"Thanks for your perspective. I've been reading a lot of African-American writers lately talking about how race affects their everyday lives & their awareness of the way other people treat them."

That's a good point, but I think that the exchange Shadow has with the prison guard illustrates this very thing. Gaiman chose to show us what Shadow has to deal with rather than tell us. Unfortunately, some people have missed the significance of it.

Thanks for being such a nice person about this, BTW. Not everyone in this thread has been particularly civil, and I appreciate it.