"She started hanging out with white people, and she started smoking meth."

The WaPo has an interesting article up about race relations and the Black community in Utah. The verdict from the Black community there seems to be that folks aren't mean-spirited as much as they are incredibly, incredibly naive. But I have to say, a lot of the things they described (folks randomly tugging on their hair, Katrina victims being frisked as soon as they deplaned) sound like things that require less a sophisticated knowledge of racial dynamics and more just basic awareness of how to treat human beings with dignity. A state senator called a bill a "black baby" and described it as "a dark and ugly thing." When the Black community responded with outrage, he (of course) got defensive:

He complained of being persecuted by a "hate lynch mob" and finally asked, "How do I know what words I'm supposed to use in front of those people?"

Eventually he did apologize.

Anyway, the whole article is good, and hopefully it will really stress to the high heavens the limits of the "I have good intentions" catch-all response to the idea that racism exists.