Why stereotypes pervade, part II

My roommate in Utah works in the costume shop, and she comes back to me with the worst of horror stories I have ever heard.

The women who run the costume shop are locals who have lived here most of their lives; they're Mormon and have been on missions outside of the country, but other than that stick to Utah.

And, as many women do in a costume shop, they tell stories about the people they encountered on their missions, or some people they met the other day, that quasi-gossipy stuff that I guess is business as usual in Logan. 

Except the content of their conversations suggests they are completely ignorant of the fact that many in the United States have worked very hard and dedicated their lives to abolishing racist, hateful speech. 

As my rooommate relays to me, they talk about "cheap Jews" and "blacks" and "orientals" primarily. One of their constant bemoanings is how, since"oriental eyes" are permanently squinted, they can't see costumes as well to design them, which is why "oriental fashion" is so awfully executed and why sweatshop clothes are such poor quality.

There are two Asian women in the costume shop who are extremely shy but visibly offended every time one of the supervisors starts talking about her "mission to the Orient." They have taken to wearing an iPod at work.

This year, one of the operas we're performing is Porgy & Bess, which traditionally has an almost entirely African-American cast. The women in the shop can't stop complaining about how "black people can't hold onto one weight" and how "blacks just dance differently; that's why the cast has to be black." Nevermind that one of the costume designers is black himself. 

There are other examples that my roommate tells me she can't remember, because all she does remember is thinking "what just came out of their mouths?", but all of us agree that this kind of behavior would not be acceptable anywhere else, and shouldn't be acceptable here, either.

I plan to tell our production director that I'm concerned for the work environment in the costume shop, because it's already clear that my roommate can't say anything for fear of repercussions. 

But what concerns me more distinctly is how these people can so casually bring up "orientals" and "cheap Jews" as if race is still an issue in the world. Around here, I've seen many Mormon women adopt black children from their missions to Africa, which is great because they need good homes (and will probably get them, because for however odd the Mormon faith seems to me, they do tend to raise good kids), but I suspect that at least a few of them feel like that adoption is a charity adoption or an act of good will that will please God; that they're saving this child from his race. Of course, this is all speculation, but from my observations and those of my colleagues, it just doesn't seem like the adopted kids integrate well with the biological kids, and the parents aren't doing anything to stop it.

I thought for a long time that people talking about racism still was kind of a dead issue. But racism is still alive and thriving in America because of women like those in the costume shop, because they appear entirely ignorant of the Civil Rights Movement, of any worldly or national events they don't see on the local evening news. They have no concept of progress or the environment (they leave the air conditioning to 60 degrees, always, because any higher and they're too hot, despite that the entire shop is wearing wool coats and it's 90 outside) or simply being aware of their surroundings. 

This terrifies me.