(October 10, 2016 at 1:40 pm)Rhythm Wrote:(October 10, 2016 at 1:20 pm)KevinM1 Wrote: So, I guess I can say I'm not a racist (at least, I don't think I am), but I can't claim to have black friends to prove it.
I've often wondered why racists think that having black friends -could- prove they weren;t racists. My grandfather is as racist a person as anyone here has ever met, probably quite a bit more racist than anyone some of you are ever likely to meet.
-and yet, for 30 years, his constant fishing companion.....has been an elderly black man who calls him boss with a less-than-subtle contempting treble in his voice. The irony, is that this man is one of my grandfathers remaining, living, friends...and looks set to outlive his other equally racist, white, friend hands down. Sometime, in the not too distant future, they will be the sole survivors of their peers, just the two of them (both racist as hell), sitting in a little 8 foot john boat for 15+ hours a day, everyday....until they both finally just give up and die of sunstroke.
Parse that shit, lol.
Yeah, my dad was as racist as the day was long, and yet had his minority buddies, of all stripes, over for beer and barbecue often enough. Funny thing -- when my sis told him she was marrying a black man, he refused to give her away at her wedding; said duty I was happy to perform. The issue cemented my mom's insistent rejection of his racism in my mind, because to me he was rejecting the only other person who'd came out of the same womb as I had.
Odd how it works out, how racists separate things in their own minds, and then unwittingly pass on lessons they never intended to impart. Closest thing to karma I can think of, y'know?
