Well, it could be, but it doesn’t sound far-fetched to me at all. Kids are not politically correct until they are indoctrinated with it. They don’t have a filter when they talk, and they do notice people that look different and they do have an instinct to avoid those people. I know my parents never taught me that, but that is how I felt around pre-school/kindergarten age.
” They don’t have a filter when they talk, and they do notice people that look different and they do have an instinct to avoid those people.”
I remember walking to school at 6 years of age in the early 70’s. Up until that point, I had probably never seen black people. I do not ever remember the family ever talking about black people, though I was raised not to be prejudiced. Occasionally there would be a small group of black teenagers walking the opposite direction while I was walking to school. Every time I spotted them blocks away, I always jumped the wall into some random persons backyard to hide until they had passed. I was absolutely sure in my head that those kids would beat me up if they got their hands on me. Those were probably the first black people I remember seeing, and had no experience and had not come from a discriminating house hold, but my very first reaction was fear.