I've been *away* fishing and I've looked in on this thread enough to see one huge obvious thing jumping out at me-- no, two.

1. The thread was started by someone who kinda made a mess for himself with inflammatory postings on another topic, and who is taking great care to communicate thoughtfully here. I just don't get that, but I love it that after starting this highly charged topic he came back to post again and apparently wasn't just stirring up an issue for fun. Hmm. (Thanks for coming back, Davecoje. Gotta say, ya got me pretty confoosed, and I know you know what I mean!)

2. 99% of those of you who've posted on this tried really really hard to think and communicate well about this sticky subject and you know what? Mostly what I saw you communicated was how deeply you are committed to communicating with each other without hurting each other. There are tough words here, but so loving, so urgently desirous of contact.

I find these things very significant. Racism discussions are either different here than elsewhere, or different now in our culture than they used to be.

Just curious-- Have any of you taken this discussion out into your 3-D friendships to see what other people think? Do you discuss these ideas with people of other cultures and color groups?