Our greatest stain and shame.

Too many white Americans are racists. I know it. You know it. We lie to ourselves if we think there aren't many, many racists amongst us. I hit the racist theme again and again. Often. Because racism is shameful. Immoral. Wrong as wrong can be. I've lived in an era when blacks were overtly denied their civil rights. When they still faced the peril of being lynched. They went to separate, inferior schools. They weren't allowed into 'white' restaurants and hotels. They had separate drinking fountains. Separate swimming beaches and pools. Separate communities. They were second-class citizens, and less. And all this was accepted. Often without a blink of the eye. This was the America I lived in when I was in my 20s. When I went to work in Florida. Black people had reason to live in fear and in inferior segregated conditions. Yes, it was apartheid. No denying it. It was bad, bad, bad. Racism to the core. The situation has gotten better. But it's still bad. And those who would deny it are blind. Or liars. I see discrimination every day. In our political, economic and social systems. Some people tell me there's no more racism. That electing a black president proves it. But there are still hardcore racists amongst us. In virtually every community. In every walk of life. A certain number of people won't vote for Obama. Merely because he's black. It's racism more than anything else that causes conservative Republicans to oppose Obama's presidency. Right from the beginning. They are dedicated to making him a one-term president. Not because of political differences. But merely because his skin color ain't white. I'm not stupid. I know it. And you know it, too. If you face the truth. Racism is still this nation's greatest (and most evil) stain and shame. --Jim Broede