Minorities (ethnically, gendered, religious, whatever): How do you deal with the hate?

I’ve been lucky enough to have never encountered one of the people who want to see me dead for being a part of the religion and ethnic group that I belong to. But I saw a picture recently on the People of Walmart website of a woman wearing a sweater with a swastika printed on it inside a Walmart, and it got me thinking about what I’d do if I were shopping at a Walmart and saw that woman there with her sweater on. My first impulse, in this imaginary scene, was to attack her physically. Second time I ran the fantasy, I decided to go talk to the imaginary manager and demand that he tell the woman to turn the sweater inside-out or leave the store. I don’t know what I would have done, in this imaginary scenario, if he had refused. Luckily he agreed.

But seriously – what to do? My mom was in the South once, and was having dinner with a local family. Somehow the conversation turned to the fact that my mom is Jewish, and this family’s little girl asked her where her horns and tail were. My mom never told me what she did in response to that.

What have you done in such a situation? Or, if you have no experience to fall upon, what do you think you would do in either of these, or in one of your own fantasy numbers? If you’re not a minority, please feel free to chime in anyway with reactions/suggestions/whatever.