artbrooks, just for the record, I want to clarify that I don't think that a person's skin color should be a factor- major or minor-between people. However, I live in a world where a person's skin color can and sometimes does cause different attitudes {accepting and rejecting} and different treatments {or an omission of treatment i.e. services}. I am talking about the reality that I have experienced and still experience of both personal racism and institutional racism. Because of my perceptions and experiences of an African American female who has lived in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania for 40 years, I agree with Representative Murtha {and your wife?} that there is a great deal of White racism in Western Pennsylvania. And I also will state for the record, that a significant number of African Americans in Western Pennsylvania have varying reactions to White people including distain, and anger because of the real mistreatment or potential for maltreatment by White people in authority {including some police} and the fact that for the most part, Black people are excluded from most good jobs in the area-including union jobs such as liscensed electrician, construction, and plumbing union jobs.

Also, because of segregated neighborhoods and segregated schools within Pittsburgh, and because of the small number of Black people in many Western Pennsylvania towns, White people and Black people have little opportunities to really get to know each other. And it's been my experience that most Black people don't attend social or public events or venues where there will be few if any other Black people. This may be partly because of the cost of such venues. But also I think that this is because a lot of Black people {but not me any more} are [still] insecure around a majority of White people -especially when they are or may be "the only one" {meaning the only person of color in attendance}. By feeling "insecure", I mean feeling unsure about how they will be accepted by White people. Because of this, I believe that many Black people are much too insular, living in their "world" and having their own interests and social activities, and not wanting to venture out of their comfort zone to experience "other worlds" and other interests. And yes, there are some Black people who are prejudiced against {racist toward} White people. But I don't think that is the majority of Black people. And I think that the majority of White people are as I as insecure about {around} Black people as Black people are around White people, although because there are usually so many more White people in this area than Black people {depending on where you go} that except at certain times and places, White people rarely have occasion to socially interact with Black people. In some public social settings. I get the sense that some White people are out to proof that they aren't prejudiced-and the interaction isn't as natural as it would be if they didn't have a concern that they might accidentally say something or do something that might offend a Black person.

In the opposite situation, when there are just a few Black people around a majority of White people {outside of interactions with persons in power such as judges, police, social workers, and doctors}, I don't get the sense that we are worried about offending White people. Because of the way the USA is, I definitely think that Black people know more about White people than White people know about Black people. That said, I have found that there are often real differences in colloquial expressions, children's rhymes, ways of singing the same religions songs, dancing, jokes, etc etc etc. between many White people and many Black people...

All of this to say, art, and with all due respect for you and for what I believe you were trying to say, I'm still concerned about race because I believe that White racism has negatively impacted me and my family and has the potential to negatively impact me and my family in the future mor than Black racism has impacted you and your family and more than Black racism has the potential to impact you and your family in the future.

I don't believe in being color blind. I believe that people should hope for and work for a time when race and ethnicity have no plus or minus valuations, but are just descriptors. But until institutional racism is eradicated in the judicial system, welfare system-including child welfare, educational system, health care system, corporations including finacial lending systems, and mass media to name some institutions,there will be people who are socialized to hate people who are different from them.

There was a time {in the mid to late 1960s} that I was desperately seeking good White people because I wanted to believe that all White people weren't like the segregationists in the South who attacked demonstrators with dogs and water from fire hoses-to name some present day examples that accosted my spirit and then there were the assault on my spirit by the accounts of slavery that I read in history books, not to mention my hurtful personal experiences with White racism as a youth and as a teenager and as a young adult...

But during the mid to late 1960s {as a result of being only one of 6 Black students who lived on campus at a New Jersey college}, I got to know a few good White people relatively well. And since that time I have got to know many more good White people, including members of this forum. And thankfully, I don't need to meet White people for the same reasons that I needed to meet them in the 1960s.
I know that all White people aren't like those segregationists down South {and elsewhere} who didn't think that people of color were as human as they weree, and who were socialized to look down upon and to fear Black people. I realize that I was socialized to feel inferior because of my skin color. To the best of my ability, I have worked on those feelings of inferiority and I don't believe that I feel inferior at all to White people any more. And that is a blessing that I partly owe to some White people who are my friends and are closer to me than some of my biological family.

I want to add this disclaimer that I am not saying that all or even most African American {Pittsburghers or residents of other cities, and towns, and rural areas} have the same or similar takes on race and racism that I do. But I do think that many African Americans may "hear" and agree with a great deal of what I am saying.

And I've said more than I expected to say. And, I'm going to leave it right there. I'm not going to re-read this because if I do, I'll probably delete it. And I don't think I want to delete this post-though when I do re-read this, I might think differently.