Wow, man. Just wow. It's awful that her family went through that sort of upheaval over it but I'm glad that she and her family could rebound. You clearly didn't take the racist outside pressure lying down.

Oh man, swim-team was always the most racially divided thing in my town. We actually had a black pool and a white pool. The black kids all swam in a city-owned pool in a sort of notorious city park while the white kids (They would also never be caught dead in that park.) swam at a country-club pool out in the sticks.…

That's such a cool story, right? I love this guy taking his shirt off and playing pool like he lives there. The 70's was definitely a different time.

But you have to love Chicago, right? Nearly half of my family lives there and I spent a lot of my childhood summers in Chicago so I'm sort of romantic about it. At the same time, I recognize how awfully redlined and physically segregated it is, and has been for a very long time. Someone asked me earlier if I thought…

Thank you for the book suggestion! I live near a few "sundown towns" and have known people that have grew up in them. I actually nearly took a Public Defender position in one of the most famous Sundown Towns, Harrison AR, a few months back. Though, even in my short lifespan, I've even seen some of that change. I'm…

That's really interesting. As with all "conventional wisdom", the saying can be true and something that contradicts it can be true.

Oh no, don't feel guilty! Please don't! If I've learned anything it's that we are subject to forces far greater than ourselves and completely outside of our control. Had you been able to choose, you clearly wouldn't have lived that way. Breaking away from this before you were capable of taking care of yourself could…

I understand that. A lot of my friends, once they got from under their parents, sort of forced them to recognize diversity? I was fortunate enough to have a mother that was a black radical. Every time I would complain she would say: "Boy, I dated a white man for 10 years in the 70's." That usually ended every…

Yeah, he's upset. And probably a bit crazy. But I'm also sure he's seen his fair share of Alabama segregation.

There's a lot of talk about black men representing a sort of animalistic-yet-superior sexuality. I think James Baldwin's "Going to Meet The Man" is the most famous. It's something I definitely still hear. My fiance' routinely tells me about her friends who will corner her and ask if "being with a black guy is…

Bentonville? How'd you like it? The northwest corridor of Arkansas is pretty culturally specific. The rest of the state looks nothing like it. The neighboring city of Fayetteville is one of the most progressive places you'll ever go to (I believe they have the longest gay pride festival in the country and the city…

Traditionally, the large northern metro areas rank higher in dissimilarity indexes. Alabama appears twice in the top ten, but other than that the south is not represented. Although, the south does take up a good portion of the 11-25 ranking. But that's more analytical analysis.

He's not necessarily wrong though?

Ouch.

Goddamn Giannis-being-good-at-soccer truther.

How are his hands bigger than the mascots puppet hands? I don't even know how to understand this.

When the individual comment is about a racist joke that is routinely directed toward black people, yeah, minority experience is valuable in interpreting that. Restating it like you did is a mischaracterization at best.

We finally agree on something! Just having an opinion doesn't make something a fact. Which, if you didn't have a profound disrespect for non-white people, would mean that our opinions would be on the same level (but clearly that didn't happen because you know more about the minority experience than I do lol). So just…

Oh, and thanks for admitting to the race binary.

I don't believe him just like I don't believe you. You continue to prop up the same tired, race-based arguments (connotation isn't derived from some sort of personal knowledge of the person using a phrase) while also trying to tell people how they should interpret, feel, or understand something they are completely…