Don't second-guess your younger self. You knew what you were doing. The forces arrayed against you were probably too strong and you might have torpedoed your career for little satisfaction.

I doubt Kent gave it a second thought, but people don't always forget.

I have always been an antiracist, but when I was around 10, a racist pun popped out of my mouth when I was talking about my newspaper (Montreal Star) dispatcher, when he was there. "Wong, not white."

I could have fucking died. I knew the cause - I fairly deliberately have reduced impulse control when I banter, and just this one time it popped out something awful.

My mother, also strongly against prejudice, said nothing, and neither did Phil Wong. I spoke very fast at the time, perhaps it didn't register. But I'm skeptical; they were both very polite people.

She's dead, he's probably at least 70 now, but I never forgot it, even though I was very young. Sorry, Phil, you were a good egg and treated us well.

EDIT: I am reminded that when I lived in the US, I would occasionally use the phrase “cracker in the woodpile” just to see people’s reactions, which was generally shock from people of pallor and amusement from people of color. Over time, however, it mutated into confusion, which made me happy as I felt the original phrase had been forgotten.