, where were you born? I said
in nineteen sixty nine, So I'm one of the older generation. X.
I want to make sure that people realize that this
was a time. But yes, we celebrate all the great
things that happened, whether it be the MTV, the beets,
the pH ones, all of the awesome things that came
around with it. But there was also a period of
time where we were going through history in real time,
(08:43):
and we were the gateway bridge between the millennials who
were truly entrenched in the desegregated society, and then the
Baby boomers who experienced a lot of the trauma and
went through all the fighting to create opportunities that we
could benefit from. As always, I'm Tony Reeves. Thank you
for tuning in, look forward to but hey, make sure
you like, make sure you share, make sure you subscribe.
(09:05):
Take care
If you were born between nineteen sixty five and nineteen eighty, welcome.
You are a part of Generation X. As you've probably
noticed in a couple of videos, I've talked about what
life after Jim Crow was like, and I want you
to understand that even being raised in that area, in
that environment is very different. So with that, let's talk
about today about what it was like growing up and
(00:21):
surviving and being raised after Jim Crow. The purposes of
(00:44):
Jim Crow most people point to. Nineteen seventy is effectively
the dividing line between when old historic Jim Crow actually
ended and when we moved into this new desegregated, integrated society.
In part, a lot of that had to do with
the fact that the famous Civil Rights Act of sixty four,
the Civil Rights Act of sixty four, Voting Rights Acts
of sixty five, and the Fair Housing Act of sixty eight.
(01:05):
By this time, a lot of schools had already started
desegregating in response to Brown Be Bored. But imagine a
situation where you've come up from a specific standpoint, where
you've grown up in a segregated society where there were
very clear rules about where you could and couldn't go
in dangers that you had to be acutely aware of
to now a desegregated environment where a lot of those
(01:28):
things are not as overt, but there are still some
challenges and dangers that you need to raise your child
to be prepared for that may not be readily visible.
So this was the unique challenge that a lot of
parents who were raising kids, especially black generation ex kids
in the South, had to face and reckon with. It's
(01:49):
also important to remember that the Black churches was also
a community hub. Now, let's just be clear, most of
us are fully aware of the fact that the role
of the Black church, especially during the Civil rights these
were places where we organized, These were places where they
were safe havens. These were places where they would rally
individuals from marches post Jim Crow. It also takes on
(02:10):
an added importance it's a community hub as well. So
what ended up happening was the church took on a
greater significance in terms of not only being a place
of worship and a place of faith and all the
other civil liberties and civil rights things that they did,
it also became a place where it was a community hub,
especially for young people. So that we can maneuver within
(02:31):
each other's communities in a manner that made us feel safe.
Most of us have heard the phrase it takes a village,
but I don't know if you really appreciate the impact
of what that statement means in a particular context. For me,
growing up as Generation X, it meant three things. One,
(02:55):
any adult within your circle could discipline you. If they
knew your family and they knew your people, they could
discipline you if you did something wrong. Two, they could
call you out. In other words, if they saw something
that you weren't supposed to do, they could put the
wills in motion to notify the powers that be that
you were up to no good. And number three, they
(03:18):
had the right to tell your parents. Now, for most
of us who went through that experience, we probably don't
have fond memories of that time, but in retrospect, it
was a powerful reminder of a few things that we
didn't really take consideration. It let us know that there
were people around who were watching out for our safety.
They were there to make sure that we did not
(03:38):
do anything that put ourselves in harm's way, and they
were there to serve as a surrogate to correct any
behavior that they believed was inappropriate because they were operating
on behalf of our family. It also let us know
that we were not just merely going to have to
worry about one individual. It's one thing if you worry
about your mom or your dad. There's another thing when
you have to worry about every adult that you interact with.
(04:00):
They possibly could step in and take a particular course
of action to correct whatever thing that you're doing. Remember,
one of the things that we often don't take in
consideration is that coming out of Jim Crow that there
was still not clearly defined areas in terms of knowing
where the safe places were and where the places weren't
(04:21):
safe in terms of where they were previously. But the
reality is is that there were still people who still
had hostilities from Jim Crow, and they carried them into
this new period of time. So for us who were
a member Generation X who had never experienced these unlike
our parents who had dealt with this on a regular basis,
the adults took an extra measure to ensure that they
(04:42):
kept us on the straight and narrow so that we
would never do anything that would put ourselves in harm's
way or do anything that would result in being a
justification to put us in harm's way. If you grew
up in the same town as your parents and ended
up going through school in the same town as your parents,
(05:04):
I'm going to tell you about a phenomenon that is
probably familiar with you. I know your people. That was
a phenomenon that I, as well as many of my
classmates experience. At every juncture of our educational experience, you
almost invariably were going to run into an adult, meaning
a teacher, who was going to look at you, look
(05:24):
at your name, look at your facial expressions, and then
play the I Know your people game where they are
just determined to figure out who they know. That was
an important thing. It meant a free flowing amount of intel.
So that means each particular point you had someone who
not only knew your people, but they also did not
(05:46):
have to wait on your people to come and contact them.
They could contact them directly. That was the nature of
what it meant to say, I know your people. All
those people calling you out, they were calling you out
to let you know that there was an infrastructure available
around you who were going to keep an eye on
you to make sure you were safe. Part of the
(06:11):
reason why I'm having these discussions and having this series
about this is because a lot of times we've talked
about history with relations to the Baby Boomers and everything
that they've done, and then we've kind of jumped over
Generation X to go to the Millennials and Gen z
Ers and Gen Alphas, mainly because the younger generation now
have such access to technology and different things, and they're
(06:32):
living in this new world order in a manner where
they have a fully realized desegregated, integrated society. However, there
had to be a generation that had to undergo through
that transitional period of time. Yes, there were quite a
few Baby Boomers who had the opportunity to experience the
transition from Jim Crow into this desegregated society. There was
(06:52):
a generation of us that still had to go through
and maneuver through a particular environment in a manner. And
our parents who grew up in that tumultuous, traumatizing rough
period of the Gym Crow period as well as the
liberation of civil rights and so forth, they had to
figure out how they were going to maneuver their children
in such a way so that they can protect them
(07:13):
against this new world that neither they or their children
had ever experienced. And so what they did is they
relied on a lot of the same tools that they
utilized during their upbringing to allow for an opportunity to
protect us during hours. But I know these aren't all
of them. I bet you probably have some unspoken rules
too about what it was like growing up at Generation X,
Like Generation X that could be in your area of
(07:36):
the country or in the South, take a moment, please
come in. Let me know. I love to hear about them.
And more importantly, if there's a one topic about it
that I've missed that you're like, Hey, you did to
talk about this? Let people know about this one was
like Generation X, let me know, be more than happy
to address it. Thank you very much for taking the
(07:57):
time for tuning in. As always, take the opportunity share
with me if you have any other unspoken rules about
what it was like being black Generation X growing up
in your nick of the woods. This is part of
my series not only acknowledging Generation X. I can't speak
to any other ethnicities experiences, whether it be Asian, Native, Indigenous,
or even white. I'm sharing it from my standpoint being
(08:20):
a member of black Generation X, and for those of
you who are like, where were you born? I said
in nineteen sixty nine, So I'm one of the older generation. X.
I want to make sure that people realize that this
was a time. But yes, we celebrate all the great
things that happened, whether it be the MTV, the beets,
the pH ones, all of the awesome things that came
around with it. But there was also a period of
time where we were going through history in real time,
(08:43):
and we were the gateway bridge between the millennials who
were truly entrenched in the desegregated society, and then the
Baby boomers who experienced a lot of the trauma and
went through all the fighting to create opportunities that we
could benefit from. As always, I'm Tony Reeves. Thank you
for tuning in, look forward to but hey, make sure
you like, make sure you share, make sure you subscribe.
(09:05):
Take care
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