In the Australian riot story below, we observed the principle that if a white person attacks a black person, race is the first thing mentioned. If the reverse is the case, much more frequent, it's considered wrong even to mention it.

Remember Congressman Mel Reynolds? I will quote myself, here:"You never mention anyone's race, sex, or immigration status if you can avoid it. I just found out, five years after I first heard of him being sent away for having sex with an underage girl, that Congressman Mel Reynolds is black.No one mentioned it, so I didn't know until I came across a story where he mentioned it himself."

Reynolds blamed racism for the charge, saying ''When they shackle me, like they shackled my slave ancestors and take me off to jail, nobody in this room will see me crawl." But if he hadn't mentioned it, no news story would.

That's why I was so startled (and amused) by this headline: Black charged with fraud, [By Barbara Shecter, National Post, November 18, 2005] But no! It's not what you think, it's a actually a white guy.