[Magdalen] The Deen controversy

[Cantor03 at aol.com]

In a message dated 9/24/2014 10:25:24 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  
michaudme at gmail.com writes:

She  never used the N-word>>>>
 
This word not only was never used in my family.  It wasn't even
remotely on the horizon.
 
In my home county of about 12,000 souls in NW Wisconsin,
there were essentially no Blacks, Asians, or Latinos.  I believe
the 1940 US Census asked about "Negro/White ancestry, and
there was one "Negro" in the county.
 
There were two rather wretched American Indian communities
in the county (St. Croix Bands of Chippewa Tribe), at least one
of which is now wealthy secondary to a large gambling casino.
I had one American Indian in my high school class, and he was
about as ethnically exotic as we got.
 
IOW, one might as well be conversing about Martians as to
carry on any meaningful conversation about "Negroes".  They
didn't register on the local radar.
 
My father, the county attorney, was involved frequently in the
aftermath of drunken behavior on the American Indian reservations.
I remember his muttering about "Keeping Indians away from 'fire-
water' " (alcohol), recognizing the ethnic inability of American  Indians
to handle alcohol - just as he recognized that his family could not
handle booze.  That's as far as ethnic commentary went.
 
OTOH, sharp critical commentary daily about FDR, the Pope, and the
Axis leaders was all too familiar in the 1940's.
 
 
David Strang.