“I know this will be hard for you, but because you are black my parents don’t want us to be friends anymore. Please don’t take it personal; they do this with all my black friends. I’m so sorry.”

I remember reading these words in high school with a certain numb disbelief that the sweetness of a burgeoning friendship could be hewed so suddenly. The blow was swift and efficient—the friendship was over but in this case nothing more was said. There were no white sheets and no crosses were burned. It was the violence of private opinion. Her parents decided that the world was not ready for the mixing of the races. My friend wrote that I should not take her words personally but it was personal. I received the letter with stoic composure. I did not cry, shout, nor for that matter—speak. What was there to say?

Her parents might be excused as ignorant, and ignorant they were, but racism is more than simply ignorance. It must be called what it is—sin. It is not ignorance alone that separates friends. It is not ignorance alone that promote racial purity. And it is not the ignorant alone who wear white sheets or More >