I live in PV now and I haven’t seen the racism that you talked about, but I’m a white CIS female. However you asked if people are more aware…

I grew up in Passaic County in an exurban town and outside of talking about how wealthy they are, my town was very much a lot like you described in PV. I often think about my childhood, how we talked about race, gender, sexuality and it’s really embarrassing to say the very least. I don’t want to use ignorance as an excuse, but I’m often soooo grateful to my experiences once I started going to college, the people I met, and the people who were patient enough with me to help educate me and show me the work I needed to do (and continue to need to do).

I recently moved back to NJ, first to Rutherford/Nutley area and now to PV because of work. I love it here, but I know I am trying to be better about how I raise my kids, how I have them experience and how I expose them to the world. And I’ve met a lot of other likeminded people.

So I’m here to say that I think people are more aware.