expatinscotland - in England the signs used to say
No blacks
No Irish
No dogs
Seems unbelievable now, but there is still an undercurrent, isn't there?
The older generation who wouldn't dream of thinking that they were racist. I had it with my own father...
DS1 going to his friend Mohammed after school: dad asked 'But what will they give him for tea'
'Err... fish fingers, probably!'
My dad used to tease us with 'Last one upstairs is a nig nog!'
'Eeny, meeny, miney, mo...'
Was really pissed off when a Parsi family moved next door... 'Never thought we'd have Pakis living here'.
But he would've died if someone had called him racist.
Because, of course, when he took someone on at work he'd hire the best person - not caring about race. His dentist was Indian and he loved him to bits... alll those things.
I accepted it as normal as a child, but as an adult I've really struggled to come to terms with it.