Thanks Ta-Nehisi Coates for what in my opinion was the most perceptive thing I read on last month’s Gates-Crowley-Obama brouhaha. I know many feel it was over-reported then and it feels like ancient history now, but his distinction between disproportionate and majority is an especially important insight. Finishes strong too in the last two paragraphs.

In the mid 90’s I was enjoying teaching at a southern liberal arts college that’s a few miles from where the first Woolworths food counter was desegrated as a result of carefully planned, courageous sit-ins by North Carolina A&T students.

A few college leaders decided it was time for us to address underlying racial problems between people both on and off campus. As part of the process “diversity training” required everyone to begin by admitting they were racist. I vividly remember that being a non-starter for some of my southern white colleagues.

Fast forward to this week and former President Carter’s assertion that Congressman Wilson’s “You lie” midway through President Obama’s health care speech was racist in nature. The right immediately countered that Wilson’s outburst and related Republican anger is explained solely by policy differences.

I wonder what lead diversity training experts to require diversity training participants to begin by publicly confessing racism. I suspect the more racist a person is the less inclined they are to acknowledge it. So as the right’s protests against Carter’s allegations grow more vehement, the more correct I think he is. Put differently, thou protest too stridently.

So which way out of this very human, racism-denial dynamic? What if we agree to talk about race and class differences through more subtle, nuanced starting points like “I have preconceived notions of other groups many which are probably inaccurate.” Or “I overgeneralize too much based upon my own limited life experience.” Or “I assume negative things about some groups of people too quickly.”

In the end, I agree with Carter that a relatively small minority of whites don’t think an African-American is qualified to be President of the United States, and consequently, they question President Obama’s legitimacy.

More importantly, I’m deferring to thoughtful African-American citizens making the same argument based upon all numerous Hitler comparisons from a few weeks ago, the “How dare Obama give a ‘back-to-school’speech to my kids” hysteria, and the repeated condemnations of socialism and the related questioning of Obama’s birth certificate.

I suspect that for maybe ten percent of whites the fact that an African-American convincingly was elected to the highest political position in the land is disorienting and disturbing.

I don’t expect former President Carter’s statement or these words to convince anyone that racism is a contributing factor to these recent events. In fact, I expect Congressman Wilson, the gun-toting Hitler holding sign people, the conservative parents who threatened to pull their children from school, and more radical elements of the right wing to continue to insist that they don’t have any racist bones in their bodies.

Liked it, but found his repeated references to country somewhat perplexing.

His personal story is inspiring and it’s great he challenged students to take advantage of the educational opportunities provided them. Can’t argue with his thesis, that many students face obstacles and that becoming well educated requires discipline and hard work, there are no short cuts.

I suspect he persevered more because his mom demanded excellence than for love of country. In fact, some of his most formative years weren’t even spent in the U.S.

His repeated references to country make me wonder if there’s been a resurgence of nationalism among this generation’s K-12 students that I’m unaware of. I can’t imagine all of the “do it for your country” references resonated with many ninth graders just starting high school, let alone first graders starting elementary school, or sixth graders starting middle school. “I really don’t want to do my algebra homework tonight dawg, but let’s turn off the  t.v. and knock it out for the old red, white, and blue.”

I would have emphasized doing well in school because each of us has great potential to make a positive difference in our communities and the larger world. “Country” is more abstract than community. Also, the most pressing 21st century challenges are transnational in nature so developing global perspectives is critical.

Put differently, had I written the speech for him, I would have gone smaller and larger.

Closer to home, in my compulsory back-to-school speech at dinner tonight, I emphasized the importance of getting off to a good start in high school in order to have a choice of many different colleges, and ultimately, many different interesting, challenging, meaningful careers. My hope is my ninth grader is developing a strong social conscience, is cognizant of her privilege more specifically, and realizes that a “good” college education should help her make even greater contributions to whatever corner of her community or world she sinks her roots into.