FORT KNOX, Ky. — Two major decisions made by Joe Colson Jr.’s father following traumatic events during his young childhood significantly shaped the course of his life.
According to the Fort Knox Safety Officer, his father Joe Colson Sr.’s decisions, though made within a few years of each other, have left a lasting legacy on the whole family; a legacy grounded in love.
“This is important; this is my life,” said Colson recently. “This is how we grew up. Everything I have learned was based on the culture I had in my family.”
The Fort Knox Safety Office director said he was born in Bridgeton, New Jersey in 1962 during a time when interracial marriage was illegal in the United States. That changed in 1967 when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Loving vs. Virginia that the 14th Amendment prohibits the government from denying marriage based on race.
In September of that same year, Colson’s mother was murdered.
In February 1969, Colson and his older brother Wayne welcomed a new member into the family: Evelyn Meghan. Like Colson’s father, his mother was Black; however, his father’s new wife was white.
That didn’t matter to his father or the boys.
“All the habits you gain through life start when you’re a little child. As you grow up, you start forming your own opinions about life,” said Colson. “As I grew up in my family, we never saw color. We never really knew my stepmother was white. I probably had one person in my family who ever said anything, and the only thing that person said was, ‘You have a new mother now; she just happens to be white, but you have to listen to her if you want to be successful.’
“I listened, and it took me places.”
Colson said his stepmother had a Catholic upbringing that she often looked to when raising the children.
“Because she went to a Catholic school in Deptford, New Jersey, what she learned was instilled in me. There was no racism; none whatsoever — no Black this, white that,” Colson said. “You only get that from people on the outside looking in. You got that when you see a white lady walking with two Black kids at that time.”
Colson said while there were those who over the years made comments about their interracial family, those comments were nonexistent at home.
“All we knew was that people are people; we all sat at the table together, ate the same food and wore the clothes that she washed,” said Colson. “Father worked and believed that we must understand the value of money. She instilled education in me, making education one of the highlights of my life. It’s really important to learn as much as you can possibly learn and share it.”
The second big decision Colson’s father made, shortly afterward, was moving the family away from their home. The house was situated across the street from Burlington Manor: low-rent subsidized housing that locals referred to as “Burlington Murder.”
After Colson’s stepmother gave birth to Kim, the first of four children by the couple, Joe Sr. decided the family needed to find a safer location for the children to grow up in. They found a country house in Fairton, about five miles south of Bridgeton.
The small neighborhood had everything a young boy could want — land on which to roam around and several other children to share in the experiences.
“I lived in a really serene environment,” said Colson. “Being in that environment, it was very different. When I say ‘different,’ in the neighborhood I grew up in there was one beautiful white family on the end, several families that were Black, and my family that was interracial. Everyone got along extremely well.”
Colson said neighbors looked out for each other, and there was an abundance of wildlife to chase. When not working construction jobs, his father’s favorite pastime was fishing. He also learned important traits from both of his parents. His father’s big lesson was honesty.
“He was the money man. Honesty was very important to him,” said Colson. “He taught us that if you want to be successful, you have to be honest.”
As a 15-year-old, Colson would hop the bus in Bridgeton on his own and take it to Hamilton, where he worked the blueberry and vegetable fields for an honest day’s wage: “Pops would kick our butts back then if we weren’t honest and truthful.”
Colson’s father and stepmother supported him when he joined the Army in November 1981 and attended basic training at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri.
“That was probably the best thing I ever did in my life,” he said.
A lot has changed in the Colson family since 1969. A lot has changed for them as well regarding society’s view of interracial relationships.
“It was very, very different back then,” Colson said. “Wherever you went, people would look at you strange like, ‘Why are these Black kids with this white lady?’ We used to get the frowns, and snarls and stuff that we don’t get today. Today, it’s natural.”
Colson’s siblings still live in New Jersey and both his parents have passed away. The lessons they taught their six children have remained embedded and are being instilled in the next generation of Colsons.
“As I look back over my life, everything was positive,” said Colson. “I look at my 25 years in the military. I look at how I have worked with people; how I receive people and talk with them. Everything is based off of my childhood, how I was raised.
“Being raised in a family of different backgrounds and colors, I’ve learned that when we are all put together in love, it works.”
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