It depends on what the superficialities are that overlay the 'core'. That is what the enmities and discriminations are largely based on.

One of the most common & obvious is color, of course, but that is not as central as it used to be. It seems to me that color these days, as a 'marker' of race/ethnicity just provides an easy category and way to generalize, when the concerns are actually about language, behavior, 'morality', customs and perhaps political/economic factors.

'Dark', whether Hispanic, African, Caribbean, Native American...etc. matters because there are those 'concerns' noted above associated with them by the 'not dark'...sometimes correctly, but often just as rumors and stereotypes and generalizations.(and of course, this goes both ways)

Because OF anti-discrimination laws in hiring and housing, integrated schools and military, affirmative action and various other forces, society has become more mixed....in some places..., and this has been beneficial in many ways. But there are always areas where assimilation is largely a joke. I live in the Wash. D.C. metro area, and I can go to areas where entire shopping centers have Vietnamese signs, or have mostly Spanish businesses, or where I can drive for several miles and see mostly African-American faces and very few people who look like ME.
   Now, where I live, in a suburb, the neighborhood is quite mixed. In my street we have at least 3-4 black families, including one mixed couple, one family who is either Indian or Pakistani, several..(4-6) who are Hispanic and I see several Asian folks walking or driving by, though I am not sure exactly where they live...just that they are regulars. We have had 15-20 years with no problems, and I am acquainted with several of these folks and have a nodding relationship with several of the others........but.....

....suddenly, it is changing. There is a high school near me, and my street is an obvious route for kids who live across a nearby major street to use when walking to school. It seems that neighborhood is very heavily African-American, and I have been having intermittent problems with the kids..(coming into my yard, breaking things, turning over an old swing set..etc.) My LONG time next-door neighbor sold his house last year, and it was bought by a Latino guy who rents rooms to several other young Latino men. Only one of them speaks passable English, and every weekend next door involves loud music, extra visitors, and by Monday morning, piles of beer bottles on the curb ...so many that the trash collectors often break a couple trying to empty the overflowing bins.....guess who gets to sweep up the broken glass if I don't want to drive over it? (My driveway is right beside their trash spot).
   The next door lawn is no longer maintained well, there has been a broken washing machine sitting on the curb for 3 weeks now, and there are between 3 and 6 EXTRA cars/trucks parked on the street. I am trying VERY hard to remain civil and at least say hello and hope for a way to make....ummm. 'suggestions', but it is hard to KNOW what to say...and as I say, they speak little English. They either do not understand, or do not care, how to separate recycleables and tree trimmings from trash, and almost EVERY Monday the collections people t
'tag' one or more cans as 'not passable' and leave them on the curb...sometimes it takes a couple of weeks before anyone makes the necessary changes. I find cigarette packs, beer bottles, condoms (twice) and other jetsam on my lawn or beside the curb where they have parked. Not huge amounts, but 'tedious'.

....enough? You see, I am faced with the age-old dilemma of what to do when a neighborhood changes. So far, I am coping, but if it gets worse, I am stumped...I cannot AFFORD to move...and I have 25 years worth of stuff to cope with.

What is this phenomenon? It is middle to lower middle class ethnic groups who do not care to be assimilated or adopt 'standard' language & customs beginning to mix with those who have done so. I have African-American neighbors who, at least when they are speaking to me, have very little accent, go to work, tend their lawn & gardens, wave hello when I pass and make no waves in the neighborhood. Perhaps they listen to different music than I do, attend black-only clubs, and watch very different TV programs...*shrug*..I have no way of knowing, but they are nice folks, and quite welcome. The kids from 'the other side of the main street' who walk by are walking stereotypes in dress & behavior (most of them), and I have obvious concerns. In addition, there is a fast rising number of assults, burglaries, rapes in my general area.

There are, you see, several 'cultures' which are not very compatible, beginning to bump together in awkward ways around here. I cannot look at ANY single individual and predict that they will be a direct problem for me, but every time there IS a problem, it comes with an ethnic label, and to return to the first paragraph in this rambling narrative, it is almost automatic now to be 'wary' of certain colors or languages.
Yeah, sadly...it 'matters'...even when I fight the tendency to make unwarranted assumptions, I am aware that I am 'trying' to be fair, civil and reasonable, and I resent having to worry over it.

I am well aware that some of MY ancestors a couple of centuries ago may have contributed to the situation that causes the turmoil I...and those I worry about...face today.....but *I* didn't do it, and *I* have worked for over 40 years to make it better, and the only progress I see is formal and superficial....for which I give SOME thanks! I LIKE knowing that Barak Obama can be in the senate and have a serious chance to be president, and that Tiger Woods can win at Augusta, where blacks were once banned from playing, and that *I* was once the factor that allowed an African-American man to win a political race over a bigoted, redneck white guy, and that a strong, brave woman in Mississippi helped set the tone for ANYONE to sit anywhere on a bus they chose to!.......but I'll confess, I am ready for those advances to mean more than just newspaper headlines and a greater ethnic mix in TV commercials!

I want some real cooperation and good will when 'dark matters' are concerned, and it will take both sides to make that happen....at least a bigger % of both sides than I see working at it now!