well coming from a southern back ground i only heard the n word once in the house....no not from my aunt but from my mammy, who used the word while talking about her nephew who was no good///yep my mammy was black, and i loved her for everything she taught me.....In 75 i chose a black peds doctor for our daughter who was going to be a premie...that was because he was so use to having premies in distress and very rarely lost a baby...my husband and i both worked in the same hospital and trust me coworkers and some doctors did not speak to us because of that choice....our daughter was born with a apgar of 2 her doctor got her thru a rough time.. she was a failure to thrive untill 2 years old ....It wasn't untill she was three when we were at the doctors office that she asked the doctor why she was different than every once else...he waited and thought and told her she was not different because she was blond and blue eyes, she was different because, she was so small he named her peanut, lite color on the outside, same color as everyone else on the inside...

I have been to deans resturant many times talked with her, her sons her brother bubba...met most of her staff and i will say that most in her kitchens staff are black, i think her PR people handled it badly...will i stop gong to her resturants...no the food is great... i have most of her cook books signed by her and the boys, from attending private parties...will i think she will take a hit from this yes...only time will tell

Bravo, Bravo Golfingnut.

That might be the most honest heartfelt post I've EVER read on TOTV. I admire your courage.

I'm hopeful that's how Paula feels. Should have said under oath: "Yes that's a word I've used - but I was wrong and I show that now in my actions and my beliefs".

I wonder if the woman bringing the lawsuit would've, if she was an unknown restuarant owner that wasn't a world famous multi-millionaire???

Paula Deen is an entertainer and a cook, not a monument to justice.

Sorry I don't know how to link something. If you google it, you'll find it.

Some seem to think this is all about 20, or so, years ago. If you read the transcript and "listen" to what she is saying, you may get a different opinion. Everything she says goes from bad to worse, and it appears pretty obvious to me she still thinks of black people as inferior. She's entitled to her opinion, but this is about harrassment and discrimination, which she is not entitled to in her place of business.

Thank you.

Knee Jerk Reactions
 

I am tired of knee jerk reactions to news reports. Paula Deen admitted to saying something a long time ago and is being vilified for it. Wendy Williams attacks her viciously, on the record, and she should be called to task for that. Paula Deen's network cancels her, and gladly many people have let them know they are going to stop watching that network if they do this. Remember the Duke lacrosse team that was punished immediately before all the info was in and later proved innocent. The media gets a story, runs with it, and before it has been properly researched someone has their life turned upside down. I don't think this is what the founding fathers had in mind when they guaranteed freedom of the press.

Paula listened to the piper ... All she needs to do now is pay them.

It's easy to write off our racism—that is, those of us who were—by explaining (or excusing?) it as a product of the times, as pointed out by Golfingnut and DianeM. But while "separate but not equal," "white and colored water fountains," "poll taxes," and "lynchings" were more part of the times back then than now, it doesn't mean that back then—on a personal level—every individual and every family manifested racist attitudes, as pointed out by senior citizen.

My parents certainly did not reflect the times in this regard, and I was raised in an atmosphere that was the antithesis of racism. And I have no recollection that in doing/being so, my parents were out to make a social statement or that they were bucking what was contemporary at the time; rather, this is the way they chose to live—strictly on a personal level—and the values with which they raised me. 'Nuff said....


And to go back to the topic, I completely agree; Paula Deen's life is none of my business!

And some people still hold those feelings even if they act politically correct in public. I was in the waiting room of the doctors office waiting for my hubby and a older white man came in and sat down to wait for the doctor to squeeze him in as he didn't have an appointment. He started talking to me about all the things going wrong with the country. Kept saying I know I shouldn't say so but... and then said and now there are not enough real white people being born with all the intermarriage. I turned and said boy you really have caught a bad case, I doubt the doctor can cure you of such ignorance. At which point my Hawaiian/ Japanese husband came out and we left. The guy is in for a big shock as the doctor on call was Dr Lee.

People like this will never change; they're not even embarrassed by such remarks. I am appalled at the number of outright racist remarks I heard here in TV in the last months of 2012 and continuing today; I foolishly and naively thought that this had disappeared—supposedly like the dodo—at the time of the civil rights movement back in the '60s, but I guess the dodo is alive and well, even if ignorant (excuse me, "iggorant"...).

I'm sure there are plenty of people who still hold old attitudes, but I don't hear very much of it at all around The Villages. In fact, when I do hear something, it is rare enough to shock me. It tells me all I need to know about the speaker.

My Ukrainian and Italian parents were not at all bigots............
My mom was even ahead of her times, being both ecumenical and not rigid, bit free spirited ......which allowed me also to think freely.......
Going to public school also helped in that respect.....

However, I'd say the more insulated isolated Polish inlaws were most definitely like Archie Bunker, etc. when I met them in 1962......

When we were young parents, I noticed that the generation before us were still racist and bigoted and would make embarrassing comments in public........like at a mall (these were wonderful elderly neighbors of ours by the way, surrogate grandparents to our children).....however, they were quite loud and vocal if they saw a mixed couple pushing a stroller at the mall.......I'd have to hush them.

Again, our kids were color blind.........and still are.

p.s.
My sister in law made a comment, which to me was shocking at the time, when a relative of ours married a beautiful Malaysian gal, one who was not only lovely but talented and gifted musically plus with a Masters Degree......she was Chinese ethnicity. Had a great career; was kind and just a nice person over all.

The sister in law (whose kids didn't turn out all that great by the way) made the comment: "You all know, don't you....that their children will be bi racial".

This was the year 2001. Not 1950.

I always thought to myself, "What beautiful children they will have together"..........so, go figure.