An Apology

Have written some rough notes at home yesterday, and I'd like to write from them today, to the best of my ability [tomorrow or next week, I might continue some more]:

Have done some research on the Internet and the "catch a nigger by the toe" rhyme has been used not just in my area but in North America....  And it's considered to be racist, and the rhyme has reportedly been changed to "catch a tiger by the toe...."  I'd never heard of this change until now....

There are also some other songs and children's songs which are now seen as racist--any songs which make fun of slaves and their activities or making the slaves look foolish....

According to the Internet, there was an American teacher who said the "catch a nigger" rhyme to her class in 1993, and she got some disciplinary action for it....  When I said the rhyme, it was also around that time....  However, a stewardess who said the rhyme to some black passengers on an airplane in about 2004--if I recall--wasn't held accountable....  She was encouraging the passengers to take their seats and maybe they were being slow...?  They tried to sue her afterwards but they lost the case, and lost an appeal, also....

In my case, I've said I DIDN'T MEAN any harm when I was playing a game with my son and his friend....  But the rhyme, as I said it, still wasn't a nice thing to say....  I understand that now....  At the time, the girl had kind of stiffened when I said it, and I saw that she reacted but neither of us discussed it immediately.  She was around 12 or 13 years old.... 

So, what else can I say?  Is there something I can do?  This matter happened approximately 25 years ago...and I don't want the young police to officers to judge me by their 2018 standards...!  I grew up in the '60s and '70s, and we didn't learn as much about these kinds of things back then....  But is there something I can do?  Neither the girl nor the police have discussed this matter much, except when the issue was raised a while ago....  And if it wasn't settled sufficiently then, they could've brought it up again--earlier [don't recall exactly what I said before]....  But we're here now.  Let's resolve it.

Continued.