Well, forgive me for guessing here, but does X=hispanic or the popular "Mexican"? If your ILs and extended ILs tend to listen to surround themselves with certain kinds of media, they may be constantly surrounded by the "illegals" message. Sadly, that can lead people who otherwise might have been *horrified* to say such things even 10 years ago to let truly gross and racist comments slip out because they're said all the time on that media and in those circles.<br><br>
I never would have thought it, because my dad was always a huge HUGE proponent of diversity in the military, but in recent years because he listens to certain media and is surrounded by boosters and other people of a certain party where it is the message du jour lately, he has said things offhand that honestly if I had said in his presence as a child he would have slapped me across the mouth. <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/greensad.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="greensad"><br><br>
So...not only might there be some individual racism going on, there might be some influence by what they surround themselves with. I used to really enjoy listening to a wide variety of radio talk shows--but since "the illegals" became the fixation, I just can't do it anymore. I have seen the constant harping on that really affect people I know though, people who frustratingly don't even seem to be aware of how much they are channeling the message without examining it. I mean, it's one thing to be genuinely concerned about something--it's another to parrot ridiculous and made up stories.<br><br>
What you can do though...I don't know. Not much, unless you are willing to be the "face". When you speak up and say "Hey, my Uncle X doesn't speak perfect English either, but he works very hard and is a proud citizen", or "Wow, I'm sure you didn't mean in that way, but that sounds really discriminatory." or "You know, when you make statements about X, that hurts my feelings and makes me feel angry, because I'm X too. Are you saying those things about me?" sometimes helps, sometimes not. It's uncomfortable for sure.