While I never did blackface as a child -- I had just enough awareness and moral consciousness to intuit that there was something really wrong with that -- I admit to doing the sing-song accent imitation a couple of times, and that was racist of me and sadly, there were neither peers nor adults in my life to correct me. For me it came mostly from Hollywood stereotypes as there were no Asians in our community (or blacks, or hispanics for that matter) so it appeared to me like I was making fun of people making fun of people making fun of something that maybe wasn't real. It wasn't real to me as a child anyway. That didn't make it right, and ignorance is not an excuse.

Frankly I only figured out in my 40s that Asian's don't like to be called Orientals ... that is how insulated I was. Now I live in a community that is probably at least 20% Asian, have stepchildren who have Asian friends, and I've caught up with reality, at least relatively speaking. I appreciate your informative posts on this topic and more generally on multicultural issues. I'm guessing that I can still improve in my awareness of other cultures, but traveling to places like Vietnam and Turkey as well as the requisite European destinations, has hopefully removed significant residues of "ugly American" out of me. Many of use 'Muricans are terribly parochial and ignorant, and worse, proud of it.

@mordant We also lived in times when immediate access to information and what was acceptable or not was not available...I don't feel guilty or hold any grudges against anyone who in their childhood had no guidance...as adults, we are still learning ; lacking experiences usually continues any hurtful ways...I have found that people who travel or who know a black person, a muslim, a jew, etc. are able to use real information much better than those who read about it, hear about it from others, etc. but that is not always available either....it is evolving for us all and we fine tuning ourselves as we strive to be better people...I am working on consistency because I am guilty of dressing as an Geisha girl in my younger days as a relatively easy costume to pull off...ha ha...

@MoonTiger Not sure what you mean...a paper cut can hurt more than a deep stab wound...so how is different depths of racial hatred measured and made acceptable? It is part of the same pot...you spit in the pot and the entire contents is tainted...

@MoonTiger Thanks for clarifying...I agree...I think it is unrealistic to think we are all going to become totally expunged of our own bias and prejudices...it is much more honest to own up to them and decide that some are not as disturbing as others...I think the biggest difference is how it impacts others...I might hold a fear or misconception about a race, a culture, etc. but unless I am moved to act on that fear in a negative way, it does no harm to others...I see what you mean, and yes, I agree in that context...the "punishment" should fit the crime even if all are crimes....