Posted by TexasChic on January 20, 2006, at 20:48:11
In reply to Re: Can't we all just get along? » ClearSkies, posted by Dinah on January 20, 2006, at 17:00:18
On Thanksgiving I saw my 19 year old cousin who I used to babysit along with her 2 brothers. She's dating a black guy and confided how upset she was that she couldn't bring him to celebrate X-mas with her Dad because her Grandfather was so incredibly prejudice. I told her that at one time people were raised to think that way, like it was the most normal thing in the world. It doesn't make it right of course, but it can help in understanding them.
I told her that her Mom was raised in an age that promoted it, but less so than her grandparents generation. I said she's proof that what is taught can be untaught. She may show slight discomfort - it takes awhile to get stuff like that completely out of your head. But she supports her daughter completely and obviously sees that she can't hang on to old attitudes if she's to be a good mother. I told her that says ALOT about the kind of person her mother is. She agreed.
I also told her that I see a trend, the younger generations seem to be less and less prejudice. In my generation, I still see some prejudice out there. We remember the 70's, that although less blatant, still had a strong undercurrent of prejudice. But in working with 25-28 year olds, I've realized they seem to have a completely different perspective. All they know is from the 80's on when everything suddenly had to be 'PC'.
I told her that her generation seems to only vaguely understand it, and by the time she has children, they will be removed from it even more. They might not even know it except as an old belief like the world is flat. Of course, it will still be taught by parents who won't let it die out, but kids can be strongly influenced by society.
She seemed happy that an 'older' person like myself had absolutely no problem with her having a black boyfriend. I told her when it it comes to men I don't discriminate, a cute guy is a cute guy. She agreed.
-T
poster:TexasChic
thread:600165
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20060115/msgs/601285.html