E.Ethelbert Miller

CHARLES Johnson just sent me a copy of his essay that's in the latest issue of Shambhala Sun (November 2008). "The Meaning of Barack Obama" is written from Johnson's Buddhist perspective. It provided me with an opportunity to develop more probes; ideas that scholars might need to examine under conditions of deep thought and reflection.

Johnson begins his essay by mentioning how the general election in November might be an opportunity to take the temperature of racial attitudes in American at the dawn of a new century.

I like Johnson's medical reference here. I've always felt the major question of the 21st Century is the one that appears in THE SALT EATERS by Toni Cade Bambara. "Do you want to be well?"

Thank you Minnie Ransom. Sorry Dr. DuBois - we are moving beyond the Color Line. Is America well? Do we have "race" fever? Back in 1877 we caught what was known as Liberia Fever. Obama Fever should make us all reach for the thermometer. But what is America's normal temperature? One man's hot is another man's cold.

Johnson writes in his essay that "race is our grandest lived delusion and grief-causing fiction."

I don't know about this. It seems we give race a bad name these days. We talk about race as if it was a bad hairstyle. Do we want everyone to have cornrows? I don't think so. Why don't we look at race as being one of the wonderful things to celebrate instead of something to shed? Why must we see Race as a cocoon and buy into the concept that only butterflies are free? What is this about? I think the struggle is against racism and prejudice and not race. The challenge is similar to the one Ellington faced. How do we keep this Big World Band playing together? Should only white people get to solo? Pass me some more Strayhorn and let's get this composition right.
I thought I heard Johnny Hodges say...

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