TL;DR Dogs are just another (cute) vehicle for racism. The subject of racism has been on my mind pretty much all of 2020. I just finished reading the book, Race Without Racism , which argues that the chameleon-like system/institution of racism is alive and well despite a cultural shift toward racial "colorblindness." My interest in America's new racism led me to an article from a decade ago that shocked me— How dogs help keep multiracial neighborhoods socially segregated . Author and Editor of The Conversation, Beth Daley's findings went against my natural assumption that dog owners would be drawn naturally together in friendship. I naively imagined multicultural neighbors walking their dogs, stopping to chat, finding common ground, resulting in BBQs or even vacations together. Daley painted quite a different picture with her robust sociological investigation of a multicultural, North Carolina neighborhood between 2009-2011. She offers readers three alarming examples...
Self growth is tender; it's holy ground. There's no higher investment.