For some reason, there is still a harbor for hatred

A few days have passed since a few forward thinkers inside Fenway Park chose to yell racial epithets and throw peanuts at Adam Jones, the black outfielder for the Baltimore Orioles. A few days have passed, yes. My outrage? Not so much.

And it's not necessarily directed at the perpetrators, although I do wish they'd get locked in a room for five minutes with Mr. Jones' teammates, just to see if they'd remain so talkative. Yet what's far worse, even worse than yelling hate speech, has been the public reaction to the story, in and out of the media.

Question I: Why does it take such an overt act — using racial epithets in public — for so many people to suddenly acknowledge that racism is still part of everyday life? What, it takes courage to denounce hate speech? All but the most insensitive people take great pains to at least appear fair-minded in public.

So isn't it about time the people, from high atop their soapboxes, be as militant in calling out more subtle — yet no less egregious — forms of racism that exist every day?

Example: It wasn't too long ago that an acquaintance of mine used a particular word that begins with the letter “N” when referring to LeBron James. I let the acquaintance know, with quite colorful prose, that word is verboten and never to be used in my presence again. I have no use for the guy to this day.

But I haven't always been so assertive. Once, I overheard a white woman from East Lyme recap her previous afternoon to a friend. She said she stopped in at Taco Bell on Colman Street in New London and “I didn't even get mugged!” I shook my head. But it's that type of benign neglect that allows racism to fester.

And if you don't think a white person from the burbs who expects

to get mugged in the middle of the afternoon on a busy street in New London is racism … we have nothing left to discuss. You don't get it. Because you don't want to.

The only way to stop racism is to call it out as it happens. In everyday life. In Everytown, USA. Call me a fraud because I haven't always done so? Free country. But those days are over. Promise. Racism isn't necessarily a word or slur either. It is, as national media pundit Jason Whitlock once wrote, “imposing or supporting actions and laws that unfairly infringe upon the liberties of people who have a different skin color from you.”

Gee, have we seen any of that lately?

Question II: Why are people more inclined to jump to the city of Boston's defense — we're not the only city where you hear that stuff — instead of condemning the fact that the hate speech actually happened? Or are they too afraid to look in the mirror and wonder what demons might be lurking that would perhaps subconsciously condone that line of thinking?

OK. So you say Boston isn't the only city where racial epithets are used publicly.

You'd kind of have to admit, though, that Boston sort of leads the league.

It wasn't long ago that hockey player Joel Ward, born in Canada and who emigrated here from Barbados, scored the game-winning goal for the Washington Capitals to eliminate the Bruins from the playoffs.

Joel Ward's skin color — black — became an issue with some Bruins fans, who felt the need to unburden themselves on Twitter. A sampling: Tom Troy (@TomTroy12): "The fact that a (racial epithet) scored the winning goal makes it worse."

Adam Begos (@Begos_8): "Joel Ward, you are a (racial epithet)."

Charlie Cobb (@Skoal_Banditt): "Joel Ward, you bleeping (racial epithet), you suck 6 goals all season you bleeping (racial epithet) bleep."

Chase Coulson (@K1NGOFCRAZY): Joel Ward is the first (racial epithet) to score in overtime."

Ethan Marshall (@Grizzlymarshall): "Bleeping stupid, arrogant, smelly, useless, waste of life, sad excuse for a NHL hockey playing (racial epithet)!!!" That was a mere sampling. You want to defend Boston? Do so at your own risk.

Still, though, hate speech happens outside there, too. So make your point and move on. It is a peripheral issue, certainly not worthy of extended debate. The story here is not where the epithets happened, but the necessity of calling them out in everyday life — barber shops, coffee shops, checkout lines — so they eventually stop. And that's how you stop racism. Meantime, I'm saddened by how a nation founded by immigrants — immigrants who heard racial epithets and taunts and still fortified America's blue collar backbone — could still harbor such hate.

Explain that one.