THOUGHTS ON THE ELECTION PART 1

I did not vote for Obama, but am not near as worried as many of my friends. I do think many things will be different in a few years, and not all of them good, but I have been trying to think of some good things, too.

The first good thing is the possibility that racism will decline as an issue. Maybe the election of a Black man will tell American Blacks that truly the average white person is not a racist and does not think poorly of him because he is Black. I am not denying that there are racists around in the white population, but I am arguing that the average white person is not a racist.

The average white person is more interested in whether you are a nice person. He or she may not understand everything you do, but, largely, they do not care, as long as you do not do anything that harms them. They feel the same about their white neighbors.

If you are pleasant at work and do your job, he does not care what color or race you are. In fact, it is interesting to work with different kinds of people and learn about the different things they do and think. If you are a good neighbor, they do not care what country your ancestors came from.

America is a land of great opportunity. Slavery was wrong. We should have abolished it sooner. Segregation was wrong. We should have abolished it sooner. Racism is wrong and we should all stop it. But we do not those things now and, for the most part, you have a shot at doing anything you are talented enough to do. If Vietnamese immigrants can come over not even speaking the language, start off in refuge camps, then go on to own their own homes and businesses and have their kids become valedictorians of their high schools and go on to get college degrees, you can do it to.

Now, Obama has proved it is true. He has a first class education. He has published books. He has been elected to various political offices, representing people of different races.

And now, he has had millions of Americans have trusted him with their destiny.

And most of those Americans are white.