but the local police still consider any person of color an "outsider" and therefore suspicious. I think the problem is that most suburbanites have no real idea how their area is governed, or who the governing officials are. There is a lot of knee jerk voting for whomever is on the Republican line. The police forces operate under the radar as long as they are careful not to arrest the wrong people.

When it comes to being black in America, AA's are fighting a narrative that has been in place for over 300 years, beginning with the founding of our nation. It is a narrative that continues today as is often pointed out here on DU. My three children are biracial as I am white and my ex-wife is black. While my two girls get mostly comments from white friends that are either insensitive or downright racist, my son, at 6'3", 218 pounds of pure fitness, endures profiling on a daily basis. While he is the nicest, sweetest kid who is loved by almost anyone that knows him, just his presence can be scary to some. I have seen white men visibly recoil in fear when walking past him. He has been pulled over in our small town and in the small city in which he lives more times at 22 than I have been my whole life, and it is rarely one cop. When cops see him they almost always call for back-up until they approach him and they almost always pull him over as he fits the profile.

At 22, since he has left our small town to attend college and live there full time, he has grown to hate the police and feels persecuted. While I think he is starting to come to terms with it, it is a constant pressure that is always there. I worry about how it seems the easiest way to get away with murder is to kill a black man. I worry for my son that another George Zimmerman or Darren Wilson will feel scared, threatened, or intimidated by his mere presence.

My son's reality is something that I have never had to deal with, and is something my white friends do not have to worry about with their children. I hope my son graduates college and is a successful, happy adult. But I fear that as in the OP's article, no matter what he accomplishes, he will always be seen as a criminal in waiting.

You are in a unique position to observe this close up and personal.

The Righties® deny that racism even exists.

There would be plenty of racism even without Fox and Limbaugh fanning the flames of hatred.

This rampant racism is an embarrassment to our nation.

From a perspective many of us may not have thought of.

Thank you for sharing with us.

Or do you think the experience is pretty similar regardless of gender?

Thank you, xchrom.

happen in this country which should be a free country for all.