In this particular film, I think it's very easy to villainize the single white mother. Even the actress who portrayed her said in a recent interview "I don't think she's aware. A lot of people are prejudiced in that way."
When I watch it, however, I see a woman who is under a lot of stress. She is trying to hold on to her job in the face of company cut-backs, as well as needing to secure tuition for her son to attend a private school. There may be some underlying prejudices in her decisions, but at the end of the day she is like the rest of us--doing what she has to in order to survive in a hostile world. Can any of us say we are at our best when circumstances at at their worst? I think in those circumstances our human instinct is to protect our own.
I'm not saying it's right, I'm just saying her behavior seemed very true to life.
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