B. rang seemingly just to get into a racist rant. You've heard it all before, so I won't go into the substance of it here... suffice to say, it was the usual allegations that are cast whenever 1 minority group is suddenly seen as 'bad' or a 'threat'. B. is a friend, one I have known for 9 years. She often spouts bigotry and prejudice against a variety of groups.
I realise as I write this that I am more tolerant of her than I am of any white person (other than my family). I guess I continue to spend time with her, despite her verbalised bigotry because she's black and, from time to time, she calls me on my own prejudices around 'blackness'. Sometimes she imagines stuff, assumes she knows what I would think. I do the same to her, but I rarely articulate my own assumptions. What that means is that she doesn't have the opportunity to correct my misapprehensions. I just carry them around until I realise they are assumptions. She talks openly. Me, I'm more guarded. We often talk about 'race' and racism, our own and other people's. The difference is that her default is to 'Daily Mail' assumptions, stereotypes and prejudice but, in some way, at least she's open. Me, I try to question every stereotype that floats through my consciousness (though I have been known to relish some) but I am not open. On the one hand, this conversation with her really angered me. I assume she's having it with other people as well and doing her part in propagating the myths and racism around Muslim people today. But on the other, I honour her openess and I even admire the way she calls me on stuff. So I feel I can learn from her, I guess. Eventhough she's racist bigot. But because she's also a victim of racism, I guess I feel she's 'one of us'... and I let her off, kind of.