So I was watching tv with my girlfriends Dad a few days ago and something racist came on tv and it was something about black people in the 1940’s (I honestly forget what it was) and I was sitting there and the following conversation went something like this

Me “wow that’s pretty racist”

GF’s Dad “well now it’s racist, but back then it wasn’t”

Me “oh”

This hasn’t left my mind in days and the more I think about it, it bugs me. Is this just an excuse for people who grew up in my girlfriends fathers generation, the 60’s, or did the concept of things being racist not occur to people until later? I hope this makes sense