To this was often added the more familiar premise that most blacks were not as hardworking or law-abiding as whites. What these subnarratives shared, I felt, was the absence of historical context. It was as if the people I came to know strongly disavowed any unitary premise that fit my initial definition of racism. But given that, they adopted smaller narratives that hung free, the one from the other: one man was incensed by black athletes who knelt for the pledge but had no special feelings for the Confederate flag. Another complained about a friend’s son who was passed over for a place in
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