Kentucky

I get the impulse. When we white people who are trying to work against racism see something that is so blatantly racist, our minds say, "That just can't be. They must have meant something else."

That's our own racism in action. (I'm sorry, I'm not calling you a racist. But we all have onion layers of unexamined racism that come from living in a racist society. And we need to eradicate them. I am not judging you. I have caught myself doing this "oh, he must have meant something different" thing myself.)

He didn't mean something else. It's just as disgusting and hateful as it seems to be.

He may come out and SAY he meant something else, but he didn't and all the people he is talking to will know he didn't.