We say we value diversity, but we're really just kidding

We have always done a wonderful job of playing lip service to diversity in this country.

We say we admire people who dare to be different, but not really. We generally expect people to fit in, to "know their place" and not try to step out of it.

When we see people dressed in a certain style, we look disapprovingly at them. Whether their pants are hanging too low on their hips or their baseball cap is turned backward, we look knowingly and make certain assumptions. Human scum Geraldo Rivera actually blamed Trayvon Martin for his own shooting, saying that he shouldn't have been wearing a hooded sweatshirt if he didn't want trouble.

I have nearly two dozen hoodies in my closet, advertising everything from Huntington Beach surf shops to my college fraternity to colleges as diverse as Texas, George Mason and Ole Miss.

Geraldo better not say anything bad about me.

I've got pictures of my favorite little guy in the world wearing a hoodie, and I'll extend the same warning to Mr. G when it comes to him.

Of course, my buddy Lexington isn't about to walk down to the convenience store for Skittles and Iced Tea. He won't be 2 years old till this fall and he isn't allowed to leave the house alone, let alone cross the street.

And if some wannabe tried to start an argument, well, Lexington isn't allowed to talk to strangers.

OK, for all the joking, Trayvon Martin's situation was very different. No one seems to be saying he initiated his deadly confrontation with George Zimmerman. There is some debate over whether he lost his temper and went after Zimmerman, but if he had been left alone from the outset, nothing would have happened.

Quite bluntly, Zimmerman didn't like the way he looked.

He was a little too diverse, such as it was. In general, Americans are cool with black people as long as they don't sound too black -- think Bill Cosby or Sammy Davis Jr. -- or play the fool, like Jimmie Walker or the kid who played Urkel on "Family Matters."

They can maybe be a little bit edgy, a Chris Rock type, or older types like Morgan Freeman, Danny Glover or Samuel L. Jackson. But they must pay lip service of a sort to the way things are.

Very few of the names above really celebrate any sort of separate black culture. That's one reason Spike Lee makes so many white people nervous. His own movies like "Bamboozled" and ones he produced, like "CSA: Confederate States of America," don't shy away from pointing out how America has traditionally regarded African Americans.

It doesn't surprise me that race seems to matter less these days to younger people. I have mentioned this before, but I live in a Southern city where interrracial couples and mixed-race children are a very common site.

I do think diversity comes more naturally to teenagers and young adults these days. I strongly believe there are fewer George Zimmermans in those generations than there were in mine and my parents' generations.

That, at least, gives me hope.

Even if it is too late for Trayvon Martin.