DEAR ABBY: I would like to reply to "Not Guilty by Association," the young woman whose father is a racist. "My" racist is not a parent or a grandparent; it's my younger brother.
As children growing up in a racially mixed neighborhood, my brother and I didn't know what racism was. We had a large group of friends of various racial and ethnic backgrounds. Some of the adults became so close to us we called them "aunt" and "uncle." Our parents never made any callous remarks or disparaging judgments.
My younger brother recently visited my husband and me and offered to pick up our 5-year-old son from day care. When they returned, my son was in tears. He said "Uncle Matt" said he shouldn't play with "Amanda" anymore because her skin is a different color.
I was furious with Matt, and we have told him that he is welcome in our home in the future, but only if he leaves the racism outside. I refuse to allow him to impose his views on my innocent children, whom I'm raising to see beyond color, religious beliefs or ethnicity.
I'm sorry this is so long, but I feel it has a message that needs to be repeated until racism is a word that has to be looked up in a very, very old dictionary. -- SIBLING OF A BIGOT, NEW HAMPSHIRE
DEAR SIBLING: Your children are being raised to become the kind of citizens the world needs. I hope your brother learned something from the steadfast position you took. I, too, hope that racism is on its way to becoming obsolete.