What discourages me...

This came from my old friend Fred Branfman, a guy I've known since Rolling Stone in the mid-70s:

On the way home from Hawaii I was talking with the flight attendant, who was explaining why she wouldn't support Obama although she was strongly for Hillary. She didn't like "those people running around the White House" she said. Just then a big, cheerful woman with a happy smile came up and I asked her how she felt about Obama. "Well, when I first heard him I was really struck by how well he talked," she answered, giving me hope that I had found an Obama supporter. "But then," she continued chirpily, "I realized. This is the way the Antichrist talks!" She explained that she was a- a Christian conservative; b- didn't particularly like McCain; but c- would certainly vote against Obama, because he was the Antichrist. I asked the flight attendant whether by "those people" she meant "Blacks". "Absolutely," she answered. "I went to Cal State Dominguez and the Blacks all stuck to themselves. They just don't like us."

This is the kind of battle facing our first African-American for President. It is not about issues; it is not about character; it is not about his fitness to lead.

It is utterly and depressingly only about his race. The cynical McCain camp, knowing this, is already exploiting every opportunity to trigger the residual racism that a majority of white Americans still bear in their hearts, though, hypocrites that they are, they never have the courage to admit it.

Instead, they hide behind other rationales.

There is nothing I can do to influence how any one person votes. I certainly cannot reverse history's ugly legacy. I can't convince white Americans that this could be the most important vote they ever cast in the sense of healing our racial wounds; pehaps their only chance.

Even if you like John McCain, he represents nothing but the same old. Barack Obama is our multicultural nation's future. If the unexamined hate that still resides inside so many white hearts prevails this November, America will have missed a chance, one that may not come around again in our lifetimes.

If you vote against Obama, you are implicitly or explicitly affirming those two ignorant women Fred talked with. Those are your people; their ideas are your ideas. You can feel good about defeating this black man, this time around, but you are not going to feel good as you look back, on your deathbed, and consider the few times your vote might have made a difference.

-30-