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Dear Ken [a Chinese-American student of mine several years ago],
I certainly know what you mean about American racism. When I was 16, I got a job as the lifeguard of the country club where my mother and father played golf. Once there was a golf tournament and many of the local boys turned out to work as caddies for the golfers (boys who carried the golf club bags and helped the golfers). Several of these were blacks from the local high school; well, quite a few of the other caddies were children of club members, so after the tournament, the white boys invited the black boys to go for a swim--it was a hot day. The club manager (a white South African) came up to me and demanded that I "make those goddam kaffers leave the pool!" I said, "What?" I did not know what his word "kaffer" meant, and I had never been exposed to white racism towards blacks before, having grown up in rural Utah (which is quite racist towards Indians, but has no black people). He carefully explained to me that if I did not get those "N...." out of the pool in five minutes, he would fire me. I did not know what to do--I was only 16, the boss and I had had a fine relationship in the past; furthermore, he was a good friend of my father's. So, I went up to the black boys and politely asked them to leave. They could hardly believe their ears, and their white friends were the same. I was horribly embarrassed by the whole incident. Finally, all the boys left the pool, and the next day I gave notice that I was quitting.

Just last evening, my neighbor was barbecuing out in our communal patio and we were talking about the election. I told him there were numerous incidents of voter suppression in the election, such as asking voters for photo identification. He said he had no problem with photo identification because he thought a lot of illegal aliens would otherwise vote. I was astonished because this is one of those lies that the anti-immigrant political forces in California use...