if it was any whiter out here, it'd be clear.

well, we are adapted for the lack of sun

well, a lot of people you think are white, just look like they are due to lack of sun.

This is probably why Brendan couldn't find anywhere for his sister to go dancing when she visited.

As a non-white person, this probably explains why when I went into an art gallery in belltown, the hipster chick running the place asked me "can I help you" as if she wasn't used to the idea of a non-white person coming to an art gallery to appreciate art. Only white people can appreciate art, even in the so-called hip areas of the city

Or maybe, Neo-Realist, she thought you might be interested in purchasing art... or are we to assume that non-white people do not purchase art? I am white, and am frequently asked if I can be helped in art galleries, often just before I purchase art...

Does this surprise anyone?

Hey, that's not fair! Seattle has some black friends!

Waahhh! Waaaah! I had to sell the crappy house in the CD I bought in 1979 for $30,000 for $856,000.

It's all white people's fault that I made all that money! Waaah! Waaah!

Anyone care to post the statistics for Mercer Island? That's the real rich whitey horror story. The CD may be losing diversity, but compared to Mercer Island the CD is still the United Nations.

Apples and Oranges. Mercer Island was never diverse to begin with.

"Only white people can appreciate art, even in the so-called hip areas of the city"

You said it....so-called hip. Seattle is psuedo-progressive and only pretending to be hip. Read these blogs to find out how the so-called hip feel!! It's pretty disheartning.

Whew... I'm so glad, no joke, that Slog commenters haven't resorted to defensive, desperate attempts to validate their perceived cultural diversity, for fear of being perceived as ethnocentric white-supremacist racists, because in other forums I've seen this story brought up in, the response was exactly that.

Are we judging how white a city is by how black it isn't?

Hey--I eat *Thai* food, how diverse do I have to be?

Duh (that Portland & Seattle are the whitest cities in the US)! All of you Seattlites love to diss LA and Houston but at least there is some frickin cultural diversity.

I grew up in LA and we had LOTS of race issues but at least we knew it. Here people just live happily tucked away in Wallingford, Freemont and Ballard thinking that they are so accepting. On the other hand their are lots of black people with HUGE chips on their shoulders here. I never hated living somewhere more than I hated living in the southend od Seattle. I wanted to be in an ethnically diverse neighborhood but boy oh boy did I ever get constant attitude and harrassment.

This city has some serious racial identity issues.

Chris B, you're full of it, Seattle (and Seattleites) have no real friends.

Bah, Seattle has gentrified itself beyond any semblance of diversity. Makes you wonder why anyone pretends to give a damn about the South Lake Union project. It's way too late to worry about that shit.

Hmmmm....

I wonder if this poll includes suburban areas.

First, Mercer Island has a rapidly growing East Asian population.

Second, Bellevue is allegedly somewhere around 22% East Asian nowadays, and growing.

Third, Newcastle's percentage of East Asians is larger still.

Fourth, south King County in general has rapidly growing numbers of African-American, Eastern European and Hispanic folks. (I'm frankly surprised we aren't looking at a black member or two of city councils in Renton or Kent yet.)

Fifth, the segment of the Bellevue School District my daugher goes to is 12-15% Hispanic and growing.

Palamedes, assuming suburbs aren't taken into account, I bet if you looked at the suburbs of ALL major cities, that you'd find a similar makeup of minorities, that would skew the numbers equally accordingly. It's not just Seattle.

No surprise. I've lived in way more diverse cities throughout the country, including the biggest of them all. My life isn't any harder or discomforting here, regarding racial issues, than it was elsewhere. So, I guess my colored ass is staying in Seattle, but racial percentages and numbers wouldn't be my reasons for leaving and so far, I don't have any reasons to leave.

Gomez is right. Here in Denver (where I recently moved back to, after nearly a decade in Seattle) our once-white-as-snow suburbs have significant pockets of black and hispanic people, including (I love this) in the south suburbs, home of xenophobe-of-the-decade, Rep. Tom Tancredo (R). (Google him if you don't know who he is.) It's not as advanced as in Seattle - our historic black neighborhood, Five Points, is still mainly black and hispanic - but it's happening.

One of the things I love most about living on the east hill of Kent is the amazing diversity. Ukrainians, african-americans, sikhs, latinos, vietnamese, chinese, somalis, iraqis, and european-americans, all in one classroom in one elementary school. It is beautiful to behold.

...and before we get ourselves TOO worked up, it should be pointed out that Mercer Island has always had a large Jewish population.

There may be racism simmering under the surface in this city, but I never experienced up-close, real-life racism until I lived in New York. Increased diversity doesn't necessarily equal increased tolerance.