Alison and Penny:
But in real life if they are confronted with a black person who (say) explains quantum mechanics
to
them, they don't have this escape do they? Real life puts a bomb under preconceptions.
I don't think it usually works that way. Sincere belief is impervious to both logic and empirical evidence. In real people you can always find real
flaws
(maybe your hypothetical black genius has an unpleasant odour--then hypothetically racist me can think "so 'They' *can* be quite clever, but only at the cost of personal hygiene...I shudder to think what her house must look like and just imagine her poor neglected children--we should really discourage 'Them' aspiring to such heights if these are the social costs" etc.).
I once overheard some conversation from a racist at a conference. He said repeatedly that -- in his experience of working in research establishments in Zimbabwe -- negroes were incapable of scientific thought, while Indians could make good scientists. He talked of numerous specific (negro) individuals in scientific positions who in his opinion were incapable of doing their job, ie, he wasn't talking in the abstract he was extrapolating from real experience with real people.
Tavia