Something happened yesterday that I want to share.

[Bonobo]

The whole thing lasted less than 1 second.

I had hernia surgery a couple weeks ago and I was at a medical building seeing my surgeon for a checkup. I was in a neighboring town of mine, one with a large black and puerto rican population. I was taking the elevator up and was sharing it with a couple of other people, one of whom was a black woman. We didn't exchange anything more than a look in the eye, a smile and maybe a nod of greeting. That was it.

But something was different for me. And this is the part that is hard to write about. Hard to admit. Hard to talk about for fear of being called a racist or the like. But we're all affected by it, aren't we? So anyway, what did I feel? What was different, you ask? I felt different because I was feeling optimistic about the idea of Obama becoming President. And when I looked at her, I didn't feel what I so often do. What do I so often feel? Well it's hard to describe. Let me try...

Do you know that "Funny Vibe"? The band, Living Colour, had a great song about it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=De0q-bqkpLY
It's that uncomfortable feeling between whites and blacks. In my case, I often feel like I wish I could say something to clear the air. Do I feel guilty as a white person? Not exactly. Do I want to make some kind of an apology? Not exactly. Do I wish I could bridge the gap that I feel is there? Definitely.
The wall that consists of suspicion and fear of suspicion.
The wall that consists of fear and suspicion of fear.

But it wasn't there that day in the elevator. I was supporting a man for president that I have never seen the likes of in my 41 years. A man who gives a message of hope. A message of inclusiveness. Real inclusiveness. Because I knew that for maybe the first time ever, this woman and I were really on the same side.

That's how I felt for that 1 seconds that our eyes met and we smiled. I don't know what she felt, but I think, I think, that if Obama were President, maybe she would be feeling a little more like we were on the same side too.

I know. I'm an idiot. Maybe I will make this post disappear if everyone embarrasses me, so please be gentle. Racism sure is hard to talk about...

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. My dear Bonobo...

That's a lovely story!

You are to be commended for having the courage to tell it to us...

Thank you!

K&R for the hope you have brought to this forum, which so desperately needs some... :hug:

:patriot:

[Lisa0825]

2. I understand what you are saying.

It is really hard to talk about because it is so hard to explain, and race is such a difficult topic. The first time a similar thought occurred to me was when I was wearing my Obama shirt around town the day after I received it in the mail. I live and work in areas with a high minority population. I wondered then if I was imagining it, but it seemed like people were glancing at my shirt and then smiling and greeting me way more and/or more enthusiastically than they had previously. I know what you mean about feeling like we were on the same team.

[AZBlue]

5. I honked, waved and smiled at a lady next to me at a light today because

she had an Obama sticker on her car! I'm sure she wondered who the heck I was but I just had to do it. :D

[Lisa0825]

6. I always give a thumbs-up or wave when I see an Obama sticker or

a Texas Democrat sticker or anything about Peace, etc. In fact, I have even stopped to leave a note on a windshield while walking across a grocery store parking lot!LOL!

[AZBlue]

13. That's awesome!!

:thumbsup:

[CitizenLeft]

14. only speaking for how I would feel...

...only imagining that, if I had seen you, wearing your shirt, your shirt says to me, very simply, you don't hate me. Just like *that* you erased the biggest barrier between the races. BOOM. In one fell swoop. You can't underestimate the power of that one, simple message your shirt conveys. :hi:

[me b zola]

38. You should post more often

...I could use a little more kindness & understanding, in my life. :hi:

[CitizenLeft]

75. oh thank you...!

That was very kind - :blush: Back atcha!

:hug:

[NanceGreggs]

3. So, an idiot you're not ...

I know you think you didn't state your feelings in a comprehensible way - but you did.

I understand your sentiments completely. And you expressed them perfectly - from the heart.

:kick: & REC'D.

[Demeter]

4. I Think That You Describe Something Transforming

The fear of "the other" becoming the recognition of a kindred spirit. It is only through such transformations that change is made. And change is what we all seek--change from the fear, hatred, and dead-ends of Bush/Cheney. The regime that has brought black and white and brown and yellow together in all the shades of humanity to create a force that the world has never seen before in America.

We are united in our rejection of the thugs, and our belief that there is a better way to live and run a country.

[CoffeeCat]

7. You're not an idiot....

...and we all understand these moments.

You're an honest person for sharing it and it is hard to put all of this into words.

I do believe, that Obama being president will change things, as far as race is concerned. It
will be a new day in America.

Without even trying to make some big sociological statement, my children did--when they said this:

"Mommy, why does a person have a name like 'Brock Bama'?"

"Everyone had their own, unique name."

"I know mom, but that's a different name. I've never heard a name like that. Will we really have
a president named 'Brock Bama'?"

My husband turned to me and said, "Wow. We were always told as children that anyone of any color, gender
or background could be president, but our children will grow up in a world not only hearing it but seeing
that it is possible."

My husband and I both had tears in our eyes.

This will change everything...because like my husband said--we were always told that anyone could be
president in America. However, there was always some doubt. Racists and the bad elements of society
are often magnified by the media--leaving us wondering if people are good, decent and progressive enough.

When Obama becomes president, it sends a signal that we are good and decent---and that should give hope
and optimism to people of all races and renewed faith in each other.

[Bonobo]

21. That's a beautiful story too.

It makes me feel just like that when I look at my 3 beautiful children. They will grow up believeing what I did not think possible even 6 months ago.

[zonkers]

80. I totally bonded with a black lady on the bus. Told her I liked her Obama button.

She smiled back. That was it. I asked about the other button on her jacket and told me it was for her grandson in Iraq.

[MISSDem]

95. I love it. "Brock Bama' for President.

[Maddy McCall]

8. Bonobo, I had surgery two weeks ago, too!

How are you doing? Are you recuperating ok?

I have my up days and down days and just found out yesterday that I'll have to be off work the whole six weeks...dammit.

Hope you are healing well.

:hug:

[Bonobo]

15. My surgery was 2 weeks ago this Thursday and I went to Karate tonight for the first time...

Ouch. I'm still hurting. Like a knife deep in my guts at times still... But it is better each day.

How about you? You doing better?

[Maddy McCall]

16. Doing ok!

Good days and bad ones. I've been pretty much restricted to my damned couch, so that's not too much fun. :(

You be careful not to overdo it!

:hug:

[Bonobo]

19. Thanks. And you make sure you get up and start moving around as soon as you can.

It's Spring!!!!

[Maddy McCall]

22. Believe me, I would if I could.

Doctor's orders, though. I can't even pick up a gallon of milk, much less go fishing for those big whopper catfish! It's killin' me because I know that the bream are bedding right now. :cry:

[Johnny__Motown]

9. You just committed the cardinal sin of Honesty, no doubt you will be punished accordingly

But I am guessing it was worth it.

Thank you for sharing.

[CitizenLeft]

10. wonderful post.

The first step towards lessening the effects of that fear and suspicion you mentioned is having a feeling of empathy. I'm big on that word, LOL - empathy bridges gaps faster than any other emotion. Guilt? Forget it. Empathy - you and I are together in this, and I feel what you feel, even if only on this most narrow of concepts. It's a huge start.

:hug:

[EFerrari]

11. It's all right to notice the good stuff.

lol

:)

[blonndee]

12. Thanks for this! And you're not an idiot at all.

I've thought that I felt something similar recently, but I felt silly about it. I'm glad that you expressed this so well, if only for my own selfish validation. :)

[againes654]

17. K & R

Thank you for posting this. It is the difficult things that we are going to have to talk about in order to bring about understanding, and we won't get true healing until we have a genuine understanding.

[Cha]

18. I have the same feelings

when I see certain people..it's only natural to project what we feel after so long without a leader in our country and now we have a chance for a real one.

[babylonsister]

20. You are definitely not an idiot! And thank you so much for putting

into words how often I wish there was more communication with everyone, every day.

I just washed my new Obama T, and will be wearing it! :thumbsup:

[Bobbieo]

25. Mitake Oyasin!! We are all related!!

[Bonobo]

28. What language is that?

[JanusAscending]

31. I'm under the impression that it is a

Native American saying ? Am I correct???

[New Earth]

61. yes

although I thought it was Mitakuye Oyasin. I used to have it printed on my bank checks. It means 'we are all related' or 'all things are related'...

[babylonsister]

29. Japanese, and what does it mean? nt

[Bonobo]

30. Hmmm...

I'm a Japanese to English translator and I don't think that quite rises to Japanese. It must have been garbled a bit, like the game of telephone?

On edit: I googled it. It is Native American. Lakota?

Anyway, the syllabic sound of it does sound quite Japanese-ish!

[JanusAscending]

32. We are all related.

:shrug: :hi:

[grannylib]

23. You're not an idiot. I'd be willing to bet that many feel as you do,

but don't have the guts or the self-honesty to admit it. And this, I think, is what is truly valuable about the conversation and the thought process that I believe Senator Obama has started in this campaign. He may not have done it perfectly, but I believe he's approached it honestly and with courage, and I think that's just what we need.
Thank you for sharing this.

[cooolandrew]

24. I appreciate your post it is very important & the first sign that Obama has started something truly

momentus. When America can truly stand united the possiblities are endless and without question hopeful.

[MercutioATC]

26. This is exactly what we all need to be doing.

I'm a 40-year-old white middle-class single parent. I was raised by great parents...there was never a hint of racism in our home, despite the fact that my mother grew up in 1950's New Jersey and was exposed to all of the "little racisms" as a child (there were actually little gummi-bear type candies shaped like babies that were licorice-flavored and were known as "nigger-babies"...at least in my mother's neighborhood). I know, in today's environment it sounds barbaric, and my mother is horrified when she looks back at it.

I don't have "white guilt". I don't have "white man's anger". I'm as able to judge a person's merits on their behavior and actions, rather than the color of their skin, as anybody I know.

I still feel less comfortable around other races when I'm in unfamiliar situations. That fact bothers me.

I'd imagine that there are other people who feel the same...and not all of them are white. It's not considered acceptable, however, to admit it...and that may be the greatest impediment to the dialog.

If we all...black, white, asian, latino, native american...felt it was ok to talk about this and admit our prejudices, that would be the point at which we began to understand each other.


It's not easy to admit prejudice...even relative innocuous prejudice...but until we admit ours, we're not really going to be able to realize that "we are one people".

[babylonsister]

42. Just so you know, yours is a great post, well expressed. Thanks. nt

[LiberalAndProud]

27. Very well expressed, Bonobo.

kicked and recommended (K&R)

[msallied]

33. What a beautiful post...

Really and truly, I know exactly what you mean. That talk of an invisible barrier... a division that is unspoken but still very much there. It's one of those things that we can't put our finger on but that Barack Obama brought attention to with his speech last week. I'm so glad that you felt a difference. I see good things happening in the future.

[Window]

34. K/R for beautiful.

:kick:

[grantcart]

35. when people ask me how are you - at a fast food restaurant or anywhere

my standard reply is "fired up and ready to go"

I always get a smile.

But if it happens to be an African American I get a really big smile.

[starroute]

36. There is something here that goes beyond race

Your post reminded me of something that happened 40 years ago this spring, when I participated in a major anti-Vietnam War march in New York City.

After the march broke up, I went to a pay phone to call my parents. There was a line of protesters waiting to use the phone booth, and it had started raining lightly by then. I had no umbrella, but the man in front of me did -- and he handed it to me to hold over myself while he was in the booth.

I was deeply struck by the implicit trust in that gesture -- this was New York City, after all, where nobody trusts strangers -- and spent a lot of time afterwards wondering why things couldn't always be that way.

Memory says that the man with the umbrella was black. I'm not 100% certain about that -- I could be having a Hillary moment -- but I'm pretty sure of it. Either way, though, the message remains the same:

We all need to trust one another more. We all need to feel we're on the same side. We all need to anticipate that the person next to us believes in most of the same things we do and is prepared to work together with us in achieving them.

We as Americans need to believe that about our fellow Americans. We as residents of this planet need to believe that about our fellow residents -- no matter who they are. We know it's true in theory -- but we don't believe it deeply enough to trust.

One step at a time -- or one umbrella at a time -- we need to come together and discover that we've all got each other's back. That's what it will take. That's what we need before we can do what has to be done.

[blonndee]

39. Good post!

Thanks for sharing this memory. That was very touching.

[Bonobo]

41. And THAT story reminds me of something too.

I have gotten umbrellas as well.

In my case, it is from several Japanese people. On probably 4 occasions over my years living there, old ladies often give umbrellas to people that have none. They always wave it off as if it's nothing...

People say sometimes that the Japanese are racist. Sometimes they say that they are simply not 'race-conscious' because the place is all Japanese essentially. As a result, they are incredibly trusting and trustworthy and incredibly kind and secure and lovely to each other. Seeing all the fear and suspicion when I come home to America, I always feel sad and wonder if it is ever possible to be like that for America.

Maybe spreading more umbrellas...

[TheDoorbellRang]

37. I know that feeling you describe

Because I've felt it myself. My best definition of it is the "I hope I'm not saying or doing anything stupidly offensive without realizing it" feeling.

If Obama's elected, I think it'll be a quantum leap toward healing the wounds racism has carved in our national psyche. I would love to see a day come when the color of a person's skin is of no more concern than the color of their eyes.

Thanks for starting a dialogue, Bonobo.

[Bonobo]

40. That's a pretty good word for it. Kinda long though ;). Can you shorten it up a bit?

[TheDoorbellRang]

43. Heh!

I'll bet the German language probably has one word for it, but since it would probably have the same amount of letters, that won't help. :D

[boppers]

44. A year of living in Atlanta had the same kind of effect on me.

The last feeling of "other" just kind of vanished.

I was mighty glad to be rid of it, actually. ;)

[ClayZ]

45. Barack Obama has inspired us.

Loving Kindness!

K and R

[Life Long Dem]

46. That's what Obama talks about.

[FatDave]

47. I remember one time years ago I was in a bar with a big group of people...

...some black, some white. We all had a big table, but people came and went all night. At one point I ended up being the only white person at a table with 4 or 5 black people, and I remember feeling odd not because of any racial overtones, but just because it felt weird to be the one person who was different from everybody else. Later on I was thinking about that feeling and it occurred to me that many black people probably spend a good portion of their lives feeling that way. The one black kid in an otherwise white class or the one black woman in an office.

[Apollo11]

48. Next time - try sharing an elevator with Reverend Wright.

I predict you will feel that "Funny Vibe" washing right back over you.

[Bonobo]

49. I disagree. I would be honroed to meet him and would love to speak to him.

[yardwork]

52. I think that Reverend Wright would be a warm and friendly person.

I think that his statements have been deeply misunderstood by a lot of people. I think you would be surprised to find what he's really like.

[Apollo11]

56. So it's wrong to judge preachers based on what they say in their sermons

Because it's "just a speech" and "actions speak louder than words"?

[yardwork]

59. I have no idea what you're talking about.

Preachers say all kinds of things. I'm not a Christian and I don't belong to any church.

I was expressing my opinion about one person, not expressing some kind of generalization.

[stillcool]

68. Is it wrong to judge a 72 year old..

human being by excerpts taken from a Sermon, out of 30+ years worth of sermons? Is it wrong to condemn a man's life prior to investigating that man's life? What is the yard stick by which a man's worth is measured?

[immoderate]

90. You ought to read this before you judge people...

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-oped0326trinitymar26,0,2414760.story

--IMM

[IsItJustMe]

50. Unless you were raised in a monetary or something in this country, yes, it is always there to some

extent. Most people are not honest enough with themselves to admit it. This comes as a result of being raised in a culture that nurtures tribalism. 'Us' vs. 'Them'. It can not be otherwise. Our hope is for the future, that some day this will no longer be the case.

No shame, just human.

[yardwork]

51. I think I understand and share your feelings.

It's the reason that many of us white folks defended Reverend Wright's sermons on this board. It's not white guilt. I don't feel guilty. I feel an awareness, every day, that this country is not living up to the words and lofty ideals upon which it was founded.

I grew up in a small midwestern town, and like so many of us born in the mid-20th century, I was taught and believed that "America is the greatest country in the world."

Then, as I grew older, I started to learn more about our country's actual history. I noticed what my country was doing, both here in the U.S. and throughout the world. Unfortunately, it's not gotten any better. During my life, the U.S. seems in a downward spiral - worse and worse behavior, worse treatment of both our own people and those throughout the world.

I'd like to believe that the United States is capable of electing a black person to the presidency. I'd like to believe that we're capable of electing a woman, for that matter. I'd like to believe that in my lifetime, and openly gay president could be elected. Perhaps even a president who isn't Christian.

Right now, Barack Obama is the person most likely to help fulfill some - certainly not all - of my dream.

[Bonobo]

66. You said that VERY well. Thank you. Exactly how I feel.

[jakem]

53. Wow, you mean Obama makes even Holyoke functional?

brave post. thanks.

[LWolf]

54. If it took Obama

for you to see people with dark skin as people, I'm glad for you. I don't relate, but I'm glad.

The last time I remember that feeling I was 6 years old. My grandparents invited the granddaughter of friends over to spend the day with me. I have a picture somewhere. At that time in the midwest, neighborhoods weren't integrated, and neither were play dates. By the end of an hour, though, we'd forgotten that we were "different," and were just kids. I never looked back.

I hope it works that way for you, too.

I'm grateful to my mom, and my grandparents, for making sure that I grew up with a rainbow of people, of culture, and that we welcomed and celebrated diversity.

[jakem]

55. that line was unnecessary-

"to see people with dark skin as people"

Bonobo was expressing a pervasive bias that is much more subtle that what you imply. Give a bit of credit here, not an easy post to write i am sure.

[LWolf]

62. I am giving credit.

You are welcome to suggest better phrasing for that feeling that he (?) himself was having trouble defining.

If you come up with something better before the editing deadline, I'll change it.

[jakem]

64. i know you are giving credit- hold the snark.

just stating for the record that Bonobo's comment was not quite as you represented.

[LWolf]

65. No snark.

I'm sincere. What's a better way to say it? I have a little time left.

[Bonobo]

67. I always saw black people as "people". That was offensively put.

I have always felt aware of a wall between us do to the social injustice that exists and our respective positions vis a vis that social justice.

That is not the same as "not seem them as people".

[LWolf]

74. My apologies.

It wasn't intended to be offensive.

Let me put it differently: that "wall" that you perceive came down for me as a very young child. I'm grateful for that, and if Obama helps you to tear your own wall down, I'm glad.

[Bonobo]

76. I doubt I am as uncommon as all that and I am not sure you understand.

The "wall" is also my discomfort with the fact that I am being judged by MY color as well.

It is so complex that it is hard to believe that you feel no discomfort at all. Don't you ever want to say "I'm not like bad white people, don't blame me please".

You never had such a feeling?

[LWolf]

78. No,

but I think it's my uncommon background that allows me that grace.

I didn't grow up with a family, a family background, a "culture," outside of the single-parent working poor culture which crosses racial boundaries.

My mom left the family that raised her, who were not her parents, behind when she graduated from high school at 17 and never looked back. I was an only child, she a single parent, and we moved constantly. 10 schools, K-12 for me. The only constants in my life were the people we connected with. My paternal grandparents, who took an interest in me, were active in the civil rights movement. We left them behind to move halfway across the country when I was seven, but I remember them with love.

We connected with the poor working people in the neighborhoods we lived in; in southern california, they came in all colors, cultures, and ethnicities. In 1971, when I was 11 years old, my mom took me along with her for the first time to a "women's center" in L.A. to hear a speaker. Who? Angela Davis, speaking about racial divides. The women there did not look at me as "white," but as a sister, and took the time to explain the background that would help me understand what I was hearing.

There were people of all colors in my neighborhoods, schools, and hanging out with me at my house growing up. We talked about injustices; they about racial injustices, me about class and gender injustices. Injustice was injustice, and we understood each other. I have two black "god daughters;" although they are agnostic, that's the best label I have for the relationship; daughters of my oldest friend in the world. We still stand together.

I think it's the absence of "roots," of a "people" to belong to, that allows me that grace. I'm grateful to have something positive to pull from what has often been a hard, isolated path in life.

Where I live now is a near monoculture of rural white working class protestants. I have to make a trip over the mountains to the city a couple of times a year to fill up on all of the rich diversity I no longer live in. Meanwhile, I get to gently expose my students to as much diversity as possible. Interestingly, I find that there is less racial and political bigotry, and more religious bigotry where I live and work. It's ok to be brown or black, it's okay to be D or R, as long as you are a "good christian."

[ginnyinWI]

57. Obama has given me a window into what it means to be an AA.

I'm white, and sure, I knew about the minority experience in America objectively, but not having been one didn't feel it personally. Through listening to Obama speak about it and reading his memoir I am starting to understand how it must feel. Obama is especially able to do this because he wasn't raised in the typical AA culture, so had to learn for himself, bit by bit, who he was and how he would grapple with it. He speaks as one who has spent a lot of time delving into the race question for himself. And because he truly has been on both sides he is better able to explain to the other side what it feels like.

[New Earth]

58. it's been happening to me too

just as it did for you. I won't even tell my stories but they are similar to yours. That feeling is in the air, everywhere.

[K Gardner]

60. Same thing has been happening to me, Bonobo.. hard to describe and

quantify. I do know that I struck up a conversation with a group of people, when normally I don't imagine we would have had much to say to each other, while sitting at McDonald's with my grandson. That same scene has repeated itself more than once. Always accompanied by that wonderful feeling that yes, it may be superficial that what we have in common now is love for Obama, but its a start to comraderie and an end to awkwardness from both sides and that feeling that we have nothing in common. You're right.. its hard to talk about. I salute you for putting it into words. :hi:

[helderheid]

63. You are so not an idiot and I thank you for sharing your story. I know EXACTLY that feeling you

describe. I'm a white woman and I can just imagine that feeling where that gap of "is she a racist or not" wouldn't be there. I hope that came out right! Ugh.

Anyway, THANK YOU for this.

:hug:

[Mme. Defarge]

69. YOU NAILED IT!

The power of courage and being authentic. Thank you.

[davsand]

70. The "Cult" of Obama??

Bless you for talking so eloquently about this, Bonobo!

I am here in downstate Illinois and I have experienced what you describe for a while now. I got on board with the Obama campaign early on in his Senate Primary race and I had more than a few times that my Obama button or sticker generated a difference that is difficult to describe but very real. I was sporting a "Women for Obama" button as soon as they were available, and the phenom continues and has magnified.

I was raised by parents that came of age in a time when people were judged solely by the amount of pigmentation in their skin. Schools were segregated and there was a huge divide in this country. My father held on to some of that all his life. When Obama talked about his Grandmother saying stuff that made him uncomfortable I totally understood. When he later spoke of Rev Wright and that fact that he disagreed with some of what he says--but he loves him because of WHO he is, I understood that too.

I grew up in a time when Dr King was part of our world and people were working actively to get past the differences of race. I grew up in a world where everyone paid lip service to the idea that we are all wonderful and unique--yet we saw the inner cities dieing and we saw acts of discrimination every day. I watched as they passed laws to make discrimination less common, but I still saw things that were wrong and hurtful--and they were common. I chose to live my life looking for the commonalities we all share, and I chose to live my life in a way that affirmed the value we all carry.

In many ways, I think Obama offers our country an opportunity to progress in a way that we have not seen since Dr King was on this earth. I think what you experienced is just one small manifestation of that hope.


Laura

[Bonobo]

71. Thanks

for that lovely reply.

It really is hard to open yourself and admit your feelings. They aren't always what your better nature wishes they were, but they are what they are.

I have always believed humans to be non-unique, as opposed to the common platitudes about them being unique. Sure, there is individual variation -just as there is individual variation between fish, squirrels and... bonobos, but it is the common features that are extraordinary. What we care about, how we react to things, it's all in there in each person, but the choices we make arer so different.

[truth please]

72. We all have fears.

You are not alone. I have elderly black relatives that still live in the past. They don't hate white people, but as Obama says still can't believe that change has happened. They suffered so long under racism they are blinded by it. I am 52 and have lived through the changes, I don't agree with the older people but I can't condemn them for their reasoning. They along with a lot of blacks have become captives of the past. My heart is smiling not because I expect white people to start showering me with money or programs, but that finally we can all accept our differences and embrace our embrace our qualities that are the same. I know things are not perfect, but they are getting better.

[Bonobo]

73. Fear is a multi-edged weapon.

My brother is married to a black woman. Neither he nor his wife had been supporting Obama. Mr brother has finally come around to supporting Obama and is now finally enthusiastic. But what was stopping him? Fear.

Fear that Obama could not win in the GE.

As for my sister, she was afraid of the same thing. A complete disbelief that Obama could ever be elected in the racist country. But one other thing too. She still doesn't support him because now she is afraid he will be assassinated.

Fear.

It's a big thing all around.

[Olney Blue]

98. Obama's candidacy itself is already creating change!

Welcome to DU, truth please! :hi:

[rateyes]

77. What an idiot you are...

for thinking you're an idiot! :D

[elixir]

79. Visualize puking smiley face here..

[thoughtcrime1984]

81. It is threads like these

that make me proud to be a part of this virtual community, and also proud to be an Obama supporter. There are really some good people on DU, thanks for sharing your thoughts. :)

[PurgedVoter]

82. K&R This is exactly what politics should be about! NM

[Hawkowl]

83. Well said!

This is what finally brought me into the Obama camp. He has become more than he is. He is becoming an icon--and icon's don't belong to themselves, they belong to the people. Americans are coming together as one people for the first time ever. And we will all be unimaginably better off for it.

[Adelante]

84. Now you did it

:cry:

[Catherine Vincent]

85. That's nice but that black woman probably supported Hillary.

:)

[Bonobo]

87. And that would be fine too.

[BklynChick]

86. I think that's awesome. I get it.

[BlueGirlRedState]

88. Nice post from the heart

Last weekend we were in Johnson City, the small town in Texas where LBJ grew up. We had lunch at a local eatery, and there was a white family with a boy who looked to be biracial, about 8 or 9 years old. The white members of the family -- husband, wife, boy about six and a baby in a carrier -- didn't seem to be interacting with the biracial boy and I wondered about him -- was he a foster child, a child from a first marriage, adopted, or even a neighbor? I felt sorry for him, he seemed isolated from the rest of the family, but then I thought, that boy could grow up to be another Barack Obama. It gave me a much more positive feeling, and I hope that boy looks at Barack and feels that yes, he could be President someday. (BTW, we had our two daughters, born in China and adopted, who can never be President...)

[roseBudd]

89. Yeah I think a lot of different entities need Obama, but African Americans

especially.

I also think our urban cities, the ones with segregated almost all black public schools and concentrated poverty and high crime rates really need an Obama presidency. I am not ashamed to say I live in one of those cities & hell yeah I want an Obama presidency, for my city, for my property values, my tax burdern, etc. Gunshot wounds run about $38,000

In my city 28% of the population lives below the poverty line

[Joe Chi Minh]

91. I had a strong feeling that Obama would do more for race relations, particularly

if, as seems very likely, he becomes President of the United States, than any other person or occurrence could in a century or more. A rising tide lifting all boats. So, I feel particularly gratified that it has started already, and it wasn't a fanciful idea.

It is also clear, it seems to me, that Americans everywhere are tired of the albatross of racism around their neck - and not least in the Deep South! I'm sure the UK and elsewhere would also feel the inter-racial benefit, too.

[HCE SuiGeneris]

92. Beautiful. Thank you.

Moments such as the one described allow me to keep my belief that we are made of so much more than the mundane.

[ClericJohnPreston]

93. I've wanted to say this for a long time Bonobo

Yes, you tool, you are an idiotic racist first class.

What town do you come from, flyover USA? Gee, look, a real Black person?

It is no irony to me that you support Obama. Like so many others here, you support TOKENISM in a reverse standard. You have never, by your own admission done anything remotely to show your understanding of racism in the United States. You live in a highly segregated area, where you have to travel to another town to spy minorities.

How easy for you to wipe away years of doing nothing, by lending "support" to a Black candidate so you can say how tolerant you are, the converse of the way you have lived your life. That is tokenism, my friend.

I come from New York City. I have been in and amongst minorities my whole life, to the point where I NEVER have to point out, "gee, I saw a Black person in the elevator today". Race and color are so unimportant to me, I wouldn't even see the dilemma which brought you such gratification.

Yes, chimpy, you are a tool first class. A racist one at that. Two pats on the back for you that you rode an elevator with a Black woman. Idiot!

[TheDoorbellRang]

97. I bet you get the elevator all to yourself -- often

:spray:

[MISSDem]

94. You made me cry because you said it like I have felt it, exactly.

Thank you. You are not an idiot but a word smith. I agree, I agree and I also agree.

[Scurrilous]

96. Good post.

K & R :thumbsup:

[DeschutesRiver]

99. Just wanted to say

that I get it completely. And understand what you mean, and my thoughts have been running along these same lines. Was having a hard time articulating it, but you captured it nicely. Thanks for sharing that.

[undeterred]

100. Great post.

I'm having the same experiences. :hi:

[surfermaw]

101. The only thing you need to do with a Black person is look in their eyes and smile

When you look in their eyes, and smile, they know you heart isn't filled with hate for them, I went shopping a few weeks ago in a town about 100 miles away from my home, Charlotte, it seemed to me that every Black person that I saw was filled with hope and seemed very happy, and the White people seemed very happy with the way the Black people were behaving, almost as if they were happy for the same reason... I am old and this was an unusual day.

[stop the bleeding]

102. WOW what an awesome post

I wonder if she shared a moment as well.

:beer:

[mopinko]

103. i feel like my obama button is magic.

i know just what you mean.