Quote:
Originally Posted by DeltaBetaBaby
Calling a man "N_ Jim", even with his permission, is racist.
As for Ms. Deen, when asked if she used the N-word, she replied "of course".
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And by today's standards, in Enid, Oklahoma, everyone was racist. That was the culture. And if you're not from here, maybe you wouldn't understand, but "of course" is the only truthful answer anyone who grew up in the South in that era or even South-adjacent would say. It was very much like the movie, The Help My father, for a lot of his childhood, grew up in a similarly ostracized manner. His mother was courageous enough to get a divorce from his alcoholic, physically abusive father, and she was not accepted in polite society until she remarried (and she did pretty well in that department).
My father's step father was from Alabama, and was directly related to Gen. Joseph E. Johnston of the Confederate Army. They went on a tour of the Deep South during the 1960s, which included a trip to the old Plantation. At that time, the Plantation was up and running, they had black employees who resided in the former slave barracks who were compensated with company scrip, only redeemable at the company store, and for all intents and purposes, they remained slaves. The owner of this Plantation was the grandson of the General. He was an elderly man in a wheelchair who had a confederate flag blanket in his lap. He lectured them about the wrongs of the Civil Rights movement and whatever else you might imagine would be perfectly horrible to say.
People are a product of their times and cultures. Was it wrong by today's standards? No question. Are folks who are a product of their time and culture redeemable? Why not?