You praise my ancestors too much, Azizi. Would that they were as enlightened as to resist racism; but they were not, sad to say. They "had it in" for the Persians big time, for a start. And when it came to marrying among citizens of different (Greek) city-states, it was as hard to accept as interracial marriages were 50 years ago in Europe. Neither were they above using slaves - all the major building work, Parthenon included, were built with slave labour. It's just that those slaves would have been mostly prisoners taken after some war and therefore mainly white or Middle Eastern, Etruscans, Phoenicians, Persians etc, or captured citizens of other Greek city-states. By the time Greeks fought in any numbers in Egypt or elsewhere in Africa, the practice of slave-taking had been discontinued (by my hero, Alexander) and then the Greeks were taken over by the Romans anyway.

The reason I mentioned the small numbers of Africans in Greece in ancient times (and really I am referring to the period 600BC-300AD or thereabouts) with respect to racism is this: Any prejudice has to have its object available in sufficient quantity, otherwise it does not manifest itself easily. There cannot be racist behaviours if there is nobody to be racist against. So it is not that the Greeks might not have become racist against Africans - they simply did not have the opportunity.

As for the influences from Egypt, and before that from India, they are undeniable, but moot in this context, because they do not point towards contact in sufficient numbers, just a natural result for a nation that depended on trading so much.

Brucie, good story. Such traditions deserve to die, no doubt - where individuals get hurt there can be no excuse. My question remains though: Where the slight is perceived but not intended, should a tradition be terminated? Where do we draw the line? What guideline should we follow?

I don't have the answer. And sure as hell, I don't want racism, and I believe nobody else on Mudcat wants it eiather, irrespective of political leanings. But unless we are very careful in drawing the line between sensitivity and oppression, we are doing nobody any good.