"Black people simply fall back on the race card for everything."

"There is no racism anytime the USA can elect a black man as President."

"Black people simply don't care about their children’s education.  They use the system as a glorified babysitter."

These are just a couple things that have been said to me over the last 2 years since my involement as the webmaster to this website.  I could argue with these folks and win, but in doing so, I alienate them from garnering the knowledge it takes to understand what it is to be black in America, and moreover, southern Louisiana.

I know I wouldn't want to be born black.  I have known that instinctively all my life.  Nobody calls me the "N-word," although as an Italian, I've been called its equivalent.  I am white, and as such, I can move across the country freely.  Nobody has me under surveillance in a department store; I drive in any neighborhood without the police pulling me over; I don't have to wonder if I am dressed appropriately or if my purse is too large to shop in a jewelry store, fine clothier, or with any other merchants.    I don't select only certain neighborhoods to buy a home for fear my children or I will be harassed or unwanted.  I have never been told I am a credit to my race, nor has anyone judged all white people by the mishappenings of a few.  While it is true that all students who have ever gunned down other students in school are white, nobody judges every teenage white boy as a potential killer.  I can get a loan, or a job, and the name on the paperwork doesn't cause people to prejudge me.

Yes, truly there are advantages to being white.  It is these advantages that white people live a lifetime never having to consider.  Is it any wonder white people are oblivious to institutionalized racism?  The shame of it, is most of these people while blissfully ignorant, have never had race conversations with people of color to even discover the aforementioned.

Are white people to blame?  Partly.  I like to blame both people of color and white people for this lack of communication.  It is easy to put most of the blame on the white community because it is they who have the power.  The truth is, those in power - those white people in power, should be bridging the gap and the truth is, nobody seems to be talking about anything other than trivial issues that won't promote racial bridges.  It seems among polite company, it is better not to discuss religion, politics or race.

Until we, as human beings on this planet, work toward a "common good," we will resegregate out of fear or ignorance, and neither is worth a damn.  As real Christians, we need to try harder to understand one another, and open doors of communication, instead of shutting out one another.

Nothing I can say can make a difference unless you get up tomorrow and reach out to someone of another race, sit down, and talk about much more substantive issues.  I'm all for the unity of the black and gold, but as the black and gold have bridged a gap, so must we.