When Sheli McMahan was growing up in Shreveport in the '70s, the mothers in her neighborhood sent a clear message about whether children with different colored skin should play together. "The little old white ladies would point at them" —children of African ancestry— "and tell them to get out of here, to go back where they belong," McMahan recalled.

Once the non-white children were shooed, the mothers would turn to one of their own group and deliver a stinging reminder. "They'd say, 'If your mom knew those little nigger children were playing in your yard, she'd tan your hide.'" In that way, the mothers and grandmothers of Shreveport and throughout the South effectively passed along their them-vs.-us cultural values.

McMahan, who lives in the New Orleans Lakeview community, is now a mother herself. And she, like the mothers of her former neighborhood, disseminates her values to the next generation. But her message—and that of the Erace group to which she belongs—is vastly different.

On Saturdays at City Park, she and Erace say it's OK for children with dark skin to play with those who have light skin; it's OK for children from all ethnic groups to play together. During good-weather Saturdays from 10 a.m. until noon, mothers and children who share this view are invited to hang out and play together on the swings or slides or feed ducks in an area between the park's casino and its tennis courts. A 10-by-3-foot pink banner marks the site. Its large blue letters announce: "Eracism Playgroup. People of all colors with love and respect. Join us."