Saturday, March 18, 2006

Revised Tribute to Harold Fred Groothuis, My Father

On November 21, 2005 (the day of my father's death in 1968), I posted a short essay in tribute to Harold Groothuis. I sent this to my mother, who alerted me to a few small errors of fact. So, I have revised this essay somewhat. It can be found on this blog at November 21, 2005.

Last week in a class I responded to a few of my students who held that all whites were part of "the oppressive class" against minorities. I harked back to Dad, who, while both white and male, was an advocate for the manual laborers in Alaska, many of whom were Native Americans, African Americans, and Hispanics. He was no part or member of an oppressive class. He was an individual who fought (and ultimately died) for the working man (of every race). I am proud of him for that.

2 comments:

Ted M. Gossard said...

Dr. Groothuis, I can identify with you in some ways here. Though my dad is still alive. I appreciated reading your tribute to your father. Surely much is improved today because of people like your father who fought injustices of the past.

Douglas Groothuis, Ph.D. said...

Ted: Thank you very much.

Dad even had an Alaskan native sleep in our extra bedroom one night to insure that he would get out to work the next day. The man had a drinking problem, and might have gotten a hangover otherwise.