THE ETHICIST TAP : RACISM [ Q ]

'' AN acquaintance might be racist. Must I sever contact with him? '' The other day I posted a photo of a soccer player, whom I consider to be an acquaintance - I'm closer to the photographer - to my Instagram story.

[ I'm in high school, as are all the people I'm discussing.] Shortly after, a friend D.M. led me to say that the soccer player is '' a racist '' who '' did blackface and said the N-word.''

Even so, I decided not to delete it.

I told my friend that even if I'd known earlier, I wouldn't have completely cut the soccer player off. I become close only with people I respect, and other things being equal, I have far less respect for racists rather than for nonracists.

But my relationship with the soccer player amounts to chatting in class and occasional texts. I didn't see a problem with that level of contact even if he had said or done racist things.

I also said that my friend was urging me to do felt like the kind of '' cancel culture '' that, in my view, makes liberals look bad and offers no one any grace.

MY QUESTION IS : If I claim to be an equality-driven liberal [ which I imply in my Instagram ], am I obligated to completely disassociate from anyone I know to be racist?

And should I have taken down the Instagram story?

[ Name Withheld ]

Professor Kwame Anthony Appiah who teaches philosophy in N.Y.U. answers in our next publication.