It's Not About Race

It was raining here earlier. My mother called and she told me that it was snowing where she lives. She's forty miles from me. I was glad it wasn't snowing here. Rain is warmer.
After her call, it took ten minutes; the drops in the sky start to float and the world is transformed to an indistinct grey. All becomes the same, linked and inherent to the snow; the grey world. White-grey, grey-green, cloud-grey, frosted-grey. Grey pictures, black and white in color (I've included some from the perch). All is grey. All is related.

I see that Senator Obama won the South Carolina Primary Saturday. That is not surprising. But something must be or I wouldn't have brought it up. After the victory, I believe during the Senators victory speech, the chant in the background was "It's not about race." I don't think the Senator was comfortable with that... either. The Senator has tried hard to keep 'race' a non-issue. That is why I was surprised at the chant. Especially considering the overwhelming (80%) black support for Senator Obama in South Carolina. It was that support that won the state; Senator Obama only won about 25% of the white vote.
The victory doesn't bother me. Senator Obama is as appealing as any of the candidates. What bothers me is the chant. It was a lie: It was about race in South Carolina. It was about race when Oprah jumped into politics and endorsed Senator Obama. It was about race when those Obama supporters stood and chanted "It's not about race", or why else would they chant a denial to something that it wasn't about? And that is the bothersome part. Why deny the obvious?
Does America, or at least the South Carolina Obama supporter, fear the acknowledgment that we are still a racially divided natio (are we?)? I think what the South Carolina chanters were trying to express is the quality of Senator Obama's candidacy. That they were willing to vote for him for reason other then his being black. So will they accept a non racially bias defeat if non-black voters do not support the Senator and then claim that it's not about race?
I understand how voting for someone other than a white male (ie. a black male), is appealing to the 'black voter'. I could understand females supporting a female. Chinese supporting a Chinese, Catholics supporting Catholics etc. It is a credit and corroboration to the authenticity of Senator Obama's campaign that he can pull enough of the 'others' to be victorious. 'Others' being non-black voters. But let us not deny the obvious, so that when it doesn't favor our candidate, we aren't surprised, and possibly angry. Race is an everyday, major issue, and America being above it is the corresponding issue.
It's about gender too. It's about religion as well. Senator Kennedy jumped on the Obama band wagon today so now it's about the 'Kennedy' thing equally. Hell, it's about every dog and pony show you can think of, so don't try to tell me it's not about race. 80% is 80%. If Senator Obama does that well with any other segment of the population then it won't be about race.
The Obama campaign promises to illustrate not just how tolerant, mature, and evolved, but also how hypocritical we are as a nation. And I dare say it now- It is about race, and a myriad of other qualities that have nothing to do with race, but should Senator Obama lose, then 'race' will be a major issue. If he wins then history marches on; he's the first, there will be others. In the coming months, America will learn something about herself: we don't live in a grey world.

Red state, blue state,
Revealing me and you's state,
The State of affairs is nobody cares.
Just because they chant it, doesn't make it true.

Tomorrow, or maybe the next day, the blue of the sky will bust through the upper part of the grey world. The evergreens will be green in the sunlight. The yellow snowplow will reveal the shiny, wet, black pavement of my road. The white snow on the red skin of the Madrone tree will melt and reveal the colors of the world. red where it's red, white, black, green and dirty some places. It will all be there. UNDENIABLY!
The light of the truth, the grey, formless, who ya' gonna call gone, and all the colors of the world will return.
Be ready for it