Despite the following story,
My grandmother is one of the loveliest people around and hasn't got a bad bone in her body. She worked as a district nurse and made it her life's work to help every single person she met, regardless of race, religion, or lifestyle.
That's not to say she doesn't have a few opinions that are indicative of her era.
My cousin is skinny as a rake and so the juxtaposition of his new girlfriend, a rather large black girl made for a humorous looking couple. My grandma was always pleasant to her, invited her round for Christmas and generally made her feel as welcome as anyone else. However it was clear that she had some apprehension about the relationship, as is not uncommon for someone her age.
I finally managed to discuss the reasons behind this with her and was both saddened and cheered in equal measure by her response.
It transpired that while she herself had no qualms about race, she believed that any children they had would have been prejudiced against due to the colour of their skin, and didn't want any of her descendants to be victimised.
Obviously my first reaction to this was one of complete shock but I then realised that I was only shocked because, to me and, it seems, to my generation, race has never been an issue. I have since I was young known people of all races and never batted an eyelid. I know racism still exists but the fact that when asked about the issue, every black friend I had said that they had never experienced racism either showed me that hopefully my Grandma's worries are dying out.

I'm well aware that racism is still an issue. Proper, hateful prejudice is still around. However, the only form I've ever seen is playful banter amongst friends where no offence could ever be taken. Don't tell me that jokes about stereotypes should be banned. I fully accept that being white, straight and male I will never be able to dance.

Apologies for lack of laughs.
(Voodoo-Child16 Pissed in their Champagne on, Fri 28 Oct 2011, 19:50, Reply)