All the Way to the Bone

Paula Deen is from Georgia. It is said that she sometimes says racist things. Try to imagine that!

I suspect that most of us have said racist things. I say, "suspect" because I cannot absolutely prove that most of us do. There may be someone, somewhere, as pure as the notion of God who has never had a racist thought. If so, that same person may be blind, and never have heard the rest of us talk.

I do not know enough to explain why racism is so common. I do know enough to understand that it is ignorant, and stupid, and perverse. It is everywhere, and every once in a while, I hear myself say something that is smeared with racism, and I cringe.

I do not know whether Paula Deen really believes that white people are better or worse than black or brown people. She ought to know better, because it is ignorant, and stupid, and perverse to assign a value to people because of their skin color, or the color of their eyes, or whether they have ancestors from Africa, or Asia, or Georgia.

I do know that it is late enough in human history to turn to anyone who talks like Paula Deen, or most of us, now and then, and say, "Lay off that stupid stuff!"

Beauty may be only skin deep, but ignorance goes all the way to the bone.

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