My parents said not to speak to them unless spoken to first, and then to be polite but to move on. Think of how a nine/ten year old kid processes such a message. So while i was taught not to hate, I wasn't exactly taught to love either. That said, we did have a family maid who brought her niece, granddauhter and nephew to our house to play with my brother and me. We played indoors and int eh back yard, and sometimes a friend of mine would play, too. Definitely a lot of mixed messages. And i did rebel--while I can't say i had close Black friends in high school, I was definitely friendly and talkative with the kids I knew. None ever came to my house, or i to theirs, however. Alabama's culture did impact all of this, as it still does, from what i read and hear. Do you have any stories about your own past, racially speaking?