My daughter is turning 6 in a couple of months. I was at my mother’s place last week, and I heard my stepfather make a racist joke about a popular children’s character on the TV. I told my mother that I don’t want her husband at my daughter’s party or around my family in the future. She claimed “he was just making a joke” and that I’m taking it too seriously.
My sister-in-law is part of the minority group that he made the joke about, and she and her family will be at my daughter’s party. The last thing I want is a racist around who might say something hurtful to them or my two nieces, who are 6 and 8. I said as much to my mother and told her that either her husband stays home or they both do. Now she’s accusing me of trying to make her choose between her granddaughter and her husband “over nothing.” I don’t consider bigotry to be “nothing.” My husband and my dad (my parents divorced when I was in middle school), and my brother are in my corner and agree with my stance. This is a hill worth dying on, right?
—Mom Married an Asshole