Apology to and in defence of Jeri:

I feel I may have jumped on you too hard for the apparent assumption that POCs would identify themselves as such when contributing to this sort of thread. As you said, if the situation were reversed, you would identify yourself as a member of the group under discussion. It so happens that I wouldn't unless I felt a reason to. Which I clearly did when you mentioned the no postings thing after I had posted. **ding! ding! buttons pushed, buttons pushed1**

It is most decidedly not you who pushed whatever race buttons got pushed. You happened to be the one to articulate the apparent lack of postings from POCs. But I don't believe for one second that you were the only person making that assumption. No matter our personal ancestry, our culture is eurodominated, and we all make assumptions within that framework, rightly or wrongly.

I make these assumptions too. Imagine my chagrin when I realized that I was acting on racist assumptions EVEN THOUGH MY FAMILY IS HALF BLACK-LOOKING, HALF WHITE-LOOKING! **Sorry, sometimes I shout when I'm chagrinned.**

Here's what I did: I was on an elevator going to work, knowing I was late but wanting to know just how late. There were two other people on the elevator, one black, one white, both wearing watches. I asked the white guy for the time. After leaving the elevator something hit my gut with a sickening thud. I had positioned myself in the elevator further from the black guy than the white, and in hindsight I realized that I hadn't even considered the black guy as a viable source of information. That was nearly 10 years ago and I remember it like yesterday.

If I can make a subtle race-based choice like that when my family is mixed race and my childhood dolls, 2 black, 1 Innu and 1 white, were all sisters (you should've seen the looks on the faces of my parents' friends when I announced that!), I can surely understand what a difficult challenge it is to tolerate diversity, never mind to expect it and to embrace it!

The elevator episode, and the doll one for that matter, will remain with me forever, always very close to my awareness.

Jeri, I fear I put you on the defensive because of my own issues, and that's not fair. I'm sorry.

CH