Civil Rights Era Stereotypes

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/29/opinion/dangerous-white-stereotypes.html?hp&gwh=1E2A2B5F38E33B334C09941E3DD0AABE

So there's this movie called "The Help". I guess it's a big deal. I'm not dying to see it or anything (in all actuality, I probably won't see it). But from what I gather, all of the hullabaloo comes from this- the story, written about the relationships between black domestic workers and their white employers, was written by a white woman.

What I like about this editorial is that it tries to debunk this whole idea we have that people who do bad things are over the top, Bachmann esque, couldn't miss them if you try- bad. Because "good" people wouldn't be racists. Or anti-Semites. But it's simply not true- there are plenty of people that hold racist or anti-Semitic or xenophobic or homophobic thoughts and tendencies. Sometimes the line between good and bad isn't so black and white. Sometimes it's gray and blurry.
But we love stories of these good people prospering over those bad folks. That's way too easy- and it shouldn't be what we're projecting/teaching the kids. What made triumphing over such adversity like Jim Crow so difficult was that there were many people who, minus their racist thoughts/opinions/tendencies- would be considered upstanding, "good" people. Random example...Charles Lindbergh. People loved Lucky Lindy- hell, we've got a damn state park named after him. We remember him as a pretty great guy, right? Well, he was also kind of a Nazi sympathizer. Whoops- but how could he? He's a "good" person.