Hi, Donna. This is the most disturbing thread I've ever read on this or any other forum, with the possible exception of anonymous women telling of abuse by their intimate partners.
I too am appalled at what you've had to endure, both this most recent display of cowardly bigotry and what I'm sure has been a lifelong marathon.
This is difficult for me to acknowledge even to myself, let alone to you, one whom I admire so much and from whom I've learned so much, but I think you deserve to "hear" this from me: as distasteful as this is to admit, I have a very "white" mind. What I mean by that is, if I am not acquainted with someone first by sight, I automatically presume that person to be "caucasian", and it is always a memorable moment when I learn otherwise. That is what happened to me when I first logged onto your bio myself and saw this beautiful African American woman; I saw the African American first. And many of my reactions to your bio and subsequent posts have been "colored", if you will, by that knowledge in some ineffable way, not negative, hopefully not condescending, but certainly real. And my consciousness of "race" and "skin color" has always been there.
That's my feedback, as sad as it is. It's a life's work to erase social and cultural bigotries that always have a personal element. I sincerely hope that someday, that work will be done, for me and for others.
Annette