Racism? In the Pacific Northwest? Shocking.

People in Washington and Oregon never admit to racism. They act shocked that you would even ask them. They aren't southerners after all!

And then there's reality:

The president of George Fox University this morning denounced the hanging of a likeness of U.S. Sen. Barack Obama on campus along with graffiti aimed at minority recipients of a scholarship program.

The cutout was accompanied by the words "Act Six reject." Act Six is a scholarship program that was established two years ago and is aimed at including more low-income and minority students in the George Fox student body. Students are chosen for their leadership potential; all receive full scholarships.

Baker, the university president, said about seven of those students are African American. About 20 percent of the student body is minority, "which for us is a really significant achievement," he said.

If you pay attention to how white people in the Northwest act around black people, you can see the racism. To give one example, I was sitting behind home plate at a Seattle Mariners game once. People were coming and going. Obviously a lot of those people didn't actually have tickets to those seats. Many were sitting there for an inning and then moving on. For a bad game between Seattle and Kansas City, who cares. The ushers did nothing. Until a black guy shows up. They had him out of that seat in 10 seconds.

You don't really hear too many racial epithets up there. People claim that they are tolerant and wouldn't do something like that. But their actions when actually faced with African-Americans, which rarely happens in many communities, or Latino migrants, which is increasingly common, show this self-proclaimed tolerance to be a giant lie.