Monday, February 9, 2009

Newsflash

Racists don't like to admit that they're racist. I like using TexasFred to illustrate this point, but this post serves that purpose too and has the added benefit of being linkable. TexasFred, you know, doesn't like for me to link to him. Makes him mad, and Lord knows we don't want to make TexasFred any madder than he already is.

I suppose my own perspectives on this issue are influenced by the experiences of my mother. She was raised as a woman of privilege in the deep south and I recall conversations with her about the struggle she experienced during the civil rights movement of the 60's and early 70's as it gradually dawned on her how racist the attitudes she had grown up with were. She was mortified, but then she is a woman of rare compassion and introspection and I've always felt lucky to have learned from her.

2 comments:

Mike Thomas said...

Linking to TexasFred can be bad for one's emotional health.
It tends to produce lots of bad karma.
One of the most admirable traits of the last generation was their fortitude in getting past their racial prejudices and not passing it down to their children.
I know my parents didn't always have the most enlightened views when it came to race, but they raised me in such a way that none of the prejudices that they grew up with were passed on to me.

AnnPW said...

I read TexasFred with the same kind of morbid fascination that I imagine biologists might have for some particularly toxic strain of mold. He's really a textbook case of the middle class, angry white male whose brain has shrunk to the size and texture of a raisin from overexposure to rightwing media. They're everywhere, sadly, but then, sane people are everywhere too. They just don't always make as much noise - but, Thank God, their voices were certainly collectively heard last November!

Mike, I've known you long enough to say with some assurance that you are a testament to the fact that your parents may not have been "enlightened" but they clearly did SOMETHING right! Thanks for commenting.