Perhaps the most remarkable change at this year's Republican Convention was the visibility of people of color. But PNS correspondent Linn Washington Jr. found that for black businesses, local black politicians -- even black churches -- the policy of exclusion was still the name of the game. Linn Washington Jr. is an award-winning, veteran journalist in Philadelphia who specializes in coverage of race related issues. Washington is a journalism professor at Temple University in Philadelphia.

Penn State University professor Arthur Harris is the only black Republican serving on a City Council anywhere in Pennsylvania.

Harris' unique political distinction, coupled with the story of his rise from inner-city schools where counselors discouraged him from pursuing an academic career, would seem to fit the image of diversity and emphasis on education projected during the Republican National Convention here.

However, Harris did not attend the convention. He was not invited.

"The state party never contacted me about participation. Maybe because I'm just a councilman in a small city I'm considered insignificant," said Harris, who is on the council in Pottsville, a town of about 16,000 some 70 miles west of here.

The carefully scripted image of racial inclusion projected during the convention clashed with the actual experiences of exclusion encountered by many blacks.

From small things, like constantly having credentials checked, to the virtual exclusion of black-owned local businesses from convention contracts, many African-Americans found the door barred to the GOP's "Big Tent."

Beverly Tucker, a Philadelphia school teacher who worked as a clerk in the media area at the convention site, encountered "prejudice" ranging from "little subtle stuff like having my credentials checked at the gate every time I came in when whites were not to blatant stuff like conventioneers not wanting to ride in the golf carts if they saw me in it."

The Republican Party's vaunted emphasis on business did not extend to purchasing convention-related services from local black-owned firms. This contradicts the GOP's platform pledge to provide economic opportunity without affirmative action programs.

Bruce Crawley, co-founder of Philadelphia's African-American Chamber of Commerce, said blacks met beginning in April of last year with local, state, and national Republican officials.

At first, Crawley says, the Chamber was told it was too early to award contracts. Then during the weeks before the convention, GOP officials said it was too late.

"We saw a trickle of business because of our meetings and pressure, but it is not at the volume that we anticipated," said Crawley, owner of a successful public relations firm and chairman of the city's Convention and Tourism Bureau.

In a departure from past Republican national conventions, the gathering in Philadelphia highlighted large numbers of blacks and other people of color. Convention speakers included high-profile Republicans like General Colin Powell while prominent behind the scenes were rising stars like Renee Amoore, a black businesswoman who is a top official in the state's Republican Committee.

Former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich conducted a brief walking tour of a once-blighted black neighborhood in South Philadelphia revitalized through the efforts of music mogul Kenny Gamble, creator of the world famous "Philly Sound." Gamble spoke at the convention on the theme of economic self-reliance, but balked at Republican attempts to endorse George Bush in his speech.

Despite projected images, there was little change in Republican policies longed criticized as exclusionary and bigoted.

BET president Robert Johnson said Republicans have "not done a good job" of increasing the number of black federal judges, at his keynote address to the National Black Republican Leadership Council held at Philadelphia's African-American Museum.