One of the best scenes in the first season of E.R. was when Dr. Benton's mother comes in and talks to Dr. Carter and turns back to her son, saying, "Peter, I think his family used to own our family." The line was delivered very matter-of-factly, within a drop of venom or vindictiveness or anger.
I was watching Sarah Silverman's stage show last night. First she says she had a half black boyfriend, then she says "Why do I always see the glass as half empty... he's half white." Then she said she told him once that she was sure he would have been a very expensive slave in olden times and professed mystification that he got very offended.
I kind of enjoyed her... she's willing to take on the race situation.