After reading about the horrific cartoon depiction of Barack Obama as the chimp who wrote the stimulus bill in the New York Post
this morning, I was gripped again with the odd paradoxical feeling
Obama's presidency gives me as the mother of African American
children. On the one hand, I feel the visceral opening of
possibilities previously cut off from my girls by virtue of race--and
more importantly, racism--and its place in American culture. On the
other hand, I am terrified by the new daring racism popping out of the
woodwork of our society, now that the true, self-conscious racists have
such a clear target for their animus.
Add to this a third feeling
of itchy annoyance whenever anyone suggests that racism--even race
itself--is "over" now that the United States has a Black (biracial!)
president and now I'm so conflicted and bothered I can barely get out
of bed.
What's a parent who believes in racism and is
passionately committed to its eradication to do on such a morning?
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