Thanks, Colleen. You've captured so many of my thoughts on the speech.

Thanks for this excellent post, Colleen. Having spent the first few years of my life in your hometown, I realize how very unaware I was of any issues of race at that age: I'm sure they were there, but we moved away from there when I was 7. I'd go so far as to say that I didn't even have much occasion to think about it until I moved out of Florida entirely. Which isn't to say it's not a problem there, of course, but just that I was very young, and very fortunate to live in a diverse community (esp. in Tallhassee) and not question it. (I don't mean to suggest ignoring racism is okay, of course. But at a young age, I think, most children just figure, okay, some people are not the same color as me, whatever.)

What's really odd is that having visited there again and again in the intervening 20 years, I still don't think about it when I go there. And I wonder if that isn't me being stuck at my seven year old self, every time I go "home."

I've noticed that in Central FL in particular (on the beach) it is not so obvious, Kimberly - I'm sure other areas of the nation are that way also, but I didn't go to a school that was full of Confederate icons or anything (we were the Commodores for heaven's sake - our cross town rivals were the Bulldogs) so it's just not quite so blatantly southern.

But part of it that we just don't notice a lot, not until we have to. And I guess that was a big part of Obama's speech - he's saying that all that not noticing needs to stop.

Thanks for stopping by guys!

My Dad grew up in Pensacola.
We went back there every summer for years when I was a kid, 'til my grandma moved to SF.

We never saw any Caucasian people at all.


My grandma was also military, and so her boyfriends came in a variety of colors. My Dad's Dad was Greek. But even though she lived in a nice brick house on a nice street and her work life was integrated, her worship and home was not.

This is really interesting. My Dad was bussed, of course, and that's how his high school was integrated. He vividly remembers pre-integration trips to school; the windows dropping when the two buses stopped at stop lights, the spitballs and rotten fruit projectiles flying across the lanes, and then the light changing, and the windows going up, and everyone going on to school as if nothing hateful had happened.

My Dad doesn't often eat in restaurants. White people spat in the food intended for black people -- he saw them do it, working in the kitchen in the military. I'm pretty sure he did it himself and saw black soldiers do it, too. He was stopped and harassed in the military -- and though his skin and eyes are light, the one-drop rule exits and multiculturalism did not. He is a person who doesn't trust the intentions of anyone outside his race (nor the intentions of a whole lot of people within his race, but I think being in the military is responsible for that), despite working and worshiping with them, despite his own son-in-law, for whom he makes an exception to the cheerful and phony voice he affects. Sometimes.

To everyone else who chooses ignorance of racial issues in America because it doesn't affect them, I can truly say: it still matters. It still affects people. Race IS.

Great post, C.

Indeed. Racism exists, and Obama touched on it but did not delve. It was no 'I have a dream' speech as I have heard biased supporters claim. It didn't jump on the electrifying third wire that kills political ambitions (and opens up public sores like racism). No, the speech tippy-toed by it. I was considering becoming an Obama supporter. I support none of them. This obvious political ploy very much pushed me away. Indeed racism exists and it's a TWO way street, not a one way street. I was the only white child in an all black neighborhood and was badly abused. There were many kind African Americans or I'd be dead because there were many more unkind ones. That is the way it works in ALL race relations. As long as we allow hatred to come from any group for any reason that is not current, we'll never get past it. The Reverend Wright is a prime example of racism at it's worst, but we can't do anything about him. We just have to let him be. He's a crazy old uncle. hmmm. I bet David Dukes is somebody's crazy old uncle. That's why we're where we're at!

Actually deminizer if you read his speech you will see that he does address Caucasian concerns more than once and also validates their concerns over affirmative action, etc. He acknowledged that racism was "a two way street" and that is part of why the speech has been so lauded.

And David Duke is most certainly someone's uncle, just as my relatives are related to me. It's not as easy as screaming "racist" at someone and pointing the finger. It's never that easy and I think that was his main point.

TadMack - my father (who worked with water/sewer systems at the AF base) always used to tell us not to eat at the Officer's Club. (My mother remarried a retired officer.) He said we didn't want anything that came out of that kitchen.

One wonders how people in the military eat!

Thank you for this excellent comment.

Obama's speech has me excited about our country's future in a way I didn't think possible anymore. Racism hurts all Americans. The only way our country can grow is to have these awkward, painful conversations, and to study our history to understand how we got here.

Leaders like Obama might - just might - have the strength and vision to move us forward.

Thanks for stopping by Laurie - and here's hoping we all somehow maintain the collective maturity to have these "awkward, painful conversations."

Hi-I read your heartfelt article "Chasing Ray" and I thought it ironical that I had written a similar article last evening, with a different take. I too have witnessed racism a good part of my life growing up in Bronx, New York but it was Black racism. Like yourself, I choose not go into my personal lifetime experiences with racism, bullyism, and intimidation. However, I would like you to read my article now and perhaps you will get an understanding that resentment is a legitimate two way street and that if Senator Obama's grandmother feared Black men in her presence, maybe it wasn't from racism but from her lifetime experience.

Caucasian Concerns
My dearly departed wife was a superstar teacher in a predominantly African-American school for thirty five years. Several years ago she related a story to me that's really stuck out in my head. During a Martin Luther King Day celebration, an elementary school student in her class asked her if there were there any famous White people. I thought then, and still do think that this was a fair and interesting question. To any child growing up in this politically correct society of the past forty years, what Caucasian accomplishments to our nation's greatness are celebrated today? While George Washington, the father of our country, and Abraham Lincoln, the Great Emancipator have had their birthdays merged into the non-descript Presidents Day, Martin Luther King is lauded and known by every school child in the land. It begs the question, what impact and relevance would King have had if these two presidents hadn't come before him?
To make up for the reprehensible institution of slavery of a 150 years ago, contemporary white guilt ridden liberals have abdicated all leadership in this country and have allowed 18% of our population to control 82% of the U.S. agenda. From affirmative action programs, to hip hop, to gangster rapp; from the welfare state; to dominance in sports, Black Americans are playing an increasingly greater role in American culture while still castigating White America for the injustices that befell their ancestors a century and a half ago. One doesn't have to look far to prove this point.
The ranting and undulations of the bigot Rev. Jeremiah Wright could be dismissed as comical if it weren't for the near unanimous acceptance he receives from his congregants. In the days and weeks following the revelation of his vulgar remarks, a plethora of Black ministers seemed less than shocked by his rhetoric; instead, they claimed these thoughts are expressed regularly in many Black churches during Sunday sermons. No doubt the African-American community or any segment thereof is entitled to think any way they wish but why White people don't take greater offense to this escapes me. Not ever owning a slave nor knowing anyone who has, I don't understand why modern Caucasian Americans don't hold their African-American counterparts to the same standards they are kept to. The vast majority of White people in this country are not related to slave owners but are mainly the descendants of poor immigrants that came from Europe in the early 20th century looking for opportunities in this wonderful new land. Does the leadership of the African-American community realize that the inequities between the races in modern day America have more to do with too much emphasis on pop culture and not enough on education; poor family dynamics amongst many in the lower socio/economic category; and the ease in which to blame others for their own shortcomings, rather than it does on White racism. In reality, it can’t be denied that hateful speech and the notoriety it brings is big business, it has made many a pastor a millionaire; it certainly hasn’t hurt Rev. Wright amass a fortune on the backs of his more than willing, less fortunate congregants.
The African-American community should realize that they do not have a monopoly on resentment and that a great deal of White disdain has been brought on by them. When that meaningless idiot and talk show host Imus made offensive comments about Black women both the mainstream White and Black communities rightfully called for his head. When Rev. Wright denounces everything White and American he can think of, he’s dismissed as somebody’s old uncle speaking out of turn. Is this not a duality? Is this not racism? Can anyone doubt that the overwhelming support for Al Sharpton in the Tawanna Brawley hoax, as well as other frauds the now mainstream Reverend has perpetuated; the near unanimous support O.J. received for murdering two White people; the support given to the thugs that raped and near killed the Central Park jogger and many other outrages too numerous to mention have led to White animus?
I dare say, contemporary Black racism is far more endemic than black leadership or their white apologists will ever admit to. From the preaching’s of Elijah Mohammed, Malcolm X, and Louis Farrakhan, to Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, and Rev.Wright, Black nationalism and class warfare seem to hold greater sway over that community than peace, love, and harmony with their Caucasian counterparts. Perhaps what was thought of as the obsolete philosophy of "separate but equal," is no longer obsolete.