Everybody has done it ???

To be honest, I've never been a fan of Paula Deen.  You can ask any of my friends.  I love cooking and baking and I like a lot of cooking and baking shows.  I am a mid-westerner, been in Texas over fifty years, but I am a mid-westerner.  Texans call us Yankees, but we grew up in the mid-west of the US.

Further, I've never been a racist.  How do I know?  My dad was one.  He was a hard driving truck driver and he knew every unacceptable politically incorrect moniker for every ethnic section of the city of Milwaukee.  He had disparaging titles for Italians, Irishmen, Jews and Polish Americans.  He used them with great regularity as he did cuss words.  When he came to Texas he adjusted them to fit the ethnic makeup here.  And, God knows, he was not alone in any of it.

Every time he used one of those words, about a person, or a group of people, or an expletive when he banged his thumb while hammering, my Mother responded, promptly and loudly, "Lyle, not in front of the children."

As a minister's daughter she went to some lengths to reference Biblical instruction regarding the Lord's name in vain.  As a biology teacher she was pretty clear about anatomical references.  As a fine example of an mid-century motherhood she was equally clear about debasing terminology.  As the mother of a totally handicapped son she was way ahead of the curve when it came to name calling of any person who also was afflicted in any manner.

I see a number of folks pardoning the recently exposed inappropriate comments by the above mentioned cook, followed by support for her based on the remark "we've all done that at one time."

Maybe there is over reaction, I don't know.  Why not ask someone who has spent a lifetime being called a name.  Maybe its "just about the money" ... as in minority persons buy food, cook and eat, too.

I am too critical of too many people and I know it.  But I am not a racist.