Casual prejudice

or how some people don't mind tossing the 'n' word around (among other words) even in front of strangers. on some occasions people will be DYING to use the 'n' word, yet because they are a bit wary of who they are speaking to, chose another in it's place - but you still GET THEIR DRIFT. yes, this STILL goes on in america but mr harris, it goes on in britain as well. no one is without their prejudices. it is shocking though, how deeply some of these beliefs lay. i'm NOT just talking about black vs white either. it's racial, it's social, it's sexual, it's economic........
it's IGNORANCE and FEAR OF THE UNKNOWN


Guess who's coming to dinner?

In the first of his weekly dispatches from New York, Paul Harris reveals how casual racism among the white middle classes is still rife in parts of the United States Thursday April 20, 2006
Lizzie was charming and fun in the way only old ladies from the Deep South can be. Her voice was not so much tinged by a lilting accent as positively laden with it. She was 80 years old and as full of life as someone a quarter of her age. She was funny and warm, kind and intelligent. She had studied political science at college and then travelled the world. She was deeply Republican but her opinions could surprise. On the hot button conservative issue of the day - abortion - she was keenly pro-choice, loudly declaring that she could not stand it when men told women what to do. 'And it is ALWAYS men who talk about abortion,' she said with a glint in her eye. 'Well, it's none of their damned business.' She was, in short, the perfect dinner guest.
Until she started talking about 'the niggers'. And 'how lazy' they were. It is hard to underestimate the shock value of the N word in American polite society. Or impolite society come to that. There is nothing so offensive. To hear Lizzie - especially someone as seemingly sweet and fun as Lizzie - use the word openly was a gobsmacking experience. It also raised some fairly unexpected questions when it comes to table manners. How do you react? Especially as she was a neighbour invited to a family dinner party. Cowardice won the day. Nervous glances were exchanged. The subject was changed.
But Lizzie did, inadvertently, reveal some truths about the American experience that are too often glossed over. White people - especially intelligent and educated white people - calmly describing their fellow American citizens as niggers is too often portrayed as a thing of the past. Or of ignorant red necks. That all ended in the 1960s, the official version goes. Martin Luther King and JFK put a stop to it. The truth is far different. Things have changed hugely since the 1960s but that period of time is not yet history.
For the really scary thing about Lizzie talking about 'niggers' was not that she had those opinions. It was that she clearly was unaware voicing them would be shocking. It was a useful reminder of how close some 'history' really is. There are people alive today who have been involved in lynching black Americans or those working for their civil rights..........