ARE SOME OF OUR BLOGGERS RACIST?

I saw "Bobby" recently, a movie about the ordinary--and not so ordinary--lives of some people (fictitious) who were at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles when Rober F. Kennedy was shot down in 1968.

Some of the characters portrayed were Mexicans, working as cooks and busboys in the kitchen, preparing for the arrival of the senator. Their supervisor was Daryl (Christian Slater), a white man. When the general manager of the hotel asked him why he had'nt allowed them to take time off to go and vote, his reply was that they were mostly Mexicans, working there illegally, couldn't string two words together in English. The GM (William H. Macy) countermanded his order and fired Daryl on the spot.

Later, his wife asked him why he had fired Daryl, he said, "Because he was a racist, among other things."

This is what had transpired between the GM and Daryl:

GM:  I do everything I can to make sure that the employees of this hotel are treated equally and fairly. I’m getting complaints that you’re not allowing the kitchen staff off work to vote today.

Daryl: We’re understaffed this week. I’ve got six workers with flu. I’ve had to deny sick leave too.

GM: Did you tell them they couldn’t leave?

Daryl: This is no small thing we’re doing tonight. I need every staffer with a pulse on duty.

GM: Did you tell them that they couldn’t leave to vote?

Daryl:  (chuckles) They’re not going to vote. Half of them are illegal; they can’t vote. Why give them the time off for something that they can’t do anyway.

GM: (Turns around and closes door of the office.) You’ll post a memo informing all employees of their right to vote.

Daryl: They can’t put two words of English together.

GM: Put up a memo in English and Spanish informing all employees of their right to vote and allowing them the privilege to do so. Additionally, you will inform them that they will be paid for their time off for this privilege. And, because I’m an equal-opportunity kind of a guy, you’ve got till the end of the week to clear out your desk and leave. You’re fired, Daryl.

I was rather surprised at the GM’s reaction, or was it over-reaction? Of course, he may have been dissatisfied with Daryl for quite some time. Could some of our bloggers be regularly making generalizations about Thais that could be deemed racist (without being racists themselves)?