Racist Humor Is Not Funny

The other day my oldest daughter came home and told me a racist joke... She asked me if it was funny..I think by the complete look of horror on my face she quickly realized that I found no humor in this supposed joke... I asked her if she thought it was funny.... she responded she did not but her friend told it and her other friends laughed.. She thought she was missing something and did not want to appear stupid around her friends so she thought she'd ask me...
I am so blessed and lucky that my daughter feels comfortable enough to come to me with these kind of questions instead of repeating it and hoping to get a laugh. As a child of the sixties, I grew up hearing these kind of "jokes" and as a child I accepted them because I did not know better.. Now forty years later in my naivete, I thought those kind of "jokes" were done....never to be thought of or heard again....What really gets me is that my daughter goes to a Christian school.... and she is hearing this kind of hatred....it just floors me. The kids don't come up with these "jokes" on their own...they hear them from their family... or family friends.. and I am glad I don't know which friend told this joke because I would be upset with her parents...
One of my best friends is a woman named Yolanda. Yolanda is a beautiful black woman whom I have come to love with all my heart. I asked Nikki what she thought Miss Yolanda would think of this "joke"...Nikki who also loves Yolanda....stopped and looked at me...and she quietly said, "She would hate it and it would hurt her feelings a lot."
This experience reminded me that our kids learn from us...They learn how to love, how to think things out, and they learn how to hate... This experience saddened me and I know Nikki learned a very valuable lesson...that not all jokes are funny....and unfortunately racism still exists.. even in 2009..... so sad...