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GALESBURG Fred Britton Jr. received a warning from his father one day in the fall of 2005.

His father, Fred Britton Sr., had worked 32 years for the Galesburg Street Department and countless hours maintaining his house and yard. But by the time he called his son that day, he was using a walker after spending the past 14 years on dialysis. His health was failing, and he had a message to give his his eldest son while he was still able.

He called me to come over to his house and said I need to talk to you., recalls Britton Jr. As soon as he called, I said Im on my way. And I went.

He said, I need you to pay attention. Im not going to be here to see this, but the worlds about to go through a change, Britton Jr. remembers his father saying.

Minorities have been in the pressure cooker all our lives, Britton Sr. explained to his son. The white people are gonna start going through what were going through and they wont be able to handle it.

Britton Jr. said his dad was referring to white people losing their jobs in a changing economy.

Theres going to be a shift, he said. Youre gonna start seeing Blacks speak up.

Theres gonna be certain people who arent going to be able to deal with that, Britton Sr. told his son. Innocent people are going to lose their lives over skin color.

Britton Jr. said his dad wanted him to relay the message to his two younger brothers, Clay and Jon.

He was always like that. He was going to give you that wisdom for life.

Britton Jr. believes hes witnessed his fathers premonition come to pass.

Warnings became realized

Some seven years after Fred Brittons message to his son, Black teenager Trayvon Martin, who was walking in Sanford, Florida, was shot fatally by Neighborhood Watch volunteer George Zimmerman. One month after the shooting, rallies took place in cities across the country protesting the killing and the police departments handling of the case. Black people were speaking out.

Travyon Martin was a kid, Britton Jr. said. The police told him (Zimmerman) to stand down and he pulled a gun out on him (Trayvon).

On July 13, 2013, Zimmerman, charged with second degree murder, was acquitted. That verdict helped spur the Black Lives Matter movement. According to Pew Research Group, the first use of Black Lives Matter in a Twitter hashtag was used July 13, 2013. By March 2016, the hashtag had been used 11.8 million times as use of force by police became a national topic in light of the death of African-Americans Eric Garner in New York City and Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri.

Browns death had a local connection as Knox College womens basketball player Ariyana Smith on Nov. 28, 2014, protested his death at the hands of a Ferguson Police officer. As the Star Spangled Banner played prior to Knoxs game at Fontebonne University in Clayton, Missouri, about 12 miles from Ferguson, Smith left her team and stood beneath the flag with with a raised fist. She knelt and then collapsed on the gym floor until the song was finished.

The Black community is frustrated, Britton Jr. said. When is this going to end?

The Black Lives Matter movement continued to grow, according to Pew. The hashtag blacklivesmatter was used an average of 3.7 million times per day in the week that followed the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota, May 25. Videos emerged showing Floyd dying in police custody as a police officer applied pressure to Floyds neck with his knee for 8 minutes and 15 seconds.

The killing caused nationwide protests.

Theres more people speaking up, and I thank God for that, Britton Jr. said.

He said his father prepared him for lifes ugliness. He told me it was going to be like this.

Britton Jr. said he was not shaken by President Trumps response Tuesday night when he was asked to condemn white supremacists during the presidential debate.

Proud Boys, stand back and stand by, Trump eventually said.

Proud Boys, according to the USA Today, is a far-right group with a history of violent confrontations. While the group says it is not a white supremacist group, the Southern Poverty Law Center has designated Proud Boys as a hate group.

I wasnt surprised, Britton Jr. said. I wasnt surprised at all.

Britton said Trump was basically saying: If I dont get what I want, Im going to light this fuse and you gonna see hell.

Was Britton angry?

Its hard to be angry about these things when you come to expect it, he said.

When you have a leader who doesnt speak on certain issues, such as police brutality against minorities, you empower white supremacists, Britton said.

On May 1, 2006, months after making his prediction to his son, Fred Britton Sr. died.

When he told me, I didnt tell a lot of people, Britton Jr. said. People werent in the mindset to deal with it. Now I talk about it all the time.

Learning his fathers rules

Britton Jr., 59, says his father helped prepare him for the world.

Youre as good as anyone, Britton Sr. told his son, but its going to be a lot harder with this Black skin.

Wearing a T-shirt that said Only God can judge me, Britton Jr. sat on his back deck Sept. 24 talking about his father and growing up in Galesburg.

He was attending Cooke School on the south side of Galesburg when the Galesburg School District started busing students. Britton Jr. and some of his neighborhood friends found themselves at Lincoln for middle school.

In Galesburg, all the busing was on the south end, he said. Half the bus to Lincoln, half to Gale (school). My first year I was the only Black student in the 4th grade.

It was a big culture shock. Im going to an area where Black people didnt go.

He remembers asking his mother, Why are they staring at us? It was the adults who were staring, remembers Britton Jr. Kids dont see color.

It was a great experience, he said but there was tension.

My father had us so prepared about how to conduct ourselves.

Britton Sr. advised his sons to keep your eyes and ears open when youre around (white people).

Also, he warned them them to be careful about who they were with.

Theres always going to be trials and tribulations in life, he told them. Be careful about who you surround yourself with.

He always taught us youre going to have to be 10 times better (than white people).

And Britton Sr. told his sons they must work hard.

By the time Britton Jr. was nearing high school graduation, he was working at a food service job at Cottage Hospital. Since then hes nearly always had a job including a stint in the Army. For the past 25 years he has worked as a food dietitian at Henry Hill Correctional Center in Galesburg.

He says his mother, Louise, and his father provided stability.

My dad was at the head of that dinner table every day. Every day. Not everybody has that structure, he said.

Britton Jr. believes many young people dont have that person at home who can prepare them for life.

I can look at certain people and tell if theyve had a structure to help them survive. Someone had to teach you how to be productive and how to adapt.

Britton Jr. has tried to impart his fathers lessons to his son, Jaylen, and daughter, Asia.

"I told my kids, I want you to see the real world.

Theyre grown and have moved away: Asia to Springfield, Illinois, and Jaylen to Springfield, Missouri. He and his wife, Christine, divorced, and Britton Jr. is engaged to Grace Loveless.

Pulled over by a state trooper

The real world still means watching what you say and how you say it.

At 6 p.m. one night in January, Britton Jr. was driving from Galesburg to Good Hope to buy some tables. His fiances father, David Parker, was along to help load them in Britton Jr.s Honda Ridgeline.

As they were traveling south on U.S. Route 67 they passed an Illinois State Police car in the median. Britton Jr. said he was driving right at 65 mph, yet the state trooper pulled him over.

Britton Jr. knew to keep his hands visible, his license and insurance ready. He also slipped off the hoody sweatshirt he was wearing.

Britton Jr. noticed the officer shining a flashlight at the rear license plate as he walked to the drivers window.

The officer told him the letter B designating the license plate for a Class B vehicle was not visible on Britton Jr.s back plate. Road salt had eroded the letter Briton Jr. later discovered. He checked with local the drivers facility to find its fairly common occurrence for truck plates.

Because it was dark, Britton Jr. wondered whether the B would have been visible from the median anyway.

The trooper asked Britton Jr. where he was going. Then he asked where he was coming from.

I said, Henry Hill.

He said, I dont know where thats at.

How would a state trooper not know about the prison? Britton Jr. wondered. The state police are the law enforcement that respond to incidents at the prison.

I dont want to antagonize this man, explains Britton Jr.

The officer asked for Britton Jr.s drivers license and proof of insurance.

Then the officer asked for his prison ID.

Im sitting there in my uniform (from Henry Hill) with a badge. Im a state worker, Britton Jr. says, exasperated, as he tells the story.

I dont think he would ask anyone else that question.

Then the officer asked for Parkers identification.

I was worried about whether I would get maced, shot or drugs put in the vehicle, Britton Jr. said.

However, Britton Jr. was eventually allowed to go on his way.

Britton Jr. said his vehicle had the kind of sporty rims that a lot of gangbangers and drug dealers use. That could have been the reason he was pulled over. He thinks maybe the officer profiled him and thought he was transporting drugs.

I dont do anything illegal, he said.

But Britton Jr. knew not to question the trooper.

I was prepared. I know how to deescalate the situation. How you talk to people will change things. Theres a certain game you have to play in order to survive.

Not saying all police are bad. Not all are good. You better respect that position of authority or youre going to have some drama, he said.

To someday fly the flag

Britton Jr. takes pride in keeping his yard neat along Fremont Street. Its another thing he picked up from his father.

In Brittons backyard he has installed a decorative bell on a pole and an old fashioned water pump with handle. But, as he points out, he doesnt fly the American flag.

What the flag stands for is a beautiful thing, he said. But I dont feel 100% American. America hasnt been very patriotic to all groups of people.

I pray to God one day Ill be able to have one (an American flag), when everybody is treated equally.

Does Britton Jr. think that will happen in his lifetime?

He says he had never expected to see a Black president in his lifetime and that happened in 2008 and 2012 with Barack Obama.

If I live long enough I think I have a chance to see that (equality) now. The world is changing.

Theyre knocking down slavery statues, he said, mentioning the Stephen Douglas statue that was removed last week from the Illinois Capitol grounds because Douglas had owned slaves.

Beyond that, he says more and more people are of mixed race and that aspect alone will continue erode the racism of the past.

You never know whos going to be entering your family.

An equal world would look like heaven, Britton Jr. says.

Heaven is not segregated.

Love is going to win out in the long run.

Original post:
Fred Britton Jr. says his ailing father warned him in 2005 about racial strife we are seeing now - Monmouth Daily Review Atlas