In class video response

The part of the video that really struck me was towards the end. Richard Moss, the history teacher, mentioned that they didn't really talk about race back in the day. He said that it was "just the way it was." Richard provided an anecdote where he would play hoops with a black friend, and afterwords his mother would make them food, however, she would never invite his friend inside because he was black. A student had asked him if his mother was racist, to which he responded no. He didn't believe she was racist, she just was brought up in a society where no one questioned race, and it was just custom for black people not to enter the homes of whites. It made me think of how we as people tend to follow societal norms blindly just because it's "the way it is." I could tell that Richard didn't want to think of his mother as a racist, however, it is hard to justify her not ever letting a black person inside the home. He did mention she would make them both food to eat after they shot some hoops, as if to say "oh it's okay, she fed him, so she can't be racist." I speak from a place of experience in a way. My grandfather is a very old school Spanish Italian man who grew up in a big mafia neighborhood in Brooklyn in the 50s and 60s. As you can imagine, he has many views that I myself do not agree with. I have been dating my current girlfriend for over a year now, and she is of Jamaican descent, so her skin is black. Before I introduced her to my grandfather, I found myself trying to excuse his racism in a way, or to tell myself that he's not actually racist. I remember he used to work in real estate, and one of his closest coworkers/friends he would have over the house very often, was a tall black man named Wellington. There was a story he told me, where the two of them were closing a deal on a sale, and Wellington looked over to Gino (my grandfather) and said, "Never in my life would I have imagined calling a white man my friend", to which my grandpa responded, "never in my life would I have imagined calling a black man my friend."

While this seems like a heartwarming story, and while my grandfather may not be an outright racist in the sense he would actively try and discriminate against black people, he still gets angry when he sees too many black people on the television, or when Obama was president. Even though he may not actively hate blacks or go out of his way to discriminate, he still holds racist views and values which at the end of the day, defines him as a racist.