(no subject)

Last night we went to my daughter's end of year dance recital. My 80something year old in-laws where with us. My daughter attends a classical ballet school in the South. Out of 200 students there are 3 boys. When we got home, my mother-in-law said "I liked that skinny colored boy." I replied, "I think you could leave out the colored part. There are only 3 boys in the school. There is a little one, a tall skinny one, and an older bigger one. Color doesn't need to be the most important thing about them." Hence the beginning of a shit storm of epic proportions. The funny thing is I wasn't calling her racist. I was just having a chat about cultural awareness. But you know what? It was racist. It was very racist. Both my husband and his dad tried to tell me they are old and of their century. Would someone please tell me why being old is a magic pass for being allowed to be racist? I mean, they are the generation of the Civil Rights Act, legislation that was passed before I was born. So really, how can ignorance or age be any kind of an excuse?