Tackling the Delicate Issue of Race

I don't think the question is if America is ready to elect an African American President b/c I think America definitely is. I think the question for most voters (me included) is are we ready to elect Barack Obama? It is not his race that people have a problem with.....it is his lack of experience, very questionable judgement regarding pastor, friends, business associates and his far left liberal ideology. I wish the MSM would stop making it all about his race and instead focus on people's true concerns. Personally, I have seen and heard alot more ageism (against McCain) than racial prejudice against ANY candidate. Why is it ok for all of the liberal bloggers to make really rude and inappropriate comments re: McCain's age but everyone piles on criticims if there is even a hint of racism? When did we stop valuing the knowledge, experience and wisdom that comes with age? All of us (if we are lucky) are going to be old someday....I think alot of the comments being made by the young are going to come back to haunt them in old age when they get a taste of their own medicine.

I truly enjoyed reading Evan Thomas???s article, ???A Memo to Senator Obama.??? However, the best part about the article was its insights (both intended and accidental) on how we in the U.S. both view and respond to the issue of race. Despite evidence that we are moving towards a post racial U.S.A., we clearly have a little ways to go. Most Americans, regardless of their race and including Mr. Thomas, view our world in black and white, and we seem to be stuck in this dualistic framework. So it was just as refreshing to see Richard Rodriquez???s piece ???Brown in the U.S.A.??? - a continual appeal to us all that a post racial U.S. is not merely black and white. In a nutshell, Thomas???s article explored ways in which Obama should pander or somehow make himself palatable to white Americans. However accurate this may be, it falls into that same dualistic framework that presupposes a ???white??? point of view as the norm, and it is more often than not, saddled with the same pitfalls that Peggy McIntosh writes about in her seminal work on white privilege, ???Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack.??? For instance, Thomas calls Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton ???race men,??? because he claims they use race as a political tool. What we in the U.S. fail to realize is that almost all of us, regardless of race, use race as a political tool. Those in the majority rarely see this because they are saddled with the invisible knapsack. To ignore race is just as much a political tool as speaking about race. Since the end of Reconstruction, anyone who sought to end racial injustice was tagged with the term ???race man.??? Many white Americans didn???t want people to ???stir up??? problems and hoped that the problem of injustice would simply be ignored. Many black Americans (especially down South where racism was at its harshest) didn???t want to deal with the consequences of white backlash if any ???race men??? came to talk about ways to bring about true freedom and democracy. The term quickly developed a negative connotation, because we prefer to ignore our problems in hope that they might disappear. Ignoring calls for racial justice at the end of Reconstruction was one of the political tools used to unite the North and South. Ignoring the issues of segregation and racial inequality during, between and after the two World Wars was a political tool used to maintain the status quo. Many Northerners hoped to ignore de facto segregation, and when people marched in northern cities such as Chicago, they were often met with hurling rocks ??? presumably for not adopting the political tool of ignoring race. There is certainly precedence in ignoring problems that inflict certain ???racial??? groups within the U.S. The truth is most Americans are ???race men??? whether we choose to ignore it or not. Our challenge is to honestly face our issues and recognize the complexities of all humans. Evan Thomas???s article is a good start.
Michael Williams
Mo

The issue of race is important but more cruel than racism is castism which is practised since more than 2500yrs in India.Brahmins who came from Urasia and destroyed the culture,economy of indigenous people in india,Mahatma Gandhi and his congress party of india made the life of dalits,Backwards and tribal more deadly after independence.Now in 2008 untouchability is practised in every village and city in india.The caste discrimination is also prevalent in Higher institutes like AIIMS,IITs, and medical engineering colleges.Dr Venugopal who is the Director of AIIMS has done several atrocities on SC and ST students and the Government of India alongwith Supreme court are protecting Dr Venugopal just because he is brahmin.Every day in india there is violation of human rights.Wiil the democratic people of americal look into this human rights vilation and caste systems in india?