complex.

There's no denying that racism is still very real in today's U.S. society. At times race relations are desperately swept under the proverbial rug, and at other times race is at the forefront of political news, everyday conversations, and therefore on our minds. Currently, we find ourselves in the latter.

The last couple of days, I have found myself thinking a lot about the heightened frenzy supposedly revolving around President Obama's policies and in particular the debate on national health care reform. And in these days, I have noticed my blood pressure rise, my heart beat in rapid succession, all while feeling a concurrent sense of hopeless disbelief. It is not simple anger that I feel when I see signs smearing, "Bury Obama's healthcare plan with Kennedy" and "Barack Hussein Obama The New Face of Hitler". I am appalled and furious. I am washed away in a tide of inability to respond in rational, meaningful, and constructive ways.

The hatred flows not from opposition to our current president's ideas, plans, or policies; it is the undying efforts of certain individuals and groups to present Obama as a terrorist, a communist, a socialist, a Nazi, a whatever to present him as a part of "them" and not "us." It would be ignorant to play this off as nasty party-line fighting and name-calling. Avoidance of naming racism when we see it is the easy way out. It would let us off the hook. So, in the last few days, I have attempted to allow a broader understanding of how racism plays an integral role in politics. I have revisited the complexities of electing the first African American president; the role of diplomat he must play in order to maintain peace. And in this sense, I applaud former president Jimmy Carter for publicly speaking what Obama cannot.

What is going on can little be summed up in an lacking blog post, but the importance of engaging in conversation around racism and its impacts is certainly no less.