would you object?

[Tink]

Right now I am a bit confused.
My Katie is 18 and has a male friend who seems like a really decent guy. He's polite, worked as a policeman until he got his legs mangled in an accident, is very committed to his 2 daughters, and seems to treat her very respectfully. Since he has no family in the area, she invited him to go with us to her dads side of the families Thanksgiving dinner. Sounds great, right?

The downside is that he is 47 years old and African American. He looks half his age, so I was shocked when I heard how old he really is. I can hope no one will mention age so that won't have to be a topic of discussion at all. I am a bit concerned about how the family will react to his being of a different race. I have never heard any discussion at all that would prove any of them are racist, yet I don't know that there's ever been a situation for it to be brought up either. Hubby and I don't care what color he is as long as he's a decent man, which he does seem to be. How the rest of the family will react is the question.

Should we warn them that her "guest" is black? That seems rather ridiculous...
yet I really don't want to show up and have someone make a scene. Hubbies brother is a rather hateful little turd and the gathering is going to be at his house, so he is the one I am most worried about. This sounds silly even to me, yet I'd rather not start the day off with anyone getting nasty.

What would you do?