I was raised by uber-liberal parents as well - but peer pressure is a thing, even in kindergarten. I went to public school in Brooklyn, in a very mixed neighborhood (not far from Bed-Stuy), and my classmates were mixed as well. This was about 1958. Someone obviously told me that black people smelled bad, because I have a very clear recollection of walking with my parents down the street, and holding my breath when a black person walked by - and I also remember being very careful to not let my parents see me doing it, because I KNEW they would be angry if they knew I was doing that - I knew it was wrong too.
But I never understood (as a child, and even to some extent now) why my Orthodox Jewish family members were so utterly convinced that the world was out to get them. I have NOT experienced nearly the anti-Semitism that they assumed the rest of the world had, perhaps because our last name was not remotely recognizable as being Jewish. I know their feelings were raw - by the time I was 7 and aware of it, it had only been 15 years since the end of WWII, when they learned that most of my father's side of the family was killed in the Holocaust.
But I never understood (as a child, and even to some extent now) why my Orthodox Jewish family members were so utterly convinced that the world was out to get them. I have NOT experienced nearly the anti-Semitism that they assumed the rest of the world had, perhaps because our last name was not remotely recognizable as being Jewish. I know their feelings were raw - by the time I was 7 and aware of it, it had only been 15 years since the end of WWII, when they learned that most of my father's side of the family was killed in the Holocaust.
