My grandmother is a white upper middle class Yankee. The only black folks she interacted with (before my father married her daughter) were those who worked for her as help or at her husband’s business. She has shades of racism that she does not recognize but are second nature to her. I can say without a doubt that she loves me and my brother, as she loves any of her other grand kids.
It is worth mentioning that she always voted for the Democratic Party and she believed in the civil rights movement and social justice.
My grandmother still possesses some ideas about race that are ingrained in her. She has a disdain for what she calls "political correctness," which includes anything from opposing stereotypes to supporting affirmative action. During this election she supported Senator Clinton with a vengeance to the point that she did not talk to those of us who supported Obama. She accused me and my brother of being traitors to the "white race" because we "chose sides". She received and collected every lie that was spread about Obama. I truly believe that she supported Hillary because she wants a woman as a president in her life time. She believes that this is the last chance for that to happen (she is 72).
I am telling you all of this because she called me today, to tell me that she became to believe that "Obama is a class act" and he is "someone who could unite the party." She thinks that Hillary and her "horrid husband" and their inept campaign" are acting like petulant children and that she is "ashamed of all their talk about race". She actually said that. My grandmother, whom I decided to disown - after a lengthy and heated discussion about her reasons for apposing Obama (there is a difference between supporting your candidate and apposing another candidate). She is so angry about what she perceives as being sore loser and not being good sports. She is now ready to campaign for him. So, friends if my grandmother can change, then many other reasonable people will come aboard.