Rowan, your comment, and many other comments to this thread, based as they are on others' experiences, fascinate me and make me sad at the same time.

Sometimes I don't even want to think about race and then I go bringing it up here on Mudcat. I suppose people are saying "There she goes again.". But I'm learning a lot from reading this thread, and I believe that others are also learning about the insidiousness of race and skin color preferences not just in the USA, but elsewhere around the world.

Rowan, your 30 May 08 - 01:01 AM post, reminds me that I haven't "seen" Hilda Fish around Mudcat lately. I hope all is well with her, and pray that she'll return to Mudcat when the Spirit moves her to do so.

Hilda wrote a number of powerful comments on another Mudcat thread that I started about race: thread.cfm?threadid=88950 "Responses To Racism". That 2006 discussion was the most emotionally difficult one I have had on Mudcat to date, the second most difficult one being the aforementioned 2008 thread "Mudcat is Difficult For People Of Color".
But with a lot of help from my online friends, each time I perservered and learned and grew [in spirit, and, hopefully, in truth]. And I'm still here to testify how I got over [as they say in downhome Black churches whether they are really downhome-meaning in the Southern region of the USA or not].

I feel this thread needs some of Hilda's voice. I believe that my sister Hilda Fish won't mind me reposting a comment she made on that "Response to Racism" thread. But first, I'll repost a comment I wrote on another Mudcat thread as I believe that post serves as a preface & companion piece to Hilda's comment.