“Chicken,” the e-mails said. “Liar.”

        "You are just making it up,” said a caller who accused me of “turning liberal” and “seeing things.”

        On Monday I wrote about a black golfer who was hassled by raw bigotry at a local course. Some readers responded by insisting it never happened. Others said I should have named the golf course so it could be boycotted.

        I did not “forget” the name. I decided not to name the course because it would be unfair to the owners and other employees to have their reputations damaged by the behavior of one worker. If that makes me “chicken,” tough nuggets.

The blame game

        I was trying to make a point about invisible bigotry that happens all the time. Whites seldom see it, so we don't believe it.

        Blaming one business or firing one worker will make people feel good. But it won't solve the problem.

        And those who deny that it exists should listen to responses like these:

        • Liz White, a black woman who said, “I hate the word "boycott,”' used to go to Indiana to play golf, because Cincinnati was so slow to open courses to blacks.

        “Thank God we can learn from the children,” she said. “The kids play together better than we do.”

        She's right. On average, our generation is less bigoted than our parents' generation. And I have to admit that our children are better than we are.

        • Ken Corbus wrote about an incident he saw at a Reds game, while the Seattle Mariners were in town. A Japanese couple that appeared to speak little English was having trouble finding the right seats, he said, “When a voice behind us was heard to say, "Now ain't that just goddamned interesting! Their people had no trouble finding Pearl Harbor.”'

        When he tells the story, “Without exception, the response has been, "That's good old Sinsahnatta for you,”' he wrote. “It is that element of the local population that makes any change so extremely difficult. I don't think they are a majority. ... I do know that like the voice at the ballgame they are vocal. They are at nearly every event and they are nearly without exception holding on to a past that died decades ago.”

Subtle signals

        • Diana Moseley said it's hard for whites to understand how subtle the slow drip of bigotry can be. She described how store clerks rush to help black shoppers before they shoplift something; how blacks who dress up for a night out get “that look” as if they are drug dealers.

        “Maybe it's just our own mind-set,” she wondered. “Don't get me wrong, it's not blatant bigotry. Some people have learned it, and don't even mean it.

        “I can't prove it but I feel it. Every. Single. Day.”

        • “Why didn't you contact the management and complain,” several readers asked.

        OK. I called the owner. He took it very seriously.

        This could happen anywhere at any golf course or business. Cincinnati is no worse than any city.

        But sometimes we see a fly in our soup and pretend it's parsley with legs. We should just speak up.

        E-mail pbronson@enquirer.com or call 768-8301.
       

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