Okay, let's get clear on some things.

I'm 49, Black, female. Poet/singer/playwright, and a great lover of dogs ,Coca-Cola Classic, and dark chocolate with almonds.

I cannot stand Denzel Washington, (Blair Underwood does it for me) Oprah Winfrey strikes me as one for the biggest pains on the planet, and I have a fairly decent bluegrass collection. I do not think everything Jesse Jackson says is right, I learned how to speak correctly at home, not in school, and my hair has never been beaded, afroed or dyed blond.
I was "raised up" in church, hate grits, and know the etiquette of Southern kitchens.

And please, don't even get me started on Obama. I'm a Hillary girl through and through.

Throughout my life, there have been the wrong ideas, the stereotypes, the "expectations" because of my race. Most I shrug off, some I give the 2 seconds I give to anything that I may find mildly intriguing/ amusing, and some just annoy the living hell out of me. Because, really, folks, shouldn't we be past all that?

All I've heard since this election process started is that "race is not part of the equation". Really? Then why has it popped up, more often and more vehemently than almost any other time in my life?

I think Michael does it, I think O.J. did it, and no, I have never been in a gang, prostituted myself, or done time. Love Motown and Monet, speak standard and Ebonic English, dance and sing (not brilliantly), and swing between social strata without giving it a thought or a single nuance of trepidation. There are those poor, misguided fools who think that makes me well rounded. For a larger portion of the world than you'd think, it makes me misguided, dangerous, treacherouspick a descriptive.

This race was supposed to be about "color doesn't matter". It's supposed to be about celebrate differences, don't ignore them. Ye the rallying cry is "Aren't you excited?! We could have a Black president".

Yeah, so?

Personally, I do not want another man in the White House. I want a woman. A good woman with good ideas, who has some idea of the scene behind the scene.

But I get yelled down as a traitor for not backing Obama..not because he's the new, best hope, but because we're both people of color.

That's crazy, first of all. And secondly, why do so many people care?

I remember at the beginning of my bluegrass phase (both listening to and learning to sing), living on the bottom floor of a dub-divided Victorian downtown. My neighbors

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