Twice in the past month, I’ve heard outright racial slurs used in casual conversation.  Both times, these verbal bombs were dropped by upper middle-class women in their late 40’s.  Both times I just stood there speechless as they kept on talking as though nothing offensive had been said.  They weren’t spoken out of the side of the mouth and volume wasn’t dropped to suggest a, I shouldn’t really be saying this, but… sort of thing.  They were just said.   You’re gonna have to trust me when I say that these weren’t common expressions that I chose to interpret literally and find a racial slant to them.  They were blunt and outright and the sort of thing that brought my attention to a screeching halt while I thought, did she say what I thought she said?  Yes, indeed she did, was the conclusion.

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Recently I stumbled upon a parenting debate about whether or not parents would take their children to “Gay Day” at Disney World. Although “Gay Day” isn’t an officially sponsored event, it is an organized one. In case you’re not familiar with it, one day out of the year gay couples, with or without children, go to Disney World to experience the park as the majority.

What caught my eye was the following comment on pregnancy.org:

So now you understand why there is a need for “gay day”…’cause every other day is “hetero day” at Disney World (and everywhere else), and it’s tough to have everything catered to another group’s interests. Doesn’t feel so good when you don’t see your family and your own family values widely represented, does it?

That statement seemed so ridiculous to me. Why does anyone’s and everyone’s interests have to be widely represented anyway? My question has nothing to do with whether or not I “agree” with the “gay lifestyle”. I couldn’t care less about that.

For some reason, this reminds me of the times when I’ve been in the minority. At one of my past jobs, I went looking for a daycare for my older son who was about 3 years old at the time. Lucky for me, there was a Montessori across the street. How convenient was that? So, I made an appointment to take a tour and given that the company was located smack dab in the middle of “Korean Town”, all the children and staff were Korean. I’m not exaggerating. There was not one other ethnicity represented besides Korean.

I kept an open mind looking at Korean lesson plans on the teacher’s desks and when I received an awkward outsider reception from the Administrator. As convenient as it might have been, I decided against sending him there. I didn’t want my son to feel like the odd kid out if I didn’t have to. I also saw no reason to submerge into a culture at 3 years old that he would likely not appreciate or understand. Granted, kids are resilient and he would have adapted, and probably learned some interesting differences, but I would have preferred a more diverse group. It had nothing to do with hate or racism or prejudice, but of cultural comfort. That is why a Korean Montessori exists to begin with — in order to find that comfort and simpatico and preserve a unique culture.

My point being, the commenters accusing those who don’t want to go to “Gay Day” as hateful and ignorant, aren’t they contradicting themselves when they point out that gay couples don’t want to have to always conform to the interests of straight people and the majority?

Human nature dictates that people like to be around people like them, even those who are the most accepting and tolerant people in the world.

I have to wonder if the people accusing others of being hateful have made a point to live in an area outside their own race and common interests? I’m sure the answer is no.

In a shocking leap into the 20th century, Turner County High School in Ashburn, Georgia just held its first integrated prom. Previously, despite the school itself being integrated, white students raised funds to hold their own private party prompting black students to do the same. This was the first year that senior class officers moved to hold one official prom and invite all students. The decision comes on the heel of the school abandoning the crowning of separate black and white homecoming queens last fall.

No, this isn’t some “this day in 1950s history” post, this just happened over the past weekend. I know in my neck of the woods, Chicago certainly still deals with the issues of race and segregation, but my god I must live in a bubble because I am shocked that this kind of blatant racism still exists in this day and age. Of course I realize there are plenty of individual racist pricks out there, I’m not completely naive, but to think an entire county would condone this is almost incomprehensible to me. The county’s school superintendent was quoted by the AP as saying, “I couldn’t be more proud of these young people. The changes needed to come from the student body.” Because it seems it sure won’t be driven by their parents or the school administration.

While this is certainly forward progress for this backwater town, it apparently is just a baby step. Only two-thirds of the upper class attended the prom, the majority being the black students. A number of white students still threw their own private party a week earlier.