Mephistopheles recomended this article in Seattle Weekly. When he talked about it I was much more excited than what I actually got from the article. Maybe he got something from it that I have missed, but hopefully he will comment if our interpertations are different.

The premise is this- Seattle used to be one of the most segregated west coast cities, but gentrification of the CD is changing that. With those changes, it’s time that Seattle has a serious discussion about race.

Ok, this is all good so far. I would take it a step futher and include class and gender, but race is a start.

The honest discussion of racial issues here is difficult in part because it
begins from a commonly held assumption among whites that the ideal society is a
raceless society. If race doesn’t—or shouldn’t—matter, then focusing on race is
a distraction. White conservatives often believe this as a matter of principle,
viewing America as a kind of equal opportunity meritocracy. White liberals, on
the other hand, are eager to focus on how pretty the rainbow is and that we’re
all the same inside. The real translation is that underneath dark skin there is
a white person who is eager to get out. The more minorities “act white,” the
more accepted they are by the mainstream. Such views downplay the life-shaping
importance of racial experience.