Anyone born before 1970 should be given some leeway when they comment on race. Before 1970, parents and grandparents, even great grandparents expressed certain views that would be racist. Those born from 1900 until 1970 held on to the racial opinions of family and society as a whole. After 1970, race relations improved so much, that those born after that year have parents who are more open-minded than their antecedents. Those born after 1970 had parents born after pivotal events such as the mandatory desegregation, Martin Luther King's assassination, and the assassination of Malcolm X. Those born after 1970 were delivered into a new society where race was less important than being an individual.
Each generation is more accepting of those with differences. You cannot force societal changes on a group over a single generation. It takes time for changes to be made. Those born before these changes have the hardest time adjusting. Give them time to adjust. Don't use their maladjustment to retaliate against them. Yeah, I disagree with what Donald Sterling said. Yeah, I disagree with what Paula Deen said years before they came to light. Deen was born in 1947. In 1947, the US military was still largely segregated. Sterling was born in 1934. There was relatively no equality between the races.
Brown vs Board of Education wasn't until 1954. Until that time, there were two sets of school in many town across America. Still, in some states limited segregation was allowed. In McKenzie, we have a relic of those days. It is a reminder that even though President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, it wasn't until the 1960's, nearly 100 years, that a truer sense of equality was born.
Give people a little slack. After all, that's what Jesus would do.
