There’s a strange duality of living or coming from the South in the US, and presumably, other places with extreme prejudice. Words or phrases get used like water such that they are etched into your mind, causing an almost Pavlovian response mechanism to trigger, despite one’s true feelings.

It’s almost like a game Red light, Green light, but for awfulness. I haven’t lived in the South for decades, and on occasion, a hateful word will pop out of a dark hole in my head even though my real thoughts and actions run counter to it.

I can sort of understand his stance, but being aware of it is enough, at least to me, to fix it. Anything other than that is intentional malice.