I’ll tell you. I just don’t know what to believe these days. On the one hand, we have people saying that we did it. We have overcome. We now have a Black President so that means that the United States is a euphoric, colorblind, melting pot. On the other hand, we have overt acts of racism (and sexism) that seem to keep popping up. So which America do we live in?

Growing up, I had the pleasure of living in good old diverse New York City. If ever there was a melting pot, New York was the place. A few blocks made a difference in the type of people and culture that surrounded you. Coming from mixed heritage myself, I was exposed to different cultures and taught to love everyone equally. I would listen to my Dad tell us stories of “the old days” when racism was blatant and overtly prominent. He spoke of the segregated south, the boycotts, the marches. He spoke of some of the encounters he himself had as a young child. I distinctly remember a story about his uncle being kidnapped by three white men as a small child. Those stories still haunt me to this day. I grew up shielded from real racism. All I was told was that there were racists in ever culture and that it was wrong for me to be racist against anyone.  My parents taught us to accept everyone until they had the chance to prove themselves either way. Most importantly I was taught not to hold the sins of a few against the many.

Over the years I’ve had subtle racial encounters, but nothing to emotionally scar me or make me hate an entire race. That’s not who I am. Well, raising my own son, I always made a point to carry on what my parents taught me about not judging a race by the actions of a few idiots. I wasn’t naive, I knew racism existed. But I had never come face to face with real, live nasty racism. Imagine my joy and surprise when the United States elected it’s first Black President. So many thoughts ran through my mind. Granted, I live in Georgia, which isn’t altogether an open armed state. But I felt like we finally had a chance at working towards being one society. I mean after all, when the World Trade Center was bombed, for a split second, we came together as a nation regardless of race, gender, political affiliation, age.  So election day I was full of hope and pride.

Since Barack Obama became President, the racism has become more overt. No, I’m not theorizing that white people are evil or anything like that. So please, let’s not take the discussion there. But some really nasty feelings have surfaced on a lot of fronts from a lot of different races. I sometimes sit and talk with friends and ask is it that people are becoming more bold BECAUSE we have a Black President? Would the level of nastiness still occur if we elected a White President? Well unless I can speak to everyone in this country (which I can’t) I’ll probably never know that answer.  But social media and the internet has opened up the flood gates of anonymous cowards who probably wouldn’t say the same vile things they say if confronted face to face. I love America in that everyone is entitled to freedom of speech. And I’m OK with that. Because if we start censoring ignorant people, what’s to happen to our freedoms?

I generally don’t like to dwell on this topic but this morning, as I had some folks from Black Enterprise on my show to discuss the upcoming conference, there was an incident in my chat room. Someone had made a hit and run post of a racial nature. I won’t repeat it here as it’s not worth repeating. But as I spoke with a friend after, she helped me realize that it’s better to have this racism front and center instead of behind closed doors. She reasoned that she’d rather know where she stands instead of having to guess. And I agree. Would I like to live in a united society? Absolutely. Will I in my lifetime? Probably not. I think it’s sad that here we are in 2010 and we’re still on that old hatred.  Why are people still so angry and hostile? It can’t be as simple as having a Black President. It just can’t.  it has to be much deeper. And until we can have intelligent conversations to get to the root of this, it will continue.

One would think that with the internet, social media and being in technically a global society that people would be more tolerant. For the most part, I think people are. But I realize that there are always going to be people who will hate just because they can. All I can do is continue to be me and continue to open my arms to embrace other cultures.  I hope one day we will become a more tolerant society. In the mean time, I just have to keep on being me. It takes much more energy to hate than to love. I choose not to hate. Negativity only serves to keep you away from your true purpose. Once we get past this issue, maybe we can focus on healing the world, including right here at home.

So when will we become a global society, accepting and respecting other cultures while proudly celebrating our own?