Living with imperfections and empathy

My child called me last night to vent about one of her favorite shows writer making a thoughtless racist comment on a Twitter feed. This is particularly agregious to her as she also has to deal with her own father's image right now. She and I have never been closer to a difficult reality such as this. On the one hand, the favorite show is a moment of entertainment. Her father is forever. How do you deal with someone who believes that their race is an impediment, yet, uses said impediment as a crutch to state that they are one, discriminated against and two, the reason that the disrimination happens is because another group keeps his group down? Worst of all, there is woeful little proof of such a belief. He can write all that he does in a public forum. He goes on seminars, he is listened to. There are countries in the world where such freedom of speech is met with jail time. However, because this situation is such a hotbed, I find that I have been trying to understand where his hate comes from? I spent almost a whole day with a Reporter/Researcher whom I know casually, and whom I respect, telling her about him. She too was confused by his vile article and past writings denigrating the very group he received so much help from for a very large part of his life. I have to conclude that his disappointment with the way things turned out for (only him)was such that he cannot move forward as a well adjusted emotional being. he has to blame someone outside of himself. He thus sees the problem as a race and not as something that he has experienced that was difficult and has to be seen as not unique to him. But that has definitely prooven impossible. So now he is writing things that reflect what he has never worked out within himself. Yesterday I was very tempted to contact him. But I now realize that I can do nothing but look on. He has chosen his path and he walks it. What I care about is that our child gets no splash back for his actions. Then, on my part, it shows me that there is complexity in love. He was a huge part of my life for a very long time. I do not make a distinction between the person I am constantly challenged by and the person who loved me so much. I do not have to like him now. I do not have to like his behavior. But I will always care about him, and if he is ever in need of something or he is hurt or ill, of course I would do what I can to assist. I conclude that I must have empathy where he is concerned. I must have it, as whatever he is going through, it is hard to watch and hard to know about. As last week, so many people just had to tell me all about what he did. It does not matter that I have divorced him many years ago. I tell people that, and they still turn to me for answers about him! Go figure? He is kept alive in my thoughts all the time. I cannot ignore it outright. So I have decided that it will be my decision to respond to him and about him as is comfortable for me. He does not represent me in any way and he does not represent our child either. All of this tells me to also keep my focus and my eye on the best for the lovely person we created together, and that is the point that I will deal with whatever comes down the road.