Bill,

Here are my responses to the questions that you asked 25 Feb 08 - 10:47 AM post:

I believe that sometimes "when any issue of race or ethnicity is broached, some others may 'get it wrong'" . Some Mudcat members and guests-perhaps moreso those who live outside of the United States and are unfamiliar with our colloquial expressions may not understand those expressions and the cultural baggage they carry. For instance, when questions were asked about the Don Imus' flap as a result of his nappy head 'hos statement}. In those instances, people are asking for clarification and information. But there are other instance, such as in the Mudcat thread to which I have already provided an hyperlink, I think people "get it wrong". Of course, that is my opinion, and opinions certainly may differ. But at that point, I felt that I had to chose to respond or to "play pass it". I chose to respond publicly and have since also responded to private messages that I received from those posters to whon I responded publicly.

and

I am also saying that being practically alone in my race/ethnicity* I feel at a disadvantage in posting because it is unlikely that I will have anyone else who shares my race/ethnicity to corroborate and/or expand on the statements that I have made.

While it "is possible that the very fact OF [my] ethnicity will be factored in unfairly by others responding", that is not my point.

*I recognize that there are a number of different ethnicities [sub-groups] among African Americans- for instance Gullah people are one ethnicity; Louisiana Creoles are another; persons of Caribbean descent are another. And if Quarcoo relocated to the United States he would be considered-by most others if not by himself-as an African American of Ghanaian [more specifically of Akan? or Ewe? etnicitity]. However, usually, when I use the phrase "ethnicity" in speaking of people of color I mean people of Latino {Hispanic} descent-who according to the USA, can be of any race, but usually in this "people of color" context aren't considered to be White.

-snip-

With regard to other comments that have been made on this thread, let me reiterate that I am using the USA social definition of race/ethnicity and not the social definition from other countries and also not any biological definition.