“Talk to your kids about what they learn in school”: That was the title of David Cannon’s letter to the editor on March 31.

‘I’m pretty sure he is putting his own spin on the information the schools are putting out but, prove me wrong.

No. 1) I doubt the information says all forms of sexual behavior are good, pedophilia and child pornography are two that I’m pretty sure the schools would not condone, prove me wrong.

No. 2) I doubt the information from schools states that America is a terrible, awful society, prove me wrong.

Now, what I actually think David is responding to is that our educators know that a great deal of families, especially conservative ones, won’t listen to their children when they have concerns, a lot of times at a very young age, about their sexuality or their gender. Two examples come to mind; Ellen Page, now Eric Page, a very well known actor, probably best known for playing the part of Juno in the movie of the same name, knew she was a boy, even though she was born with female parts, as early as nine.

I have a very good friend who is gay and when I asked him about when he knew he was different he told me he was around seven or eight. These are just two examples of the myriads of people out there with their own stories. The point being, people don’t “wait until they’re 18 to make up their own mind,” most people know at a very early age what their gender issues are, whether they be gay, transgender, etc.

Now to address the issue of, “every one is racist and everyone discriminates,” again, I doubt that the information coming from the schools is framed in that manner, prove me wrong. It is probably more along the lines of, we started out a racist country and it is deeply ingrained in our society to the point that we are most likely passively racist and are not aware of it, by that I mean that so many of our laws and customs are set in a way that keeps minorities down.

Selling crack cocaine will get you big prison time most of the time, while powered cocaine will most likely get you a slap on the wrist and probation. Lenders discriminate on loans, even without realizing it. This list is very long so I won’t go into it here.

So, yes, ours is a racist society, whether we are passive participants or, in a lot of cases, active participants, this is something that, if we are made aware of at a very young age, we can start work earlier in our lives to make the changes necessary to move beyond being passive participants and, instead, be activists for change to a better and more inclusive society that lives up to the saying of “the land of the free and the home of the brave.”

Larry Benson

Enumclaw