‘I don’t believe he had ever seen a black man until he came to the United States,’ said Mother. ‘He was a product of his time and his environment.’
It certainly doesn’t make any negative actions any better, but I do agree that there is a very very little leeway given regarding how people of different races viewed each other in the past, as they grew up in a world where unfortunately that was just how it was.
My Dad was born in rural NZ in a farming community in the 1930’s & he used to make racist jokes etc when I was a kid, & I remember on more than one occasion telling him off for it.
But I give him credit, he came around to understanding that being that type of person was no longer how society should be & he changed.
& just for irony, my first boyfriend was Māori & damn he was good looking, even looking back at photos I still think ‘yum!’ ;)
