Letters: Counter the vein of racism

EDITOR,
We live in San Jose, but my husband is a reverse commuter and works in Scotts Valley.
On a recent Wednesday, during winter break, we (me and my daughter) got off Highway 17, on our way to the beach, to see him, and beforehand stopped for a quick bite at local Burger King.
The week before, in the Press-Banner, I saw a letter from lesbian Ali Spickler, about being attacked in front of Scotts Valley cinema (“Communication needed to ensure respect, safety,” Commentary, Dec. 25), but didn’t really stop to think about it. But I recalled it really fast inside that Burger King.
See, my husband’s white, I am African-American, and I was with our mixed-race daughter. As I stood waiting for our order, I got hit by a cup lid. I turned around and saw a few 8- and 9-year-olds giggling. I gave them a look. Usually that’s enough (I’m a preschool teacher over the hill, and I know how to give those behavior-straightening looks).
But a minute later, I was hit by a spit wad. I told the boys to stop it or I’ll have to visit their table, and that seemed to work — except, as I was leaving, they loudly tried to speak ghetto English to each other.
Now, none of the hits were as painful as Spickler described in her letter, but obviously there’s a consistent vein of racism and intolerance in your petit bourgeoisie little town, as confirmed by occasional swastikas at the skate park. Maybe the teenagers can look that stuff up on the Web, but 8- and 9-year olds most likely get it from their own households.
You can’t expect kids to educate their parents, but I’d suggest your schools do something about it, or these kids will be totally unprepared for the real world — where the U.S. president is black and whites are a minority in Silicon Valley.