what is the deal with this continuing racist behavior of whites

[Warpy]

8. Well, if they were old, cut them a little slack

I'm old enough to remember the Jim Crow south and the ingrained social racism of the north, when there were Americans and then those other people over there with brown and black skin whose families were "brought over" (the nasty euphemism) from Africa. It was like there were two separate species here, the children of former slaves and everybody else.

People who are old enough to remember that world usually focus on how much progress has been made, from apartheid to at least a grudging acceptance of black faces among neighbors and coworkers and fellow diners in restaurants, if not friends as yet. I understand them even if I'm one of the malcontents who thinks real change won't happen until faces of all colors are recognized as Americans with no qualification as to what flavor.

The real problem with such people is that they usually think they gave you that progress. They didn't. You grabbed it with your own hands. I can remember all of that, too.

So I'm old enough to see that progress has been made. I'm just not a big enough fool to think I'm the one who made it. So if I mention it, cut me a little slack. I'm old and I remember when the country was a lot meaner than it is.