Ain't gonna let Mississippi...

Turn me 'round, turn me 'round, turn me 'round.

Ain't gonna let nobody turn me 'round, turn me 'round, turn me 'round.

50 years ago, Black people in Mississippi - hell, all people in Mississippi, would have laughed if you said a Black man was running for President.  Those same people would never have believed you if you said he was winning the fight for the Democratic nomination and had a lot of money and power to win the White House.

And worst?  None of those Black folk would have been able to vote for him.  Few (if any) of the Whites would have voted for him.  And now?

He's doing well in polls, though the only poll that matters is yet to close.  And on the same day of the election, you see the first female VP nominee blast him for playing the race card - when it was SHE that said he had it easier by way of being Black.

The first serious female candidate for a major nomination, Senator Clinton, has offered milquetoast rebuke, "We disagree."

We're here and everyone's afraid to call racism racism - so we shy away.  Mentioning that there have been unsavory acts by the Clinton campaign means you get tagged with "using the race card" - though to be honest, there are times that their camp plays on race.

So this is the tightrope, Senator Obama gets to walk.  It's interesting that today's demographics question was about race.  As someone (like Senator Obama) who is mixed, there's always a tightrope.  Speak up and you're too angry.  Stay quiet and you've sold out.  Call attention to real issues about race and you're playing the race card.  And yet through it all, through every single trick - he's still winning.

Senator Obama has won more states (more than double than Clinton).
Senator Obama has won the popular vote.
Senator Obama has won more delegates.
Senator Obama has raised more money.
Senator Obama started behind her - way behind her.  And he's in the lead and she's still offering HIM the VP slot.

When SNL blasts him week after week as being stupid, inexperienced and lazy - he doesn't complain, he doesn't send out surrogates to make it an issue, etc.  Yes, it DOES feed into racist notions that Blacks are stupid, unprepared and lazy.  But, he can't call it out.  So he does what he can - which is speak to the plight and hard work of the American people who also don't have it easy.

It wasn't too long ago that the saint Fannie Lou Hamer stood up for her rights, for the rights of Blacks throughout Mississippi.  She was told by the Democratic establishment that she needed to hold on, to wait her turn - that she needed to behave in the eyes of the party and the nation.  She fought like hell against racism.  And she never let Mississippi or race hatred or the Democratic establishment turn her 'round, turn her 'round, turn her 'round.  It's time for us to keep walking, talking and marching up to freedom.