"When yella will be mella... when white will embrace what is right"

I didn't realize that's what this presidency was about for some people. Not a chance for freedom but a chance to get even, with words, actions and I- told-you-so's. A chance for racism to thrive still more. A chance to get a stab at 2 entire races that are both present in my blood. I'm doubly offended. I never cracked a whip and I never dropped a bomb (speaking in regards to Pearl Harbor). Yet I'm chastised twice in one inaugural benediction as delivered by Rev. Dr. Joseph Lowery.

I've spent a good portion of my young adult life trying to slice through a black vs. white perception. I was 5 years old in Marrero, LA when my friend from down the street suggested to me that I wasn't allowed to come out and play because he was black. I said to him defiantly and assuredly, albeit confused, "No it's not, it's because my mom's mean and she doesn't let me do anything." But he was convinced that because he was black I could not come out that day. He was 5 and his worldview was already skewed. I didn't even know what racism was until that day, in fact, I didn't even know that he was considered black until that day. And frankly neither did he, not personally.

Since that day I took it upon myself to impart an air of equality to black people, not because I didn't feel that black Americans were equal, but because others perceived inequality. In my mind, racism seemed to keep itself alive within our own perceptions, therefore making it our own realities. I chose to be obstinate to the popular opinion, not to feel sorry for anyone and make them feel different by treating them special because they were black, but to argue the thoughts of those bent on the idea that racism very much exists every time that they walk into a gas station to buy gum.

You can't tell people that though. A racist America is something some people have held on to so tightly for so long it's as though it's their own prized possession. Almost as if it's some sort of fact of life or something especially unique to one color of person. As if it's their birthright. Yes, it is true, different colored people look at each other - differently. Not only different colors but different accents and dialects. But that's normal in being a human being. It's not racist if a guy dressed up as a thug, who for all intents and purposes associates himself/herself with a life of crime, walks into a gas station and is closely surveyed to prevent a theft. If that same person walks in dressed as the average working class American he/she would not even be considered a threat.

Racism, real racism, scary racism is thriving in some pockets of our country. The kind of people that long for a day when black people are treated as animals, as it was a 130+ years ago, or the type of people who wish to avenge their enslaved ancestors exclaiming blacks are the most powerful race. They should all be herded together as cattle and forced to learn how to read, or something equally as horrible to such small minded individuals.

[This leads me to a footnote thought: It seems as though the word "racist" automatically begets a white/black connotation, at least here in America. Much like the word pill or "the pill" refers to birth control. Hmm...]

For the most part though, a majority of American people, white and yellow, have been screaming, "Hey, I'm really not racist!! I never have been and never will be! I can think for myself, you should try it!" And I think they spoke the loudest in voting for a President, not because of his color, but because he was speaking their language, addressing their needs and color was not even considered. Yes, he is half black, but he is also half white. His blood is as much a part of mine as much as it is a part of theirs.

His upbringing is even likely more similar to mine than that of, say, Jay Z or Young Jeezy who both issued incendiary, hate-filled rhymes that deal with Obama coming into presidency in an almost I-hate-white-people-look-out-now sort of way.

Which is what this rant has been all about. It's ALL of the American people that are victorious. Not "especially black people". This election has most definitely been about transcending racial barriers. That is undeniable. But not just black/white racial barriers, remember, no "yella" man, no red man, NO colored man has been in that position as American president either.

And remember this as well, which our liberal socialist media has failed to highlight, Barack Obama IS just as much white by blood as he is black. And he is probably more white in the way he was raised than he is black. I don't think collared greens, black eyed peas, and fried chicken were a staple in his household.

So my question to you is, how can we, whether we are yellow or we are white, black brown or red, laugh at something like this as if he's some cute old man making a cute old joke?

How many of you disagree with that racial sentiment, more interestingly, how many of you agree?

Why I like Obama, but won't vote for him.

I like Obama. He really is a charming fellow. That's saying a lot considering I have never met the guy or read anything he has written and I am decidedly on the Republican side of the vote. He seems to have this almost dazzling effect on me. It's no wonder he's been the media darling. I've tried to figure it out, what do we like about him? It's almost conniving the way I am lured by his smile and candor. He's confident but not smug. He's young, good looking and cool enough that you wish he was your teacher, professor, boss, dad or even friend. His charisma, much akin to J. F. Kennedy's, has given him the ability to draw larger crowds for an election run than has been seen in recent US history. He seems to have all the qualities one would want in a leader: strength, courage, self-confidence, vision and determination. And yes, he does seem to exude this sense of... this atmosphere of "hope". However, it seems as though just as I begin to be lulled to sleep by his sweet song of hope, his scintillating discourse of a world with out problems I suddenly "snap-to", like someone has just flushed the toilet while I was showering in Obama's rhetoric. Thoughts of uncertainty flood my mind and I begin to feel vulnerable and even scared for our future as a country. What about the issues he has been skating around? His Muslim background (our greatest enemy is a radically violent albeit jilted muslim), his true perception of this "White America" (I can only imagine what J.Wright, his one time mentor for 20 years with whom he grew up spiritually, has suggested. White is bad? America is white and so America is bad? Black people are handed the shorter stick from the white man? White Americans owe the Black Americans something? I wouldn't want any of that divisive sentiment boiling in the mind of our Country's leader) and his plan of attack and defense against our enemies (Is he really thinking that sitting down with our enemies is a good idea? Why?). The truth is, I don't feel like Obama has satisfied these issues, these elephants you might say, that have been congregating in my mind. Sure you can point me to transcripts and You Tube videos and show me when, where and how he "addressed" these items but in all of those videos and speeches he seems to methodically and effortlessly skirt around the questions and issues so smoothly that one never notices he craftily avoided them. By the end of his dissertation you feel harmonious inside. You want to hug your dog, call your mother and contact all the people you've had differences with and and apologize. Meanwhile, back on planet earth, back in the USA, the leading democratic candidate has never answered the questions he was posed. Never directly disarmed the proverbial ticking time bomb that is issues counting down in the back of our minds. For some reason we seem to be comfortably asleep with the notion that he, Barack Obama, is at the wheel and will get us where we want to be safely.