Yes--But...but. Race is so hard. As the parent of a child who is not white, I have had my own assumptions about my own feelings about race tested 1000 times. Suddenly--every thing is completely different ( and not as "safe") as I watch my child navigate the world--the world I take for granted as the world where frankly, my skin color makes me a member of the ruling class. And hers does not. I watch people make assumptions about her and then see her white parents and adjust their assumptions. I have seen (white) friends of ours brag about how "diverse" their kids' schools are because a class of 20 has 2 blacks, 2 asians, and 2 hispanics-- and that is perfectly fine for THOSE kids to be in the min ority, but it would be wretched and unfair for the white kids. I think those kids in your driveway probably were carrying alot of baggage.

Christine, I sensed that from this guy. I think that's what made me so bemused. That he clearly had all this baggage (probably for a lot of really good reasons) and if he'd only stopped for a breath to let me explain, he'd have left feeling a whole lot better. At least about this one incident. The filters we see through are so strong sometimes and we don't even realize it. Race is a huge one. Sadly, it may be inevitably so. At least here and now.