Its about changing hearts and minds in the U.S, and the civil rights movement helped but did not change public perceptions to a large extent.
As a very general example, Will Smith, famous black actor (Ali, Independence Day, Bad Boys, Men in Black), has a very positive image, well liked by blacks, whites, hispanics, asians, he is one of the few black americans to have successfully transcended race, i.e. people dont call him a black actor, just a famous actor.
Yet in all his movies, he never has a white wife/girlfriend? The reason being that audiences react badly to seeing a black man with a white woman. Its a fact (no, Eve Mendes does not count) thats been consistently found in public opinion research. So this is no fault of Will Smith, but it is the fault of the audience.
And Americans loath to blame themselves. Very few Americans would call Americans stupid, but really thats what they are. Only 3 prominent white Americans have called Americans stupid, to my knowledge in a public forum. Bill Maher, Michael Moore, and Paul Krugman (Conservative crowd pleasers to say the least).
CK
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