Janie, I've written about five different responses that I haven't posted, because it is easier to say things that are either convoluted, confusing, or confrontational than it is to bring clarity to the issue. Then I realized that Rodgers and Hammerstein explained it best:


You've got to be taught
To hate and fear,
You've got to be taught
From year to year,
It's got to be drummed
In your dear little ear
You've got to be carefully taught.

You've got to be taught to be afraid
Of people whose eyes are oddly made,
And people whose skin is a diff'rent shade,
You've got to be carefully taught.

You've got to be taught before it's too late,
Before you are six or seven or eight,
To hate all the people your relatives hate,
You've got to be carefully taught!