The OP-Ed piece I am about to post was written December 12, 2008 but right now with all that is going on with Health Care Reform and the real issues that aren’t being discussed, I thought this was a great time to re-post this history professor’s opinion. It may anger some people but I hope not, he has valid insight into our collective psyche about race in this country and we should take heed and listen. Below are quotes from his Op-Ed.
For much of the last forty years, ever since America “fixed” its race problem in the Civil Rights and Voting
Rights Acts, we white people have been impatient with African Americans who continued to blame race for their difficulties. Often we have heard whites ask, “When are African Americans finally going to get over it?
Now I want to ask: “When are we White Americans going to get over our ridiculous obsession with skin color?
But elect a liberal who happens to be Black and we’re back in the sixties again. At this point in our history, we should be proud that we’ve proven what conservatives are always saying -that in America anything is possible, EVEN electing a black man as president.
How long until we white people will stop insisting that blacks exercise personal responsibility, build strong families, educate themselves enough to edit the Harvard Law Review, and work hard enough to become President of the United States, only to threaten to assassinate them when they do?
How long before we starting “living out the true meaning” of our creeds, both civil and religious, that all men and women are created equal and that “red and yellow, black and white” all are precious in God’s sight?
Read the entire commentrary here.
In the health care debates there seems to be so much hate in the air. I mean come on, you can disagree with the president as is our right, voice your opinion, but when it is taken so far that people can’t be civil to one another and violence becomes part of the conversation, then I think we all need to take a step back and figure out why all the vitriol. If frightens me and makes me so terribly sad for our country.
Okay, on a lighter note, the Doc is kinda cute. I may need to take a trip to Alabama.
As always, be well
CF
__________________________________________________________________________________________
As always, be well CF “Kindness in words creates confidence, kindness in thinking creates profoundness, kindness in feeling creates love.” — Lao Tzu Watch me on Youtube












