The Accidental Racist

I think we all know at least one certified, card-carrying racist.  The ones who hate and hate proudly, with zero to no shame.  This post is not about them.  This post is about the people who are racist, and don't even know it.

Several times over the past few weeks I've encountered The Accidental Racist.  These people make statements that they don't realize make them seem like Hitler's 2nd cousins.  

For example, today at work, I overheard a woman say to another coworker, "Yeah, it's a great nail shop.  Everybody there is really friendly and they do an amazing job.  They're all Asian, but they speak really good English.  I think you'll like it."

Umm........M'kay......... Soooo.......Uh.......Yeah.  How do you even respond to that?  Are you suggesting that most Asians who work in nail shops don't speak "good English?"  They might speak perfect English, but choose not to do so around your semi-racist ass.  

Then there was our guest speaker, who was teaching us about billing and coding.  She was trying to get us to understand how sometimes businesses keep P.O. boxes in other zip codes to benefit from higher billing in those areas.  Her story went a little something like this:

"Well you know how in California there's a high population of Hispanics?  Ok well, this clinic, I think it's name was Clinica del' Rio..... or something like that, I don't remember.  Anyway, they had a P.O. box in Beverly Hills, but their practice was 50 miles away!  Can you believe that?"

Well, yes I can believe that, but I don't follow how that has anything to do with the high population of Hispanics in California??

I don't even get mad at them.  They're baby racists, they don't mean any harm.