There were three factors, I think. One was the travel to different parts of the world, the second was the day-to-day interaction with so many nonwhites on active duty, and third was the training we received on how racism was not to be tolerated.

If there is a fourth factor, it's one's own ability to keep an open mind, and I did try to keep an open mind. But without the first three factors provided by the Navy, I probably wouldn't have changed at all.

So while I can't say the Navy "beat it out of me", I can say that it presented the world to my eyes and helped me to understand that humanity's far bigger than just one race.