Bridging the Race Gap

Being naive, I thought that this election wasn't about race for those not voting Obama. But sadly, I found out that was untrue. I have have been appalled at some of the things that people have said about Obama. It's sad that because he is part African American, that for the first time in probably more than a decade, people have to fear that he could become assassinated, because of racist people with no regard for humanity and really, for the entire human race. It shouldn't be race. It shouldn't be gender. It should be for America. Have they forgotten that this country is not all Caucasian people? That in our lifetime, the "minority" is going to become the majority. From the beginning this country was founded, it has been a mixture of races. It's been (cliche i know), called "a melting pot" or now more commonly used, "a kaleidoscope" of people. That's the way it is. That is the way it should be. How boring would it be if it wasn't?

While reading W.E.B. Du Bois', The Souls of Black Folk, I realized that one paragraph is the perfect response to the feelings of some people, who judge our new president-elect by the color of his skin;

"The history of the American Negro is the history of this strife,—this longing to attain self-conscious manhood, to merge his double self into a better and truer self. In this merging he wishes neither of the older selves to be lost. He would not Africanize America, for America has too much to teach the world and Africa. He would not bleach his Negro soul in a flood of white Americanism, for he knows that Negro blood has a message for the world. He simply wishes to make it possible for a man to be both a Negro and an American, without being cursed and spit upon by his fellows, without having the doors of Opportunity closed roughly in his face."

More plainly, let's live together in harmony. Let's not erase the years of progress this country as made toward bridging the race gap. It's only going to hurt America in the end.