The Obama Campaign's 3 Million dollar Offer.

[Ginger's Mom]

I understand where you are coming from, BUT I do think white people are being judged and have prejudice against them as well.

White people may be prejudiced against, but they are not being judged by people who are preventing them from rising to the top based on nothing but the color of their skin. The people who are judging the white men are those that are angry because they have been prevented for centuries from achieving the same levels of success for no reason other than the color of their skin. And they are judging the white man's motives for promoting their own. How do you stop the people already invested in power from continuing to hand that power over only to those like them? They have shown through history that they are not going to allow people "different" from themselves to have any real power. How do you break that cycle? You can't just ignore it and hope it will go away.

[Giselle]

White people may be prejudiced against, but they are not being judged by people who are preventing them from rising to the top based on nothing but the color of their skin. The people who are judging the white men are those that are angry because they have been prevented for centuries from achieving the same levels of success for no reason other than the color of their skin. And they are judging the white man's motives for promoting their own. How do you stop the people already invested in power from continuing to hand that power over only to those like them? They have shown through history that they are not going to allow people "different" from themselves to have any real power. How do you break that cycle? You can't just ignore it and hope it will go away.

Ginger's Mom, you put it so eloquently

Race is a big issue. Unless you've felt racism yourself, I think it's very difficult to imagine the enormous impact it plays in your life. I live in a predominately white area. I went to predominately white schools. My interests and hobbies are dominated by an overwhelming white majority. And you can bet that I feel it. I feel it when I sign a letter with my last name. I feel it when I talk to folks on the phone and subsequently meet them in person. I see them, and then I see myself. I see the difference. They see the difference. I am all too aware of my race and my outward differences.

As much as we would like ignore our outward differences and insist that we live in an "equal" society, the fact is we DON'T. Minorities are overwhelmingly more predisposed to health problems, diseases, lack of higher education, increases in violence, etc. The problem is that racism is so deeply ingrained into our society that we can choose to ignore it. We can choose to ignore that all the lowest performing schools (in my particular area) are those with an Af-Am/Mex-Am majority. We can choose to ignore that a majority of gang violence victims are minorities. We can choose to ignore that crime-ridden inner cities in large metropolitan areas are overwhelmingly composed of minorities.

But I just can't ignore it. I am a part of it. There is criticism against race-specific scholarships and whatnot. But when you consider the societal barriers that exist for these disenfranchised groups, you really can't help but admit that it's the least we can do.

I will also admit that I'm from Oakland, CA, where the ethnic disparity is simultaneously brutally obvious and, yet, alluringly obscure.