I was on the phone yesterday with a friend/old partner of mine.  Here’s the end of the conversation:

Me: Hey, lemme ask you a question, why do we talk and hang out?

Freakzilla: Whatcha talkin’ about?  Why what?

Me: Why are we friends?

Freakzilla: Are you stupid?  Did you roll your truck over and hit your head or something?

Me: No it’s a serious and legitimate question.  Why are we friends?

Freakzilla: Besides all the shit we’ve been through between 9/11, Flight 587, the van in the tree, Irving Plaza, and the thousands of other experiences we’ve shared, I think its because we’re movie and photo freaks.  We both also like the tatas.

Me: So its because we share both common experiences and interests.  What about our differences?

Freakzilla:  Are you sure you didn’t damage your brain or something?  Our differences?

Me: Yeah, our differences, the things about us that we don’t have in common.

Freakzilla:  Ya know what, I’ll have to get back to you on that.  That’s not what I focus on when making friends and influencing people so I’m gonna have to actually think about that.  I just got hit with a job so I gots ta go.  Lata gator.

Me: In awhile crocodile.

This past week race has been brought up repeatedly in both traditional media and the blogosphere. 

Attorney General Eric Holder called the United States “a nation of cowards” when it comes to race.  I have heard that a blogger received hate mail because she “doesn’t see color” when reading blogs on the internet.  I have unsubscribed from another blogger who felt the need to give her readers a class on “Racism 101”. 

Racism is not dead.  We cannot fool ourselves into thinking it is over and done with just because a man of color holds the highest office in the land.  Still we cannot deny that there has been progress, because it is this progress that proves things can get better and hope for equality is not lost for equality is not a myth.  I am here to tell you that we are beyond “Racism 101” and well into the 200 series.  As old challenges are overcome new ones arise and we must meet those head on instead of lingering over those that have already been overcome.  Those who harp on the past instead of working to the future will continue to live in the past.

I am here to tell you that if there is anywhere you can be color blind, it is here on the internet.  In fact you can be color blind, sex blind, nationality blind, height blind, weight blind, and class blind.  It was Martin Luther King Jr. who said in his I Have A Dream Speech, ”I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” That dream came true with the internet, and was proven to be possible in real life by the Presidential election.  Please feel free to send me your hate mail.

I am here to tell Eric Holder that the opposite is true.  We are in fact a Nation of Heroes, who in less time than it took to abolish slavery, have elected a man to the Presidency Of The United States based on his thoughts, his ideas, and his message instead of the color of his skin or the roots of his surname.  This was the fulfillment of a dream spoken about for so long and by so many.  By labeling those who have made the dream into reality the way you have is turning your back on the message of unity that made this progress possible.  I am not afraid about an honest conversation about race or racism, but it is important that the two are differentiated because they are indeed different things.

Nothing is wrong with celebrating our differences and embracing our individuality.  However by valuing differences over commonality we inflict a sense of isolationism unto ourselves and project the perception of being condemning of others.  Intense focusing on the differences between one another and valuing ours above all else is the very building block of racism itself.  It is the experience, interests, and like mindedness that we share which draws us naturally to one another which is what we focus on socially.  It is commonality and there is absolutely nothing wrong with it.  Neither has truly anything to do with race.

So what is it that you and I have in common?  What are our differences?  Which do you value more?