From My post at AOL Black Voices/BlackSpin:

I don’t live in a different world from any other American. But I experience that world as an individual, through the prism of my identity which consists of many elements including “race” as the concept has manifested in this country. As a black woman, I don’t see the world as a white male or white woman does. Another example, as an able bodied woman, my experiences are different from a disabled person’s. It would be uninformed for me to presume that although I am a supporter of the Disabled Rights movement, that our news and information priorities are always the same.

This is perhaps a long wind up to get to the question I’d like to address here. Frequently, visitors to the AOL site ask this:

Why no “WhiteVoices?” This continues to segregate no matter how you sell it. Maybe just “Voices‚” or “REGIONAL VOICES?” Just sets things back further. Not much of an INDEPENDENCE DAY positive movement. Really look beyond colors would ya???

My first reaction is always to wonder if these same people write to Time, Newsweek, Huffington Post, AOL’s Fanhouse or any other online forum host about the preponderance of white opinion on those pages.

It seems somehow that many white people do not see “white” as its own race and influencer on personal experience. They see black, brown, gold and America. Or they see black, brown, gold and “the rest of us.” They don’t think in terms that no matter what you call majority white opinion and news organizations, they are predominately and in essence “white voices.”

Those “mainstream,” i.e. white majority, forums generate topics and focus attention on issues editors decide are important to their primary readership – as does “Black Voices.” Like “Black Voices,” those staffs are racially integrated and articles are open to anyone to read and comment on.

One of the ideas I most oppose is the notion that recognizing differences in American experience is “setting things back further” or “divisive.” I really do not understand that. In my ideal America, we respect and honor the vibrant diversity of the United States. We see each others experiences and listen to what each other has to say and from that exchange we forge a fuller understanding of the world. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. talked about being judged on the content of one’s character. Dr. King never, ever suggested that a person’s skin color would have to be rendered unspeakable or invisible in order for them to be considered equal.