Of Racism and Innocence

So, on our train adventures the other night (see blog below), I picked up a discarded New York Post to help pass the wait.

One of the first stories was about the “Jew Couple.”

A couple from New York had gone to a restaurant in Joisey. They got their bill, on which the description read, in large letters, “Jew Couple.” They were, understandably, miffed. I read the article with a kind of disbelief – surely no one would be callously stupid enough to do this? But, the bill was there, a copy of it anyway.

My niece looked at it, perplexed. “I don’t understand. Why were they mad?”

“Well, that’s an insult. When it’s said that way, it’s derogatory.”

She still looked confused.

“OK,” I say, “pretend you have a restaurant. An African-American couple walks in. On the bill, you write “N***er couple.” (Of course, I made sure no one was around us, and totally mouthed, not said, that.) “It wasn’t meant as a description. It was meant as an insult.”

“But why would they do that?”

“To make the couple feel ashamed.”

“Oh.”

She totally had no idea that people really do crap like that.

I sometimes wish I had no idea people do crap like that. I guess ignorance is bliss.

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