The question makes sense because, for years, children in the united states were taught that it was noble and right to try and judge people’s ideas based on their sense and merit- without regard to the skin color of the speaker.

To people raised under that philosophy, it can be disconcerting to realize that now it has become proper to judge everything only after first assessing the skin color of who said it. This isnt as shocking when someone makes a statement related to race, but the point is really driven home when the issue at hand is a tree.