I met Arthur Duncan when I was a kid :-)

My girl cousin took tap lessons at Arthur Duncan Dance Studios; I say & #39;girl& #39; cousin because my tough-as-nails longshoreman dad wouldn& #39;t let me take the class even though I wanted to, but it was & #39;sissy& #39; and & #39;only for girls.& #39;

<thread> https://twitter.com/terrikayoliver/status/1278848801772638212">https://twitter.com/terrikayo...

My mom and aunt would go to her recitals and I& #39;d came along, at least to watch. Dad didn& #39;t like that either, but mom won that argument.

Several times Mr. Duncan was there, and at a big dance-off they held one year, which he hosted.

I remember how nice he was to us kids.

Given that my dad was racist, it may be a part of him not allowing me in the class. He was actually the 1st black man I met in life, and given dad& #39;s conditioning of me, I was surprised that he was so nice. Mom told me later, "Of course he is, he& #39;s a man like you will be someday."

Mom was always trying to undo dad& #39;s programming of me, but meeting Arthur Duncan showed me first-hand that black people could be every bit as nice as white people, and TBH I liked him more than I liked my own dad. I was about 7-8 years old. Dad passed when I was 16.

I just did a search and discovered that Mr. Duncan has a protected Twitter account, he& #39;s about 86 years-old today. I hope @duncanmuc sees this thread and accepts my thanks for showing me that black people can be awesome after all, despite what dad said.