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The City of Fulton is a small community in upstate New York, with very few minority residents. One might think, in such a close-knit small town environment, that the specter of racism would be unable to rear its head here. However, the truth of the matter is quite the opposite.

I am (mostly) White, as is the vast majority of Fulton's population, so I examined the U.S. Census Bureau data for Fulton to get a handle on the racial breakdown of the area. Since the people who live in the countryside are vital to the workings of the community, they are included herein as if they were residents of the city proper.

According to the 2000 Census, the greater Fulton area (zip code 13069) has a total population of 26,451. The city's minority population for all non-White groups and Hispanic groups combined is a minute 699.

With so few community members who are also members of minority racial groups, it seems improbable that there could even be any sort of racism at all here. After all, when I think of racism, the first things that come to mind are members of minority groups being run out of town by radical White supremacists, or minority people being denied employment a la Blacks need not apply'.

Government Representation:

I began my research into possible racist practices with the local government itself. Fulton does not have any non-White elected officials; however, as far as public policy goes, every law that emerges from the Mayor's desk seems totally fair, as far as race is concerned. In fact, racially blind would be a better term, as no local law whatsoever draws any kind of distinction between community members based on race. Thus, it seems to me, the lack of diversity in the City Council does not prohibit them from representing the interests of the citizens in a racially fair way.

Business Perspective:

Because of that, I was forced to move my search into the civilian arena. To begin my investigation of possible discrimination in the rest of Fulton, outside City Hall, I examined every text available at my place of employment. Despite my best efforts, I was unable to locate a single one that made any reference to race in its contents, or referred to the heritage of the author. The test proved inconclusive.

I also contacted the local media organizations, all affiliates of national networks like ABC, CBS, or Clearchannel, which seem to have a diverse racial makeup. None of these local stations were willing to comment on their racial hiring practices.

Forced to dig deeper to find

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