General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: So... how did YOU become a racist? [View all]jwirr
(39,215 posts)they do not like and asked us to think about who we did not associate with when we living in our home areas. I was going to say NO ONE until I thought about it.
I came from an almost totally white area of Iowa so it was hard to answer that question. But using the definition for bigotry it was easier. Most of our communities were divided into ethnic groups/religious groups depending on immigration patterns in the past. My great grandparents had been involved in the KKK but not against racial groups instead we hated the Catholics and they hated us. In my school class one of the boys talked about how the Catholics joined the KKK to fight the Protestants and I talked about how my family did for the exact opposite reasons. Our families both had the white robes to prove it.
In the 70s there was no more KKK but we still lived in groups who strongly disagreed on religion - even to the point of not encouraging intermarrying. I had to admit I was no more innocent than anyone else in that class room.