I suppose there’s been some talk about why my posts of late have been concerning race. There are many reasons, but the main reason is that our world as we know it is going to change in nine days and this is my contribution to help some people understand where we are coming from. When I say “we”, I am not using the royal we. I am talking about black people in the United States.
We are very proud of our president-elect. History was made on November 4th 2008. But that was only a small part of the beginning.
Even during the entire election process, the subject was tip-toed around. No one really wanted to discuss the “blackness” of the candidate now president.

For those of you that say you don’t see color. Stop lying. You see color whether you choose to acknowledge it or not. What you should say, instead of making yourself sound idiot is that you see color but you don’t use that as a basis for your decisions. Just say that you judge on your merit.

I wonder what Michelle Obama is going to do with her hair. Will she go natural? Will she get extensions (what we black folks call weave)? Cornrows? Relaxers. I saw an interview that the Obamas did with Barbara Walters shortly before Thanksgiving. I’ve watched it several times since then. I’ve watched the debates over and over. I’ve watched clips from the beginning of the campaign up to the minite. I have every Obama alert sent to my email that there could be possible. I swear, I kid you not. Go look at the older tapes and then look at the BW interview. Is it me needing new glasses or do they both seem lighter than usual? Like the make-up people used too much of whatever almost white shade on them. Please don’t whiten up my Black president and his wife. Accept that they are a beautiful, in tact, BLACK couple who love each other.

Here’s another thing. Please don’t assume that by cutting our hair and pulling up our pants that we too can aspire to be president. Most of us, thanks to the institutionalzed racism in this country already are on the police roles and so are ineligible for most forms of government appointments, including and especially president. We all can’t be Michelle and Barack Obama. And here’s a kicker for you. We all don’t want to be. As proud as I am that President Obama is in office, that’s what he aspired to become. I and others are content to live in our homes, work and put our children through college, save a little for retirement and rest.

While the Obamas are living quite well in the most well-known house in the world, many of us are still being mistreated, abused, misunderstood. When the police come to my home, it is assumed that I am on welfare, crack and that my children are born out of wedlock. I can tell these things by the way the police officers speak to me, talk down to me, behave condescendingly. However, when my ex-methhead neighbor calls the police to fabricate some wrong that has been done to her by a member of our family, SWAT is called in, we are handcuffed, interrogated, treated like the n-word. The only thing missing were white sheets and ropes. On one hand when there have been dealings with our neighbor can we certainly count on the officers to dismiss our claims and uphold anything our neighbor has stated.

Be sensitive to the fact that not all of us are welfare mothers. Many, more than you would care to think about are in long term relationships, usually marraiges. Not all of our daughters have children before marriage, or even have sex for that matter. We have morals too.

Race sensitivity asks that you not try to be like us, but that you empathize with us. Put yourself in our shoes for a minute and imagine how you would feel if someone assumed you were on welfare and squandering taxpayer money on hair extensions and baby’s daddys who don’t have jobs. The house you live in is section 8 and your husband is the landlord. He comes over to collect rent and a a little extra. That is humiliating.

Think about our President and our President elect. Our president is an idiot. Failed college, failed his duties in the military. Pretty much got by on his family name. A drunk, a coke-head a party boy. He married a teacher. His daughters are nothing short of drunken whores who are so dumb that they would try to use a fake ID to get into a bar. This is the leadership for the past 8 years.

The Obama family on the other hand have lead a stellar life of public service. Harvard and Princeton graduates at the top of their classes. Being black the country would accept nothing less. We all know that we have to be better, stronger, harder. 100% will never do. It’s just not acceptable for blacks. 350% is a fair goal and often that’s not enough. President of the law review. I doubt that most people even know what that means. Well spoken, articulate, intelligent, calm, cool, collected. Dare I say almost white save the color of his skin. That ’s race sensitivity.

We shouldn’t have to be like you in order to be accepted. We shouldn’t have to adhere to your standards of beauty. Ann Coulter’s words that the new first lady dresses like a previous first lady should mean nothing. Michelle Obama is a classy, statuesque beauty and it doesn’t matter what she wears, she will look fine. But again, there is nothing to cut her down about so there had to be something. Get a life Coulter.

Race sensitivity involves dialogue. No one seems willing to discuss the obvious. We have to start somewhere. Let’s start here.