Gabi and the Black, White, and Brown: In Print

I work in dowtown San Antonio in an office. It's pretty awful, nothing but white walls and fully-blasted A/C that makes you wish you were outside in the Texas heat. Today, I had an interesting conversation with one of my co-workers that I keep rolling over in my head. While mentioning some "great Mexican restaurant" in the south side, he was explaining that it is right next door to a recently built public library in the area. He then lowers his voice and leans in, as if he's about to say something really crucial, and says, "but it's the completely wrong part of town for a library," leaning back in his chair and making eye contact as he awaits my response. I'm completely stunned. "Maybe I misunderstood," I think.
"Wait, what? Can you say that again?" I ask.

"All I'm saying is that it's just not the right side of town for a library," he says again.

Beginning to comprehend, I'm trying to look for some kind of miscommunication, giving him the benefit of the doubt. When i don't find any, I give him my most mocking, intimidating smirk and ask, "Are they not worthy of a library, or what?"

Immediately on the defense, he tries to reason by saying, "Well, they're not even going to benefit from something like that, and, I mean, it's only been a few weeks and already there's graffiti."
Before I can open my mouth, he goes even further in his ignorant efforts to justify his words by saying, "Well, I grew up in an area like that, so...."
As if that justifies the misconceptions floating around in his little blonde head.

"I grew up in an area like that too, and I was able to benefit from the public libraries. In fact, I'm an English major now. Your reasoning just doesn't make sense. Aren't libraries built to give free access to books, movies, and information? What benefit would a community get from libraries if they were only built in areas that could already afford to buy their books for $16 each at a Barnes & Noble?"

Sometimes, I feel as though I'm ignorant of the mass ignorance that plagues our communities. I want to give others the benefit of the doubt. For reasons i can't explain, I am still shocked by blatant prejudice, discrimination, injustice, and profiling. I am still shocked by the youth I find that are as cold as 60 year old conservatives, wanting to hoard resources for themselves without an inkling of sympathy or bashfulness.

He's not the first person I've encountered with views like that. Sometimes, I can't help but wonder if people like him confide in me with their gross prejudice because my skin is light. Maybe they don't know I'm Mexican; maybe they don't know that my parents are both immigrants, or that their race used to make me feel inferior with their racial jokes, portrayals, and titles.
I'm not sure how I was supposed to respond to his comments, but what's said is said, and he didn't respond after that.