Frankly, yes, and not necessarily in a good way. I mentioned the sheltered, homogenous (white) community where I grew up. We weren’t taught overt racism using N-word references and things like that, but we were taught that you don’t go to certain parts of Indianapolis because “that’s where the Black people live”.
I can also remember a time as a little boy sitting with my grandpa, hearing on the radio about an automotive break-in/theft of a CB radio. My grandpa said, “I can tell you what color they were” (referencing the robber’s skin, of course) without any clue what really happened or who the perpetrators really were. Guilty until proven innocent, I guess.
As I mentioned before, when I finally started meeting people of color and I listened to their stories, I juxtaposed that against my upbringing and how unfair it was to have been taught that all those people are the same and generally inherently bad It made me want to unwind the cycle for my kids and my community.
