Right at this moment I am watching an old episode of Blockbusters, a game show which aired from 1980 to 1982, with Bill Cullen as the host. The show, which was a little odd, would pit an individual contestant against a "family pair", i.e., two contestants from the same family. In order to win, the family pair would have to get more trivia questions right than the individual contestant, and that created a level playing field between the oddly match contenders. All of the contestants would sit side-by-side facing Bill Cullen.
In the episode I just saw, the individual contestant was a white woman, and the family pair were African-American sisters. During that game, the white woman said next to nothing to the African-American sisters. She rarely turned her face towards them, and I'm pretty sure that she didn't face them when they tried to congratulate her after she won (I looked away for a brief moment).
Things were different, however, with the next family pair. The next family pair were two white twin brothers. During the game, the woman turned to face them several times, smiling at them each time. And when they won, she turned to them and offered her congratulations and shook their hands.
I have to admit that I didn't have my eyes glued to the screen the entire time, but I am pretty sure of what I saw. It should also be pointed out that the camera was often trained on Cullen and not the contestants, so I didn't see all of their interactions. However, I noticed that the white woman didn't turn to the sisters at times that would have been appropriate.
How sad and unnecessary racism is.
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