Let me add to those pointing out that being "Black in America" is hardly just about skin color - and you know this because you describe at least some of the cultural background issues.

And let me say that your "rural" description is unnecessary. Having lived Northeast, Upper Midwest, now Appalachia, I can assure you that "rural" has nothing to do with it. I could describe the very same events/attitudes in the city I grew up in (80,000 in 10 sq miles, 35% African-American, touching The Bronx), or in Lansing or Holland, Michigan, or where I sit right now.

Racism is embedded in the earth in this nation. It is everywhere. It is in everything "we," as a society, does.

- Ira Socol