I have often said quite plainly that the blogosphere is a reflection of society in many ways. And it is clear to me that it is indeed a mirror of the racial inequities, discord and tensions that exist in the physical world.

More specifically, that highly partisan, left-leaning subset of the blogosphere is as white or whiter than the community from which it springs in the real world.

There are the white liberals who tacitly believe that they can represent the set of wide-ranging diverse progressive constituencies all by themselves, and then there is the much smaller, far less visible and tragically less influential group of white progressives who are as critical of the white domination as those of us progressives of color who see that "there's nothing new under the sun".

This was largely the theme of my comments at the Seize the Moment Conference in DC last weekend, where I provided my 10-minute remarks via audio file for the panel on the netroots.

Diversity. Democracy. Racism. Progressive.

Four words no longer recommended for polite online and on-land conversation.

Diversity

This is what I've concluded navigating the various predominantly white environs and institutions in which I've lived, studied and work for most of my life. And in retrospect, I see that I have all but avoided such exchanges in the blogogsphere since actively blogging while black -- until recently, that is.
In the heat of renewed, more mainstream discussions about diversity in -- and for -- the blogosphere, I am reminded of three other words I've increasingly sought to avoid using casually in light of my realization that most people either 1) choose not to think substantively about the range of meaning the word "diversity" itself holds for different groups or 2) simply refuse to define it for fear of revelations that might challenge their rhetoric.

On Friday, January 28th, I participated in a panel called "The Grassroots, the Netroots and the DNC: A discussion of progressive participation, party politics & the race for DNC Chair" sponsored by Concerts for Change and Cosmopolity.com.

I asked if I'd be the only person of color on the panel, to which the organizer replied that he had calls in to other folks who had not yet responded. Yeah, right.

I told him that I'd be deeply disturbed if I was the only person of color on the panel, given that 1) it was being held in Manhattan (where there've been known to be colored person or two around), 2) there were many highly talented people of color far more worthy of an invitation than I, and 3) how are you going to talk about the grassroots and the Democratic Party and have one Black guy assuming the role of special envoy of Colored People United. Needless to say, I was not convinced that another person of color would show, so I gave the organizer a list of potential invitees to contact.