Michelle Obama made a remark that white Baby Boomers I talked to (I’m not 1 of them)took very personally. Remember she said this was the first time she was proud of her country? A white woman asked the TV what SHE ever did to black Americans that gave Michelle Obama the right to forget the past 50 years.

It started an honest talk about race. To recap:
-One African-American woman & one white one talked about their experiences (they were both from the Northeast & middle-aged). The black woman said racial discrimination was still happening in this country. The white woman asked “Where?” The African-American woman said, “I still see Confederate flags displayed proudly.” The white one said, “Not on my bumper sticker. But you’ll see the AMERICAN flag”
-The black woman said when she went somewhere w/a white person, she got better treatment. The white one answered that she was sorry; she just didn’t see it. “But you talk like everyone treats you that way.”
-Both woman agreed that jerky salesmen (sorry for the non-jerks out there)treated anything w/boobs like idiots when they tried to buy a car or anything @ Circuit City.

It went on from there, seriously.

I’m not making this up. And, yeah, I did take part some of the time.

You sound like Michelle Obama.

OK, so let’s ignore it and just be American. Because, you know, ignoring a problem usually fixes it, right? I mean, after all, it’s worked so well for poverty, workers’ rights, health care costs, etc., right?

Race is not a joke to those who, by virtue of melanin in their skin, are forced to live outside the inherent privilege that goes with being white (and male) in America. White males can (ignorantly and falsely) continue to deny that they are born into special privilege in this country, but this behavior will do nothing to heal the racial scars that continue to haunt this country. Are we as a nation expected to be miraculously healed when black slavery and Asian/Hispanic disenfranchisement were institutions that lasted 300 years while it has been barely more than 50 years since the Equal Rights Amendment was ratified? It’s naive to believe that current discussions of race are overblown and non-progressive, because we will never manage to move past the sins of our forefathers if we don’t at least acknowledge and try to come to terms with them.

I believe Obama’s possibly being our first black president is a great step forward for this country. His candidacy itself is a starting point to let us get everything off our chests. Like it or not, we’ve still got that pesky first ammendment.

Lots of you guys are saying what you really believe. Fantastic! Afterall, we don’t have to like what the other guy says. Can’t we just let him/her say it?

The point, in my opinion, is that in our country white, black, Asian, biracial… Americans have beliefs that we can’t simply ignore. Come on, guys,we’ve all been down this road before: blacks, whites, gays,”For whichever language, press 1”

Don’t hold it in!?

And Bulldog, I’m not sure where you’re coming from with your statement about his racial “halves.” What does race have to do with his father being a jerk and leaving? I know fathers of all hues who fit that miserable category. Barack Obama himself appears to be a great father.