All through the Obama administration I have been accused of being a racist. I have denied it over and over. But now after much deep thought and soul searching I have had to admit that indeed I AM a Racist.
How did I come to this self revelation? It was while I was considering whom I would vote for in a local election for a local commission seat with an incumbent I had voted for enthusiastically. Over his tenure I had grown a little disappointed with his voting record in which he seemed to go along with the status quo. However I was a loyal voter to him and was willing to give him another term given the only man running against him was in the words of my peer group a crazy white man.
You see in every election I have over the years gravitated to voting for persons of color and culture in hopes for a more balanced representation in both my local, state and federal government. I have considered persons of color first and over their white competitors. I have also engaged in gender bias considering women over men first. After having that realization I felt I was obliged to consider the crazy white man. I found out he had been a successful local businessman, attended more commission meetings than many of those on the commission, had been a leader in several reputable community organizations, and was for limited government, lower taxes and government budget control. He also offered some very creative ideas. My guy called himself a team player. The crazy white man called himself someone who thinks outside the box. Guess who I wanted to vote for. You got it the “Crazy White Guy.”
I found in my earnest effort to be the student of Dr. King I realized I had been judging folks by their gender or color of their skin rather than looking only at the content of their character. Not voting for Obama was really my first time not voting for someone of color who ran for office. I had considered him first over McCain even though I consider myself a conservative. Chicago politicians are known to be the most corrupt in the country and McCain had had a colorful history with conservatives and I spent considerable time researching what I thought was a choice between the lesser of two evils. It was this intense research of both candidates that led me to not vote for Obama.
In this last local election I had taken a hard look at myself and found myself ashamed. I feel like I need to cover up the pictures of the candidates and only read about them to determine who to vote for. I envy the blind from birth person in this endeavor. It was a difficult realization for me, but hopefully I will be better for it.
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