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It's a funny thing. I grew up an air force brat. For some reason I never noticed prejudice. I do recall visiting family in the south when I was young and not noticing black people where we were so everything was very segregated at that time. And I'm talking the south in the early 60s.
I lived on base in Germany during my jr. high years. We all hung out together and I don't recall anyone thinking anything of it.
We moved to Georgia when I was entering the 9th grade. For some reason there was a very visible difference. This was just a few years after segregation and I'm sure GA was behind the curve at that point. Tension was everywhere and I felt racism coming my way from the balcks as much as I saw it going the other way from the whites. High school the next year was an even bigger shock with the way everyone was in racial groups in different halls. I had never before experienced the divisiveness and I lived among a variety of races in the military life.
I'm not sure the media was responsible for everything back then; perhaps is has more of an impact now, I just don't know. I do know that I responded to how I was treated and I think I developed more subconciouse racists thoughts like Jackson's were mentioned in the article above based on experience. To this day I still have black friends but I'm sure I'd feel like Jackson in that same walking down the street situation, and also depending on where I was.
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