Just a couple of few thoughts:

I have found that like minded people don't have to look alike.

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One of the things I like best about the Internet is that people who have similar situational needs and/or similar interests can "meet", share, support each other, and work together even though they may be miles apart. I also very much like the fact that via the Internet people can "meet" and converse with people from different cultures, and learn about those cultures. I think both these things are a plus. And both of these reasons are why I like Mudcat.   

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Here's another true story:

Some years ago I went to visit a woman who lived in Minnesota who I had met because both of us were members of a national board. Every year the board met in the urban city of Minneapolis-St. Paul. However, this woman lived some distance from that area in a more rural community. She invited me to come one day early to the board meeting and stay with her. When she invitated me, the woman shared with me that there were very few people who were members of a minority group who lived in her area. Because the woman and I had platonically hit it off, I accepted her invitation, and she met me at the Minneapolis/St. Paul airport and drove me to her town. At one point during the next day, the woman had to go to work, and she suggested that I take a walk to a particular part of her town where there were arts & crafts shops. I did so. At one shop, I rounded the corner and almost bumped into a very dark skinned woman. If I had to hazard a guess, I would say that she was of East Indian descent. The woman looked at me and I looked at her, and we both smiled. Then we nodded our heads at each other and went on our way.

I share this story to say that sometimes there is a kinship among people of minority groups particularly in settings where they are "the only ones". True, I may have read more in that smile than was really meant, but imo, that East Indian woman and I recognised that we shared something that the White board member and I could never share. Perhaps I am reading more into it, but imo, the East Indian woman and I shared the fact that we are members of a minority group within a majority population {or what we experienced as a majority population}. And that fact meant {means} a whole host of things including the fact that we had emotionally survived the poison of prejudice and had grown stronger in spite of those experiences.

Does being dark matter? In that instance, with that East Indian woman and me-an African American woman who is far lighter than she was-yes, I believe even for that short moment of recognition, it did matter to us. And I think that was a good thing.