Andrew Young's Wal-Mart Quandry

Poor Andrew Young. A man who dedicated his life to equality of treatment for blacks has been hoist upon the petard of a new era of acceptable free speech.

His reference to ethnic and racial "groups" as opposed to individuals is no longer acceptable in America's rapidly diversifying society.

I sympathize with him, though, because during the era in which he grew up ethnic stereotyping was acceptable, and accepted, as part of the whole idea of the "melting pot." If you grew up during that time there were neighborhoods that were identified by their ethnicity or race: Polish, Czech, Serb, etc.

This is not to justify what he said about Jews, Koreans, and Arabs as groups. But merely to put into context why he would make a remark like that without realizing he would give offense in today's society.