THE MIND OF A RACIST

Chris Rock is quoted: "There's a new app that lets you know if your friends are racist--it's called Facebook."

I have said that the only good thing about the Trump ascendancy is the fact that the racists and bigots have come out of the woodwork.  I am shocked daily by the examples of  bigotry, racism, sexism, and homophobia I receive from people on Facebook.  In the past I would answer all of them, but now I just DELETE the comments.  Gerald says I should "UNFRIEND" them but I told him I want to see what they are really like and I quoted Oliver Wendell Holmes.:  "The mind of the bigot is like the pupil of the eye;  the more light you pour on it, the more it will contract."  However, I actually don't want them to contract;  I want them to be exposed.  One thing I think we can count on:  these bigots are so vainglorious that their being exposed does not matter, just as it doesn't seem to matter to Mr. Trump, and they will continue exposing themselves.

The following is an article I wrote in 2010 for Sue's News.  It is titled:

                     YOU NEVER KNOW WHO YOU ARE TALKING TO

My employer was married to a woman whose mother was Japanese and there were several Asian women employed by the Company.

One day at work a sales representative came to give a demonstration of an "improved" version of a product which we used. Two of the women who were working at the equipment where the demonstration was conducted were Asian.  After the demonstration, as we were walking away, the sales representative made a repugnant remark about the sexual proclivities of Asian women. My boss saw that I was ready to respond and he motioned for me to leave. I walked away from the site greatly angered, not only because one of of my sisters-in-law is Korean, but also because of the women who worked for me who were Asian. I waited as I saw my boss bid him goodbye. My boss called me to his office and motioned for me to sit down. He calmly picked up the telephone and called the sales representative's superior and told him that we would not be ordering material from them ever again. I could tell from the conversation that the other person was asking for an explanation, but he gave no reason or explanation, just a simple cancellation of the contract.

I was shocked and asked why he hadn't told the man WHY we were declining the material. He answered, "I want that S.O.B. to keep making those kinds of mistakes and for him to explain to his boss WHY he lost the contract." I asked, "Did you tell the sales rep why?" He answered, "Yeah, I told the M-F'er that he was talking about MY daughter and that you never know who you're talking to!" I am sure that I would have told the sales rep's boss the reason, but perhaps my boss' actions were more effective.

However, "You never know who you're talking to" became a defining moment in my life because I knew that I, myself, had been guilty of untoward remarks.