Obama and his grandparents

Likewise, I was looking at this picture of Obama's grandparents and thinking how much he looks like his grandfather. And suddenly, for whatever reason, I was struck by the fact that they had made the decision to love their daughter, no matter what, and love their grandson, no matter what. I'd bet money that they never even thought of themselves as courageous, that they didn't give much thought to the broader struggles in the the world at the time. They were just doing what right, honorable people do. But the fact is that, in the 60s, you could be disowned for falling in love with a black woman or black man. There is a reason why we have a long history of publicly biracial black people, but not so much of publicly biracial white people.

We often give a pass to racists by noting that they were "of their times." Fair enough, and I know Hawaii was a different beast, but still, today, let us speak of people who were ahead of their times, who were outside of their times. Let us remember that Barack Obama learned the great lessons of life from courageous white people. Let us speak of those who do what normal, right people should always do when faced with a child--commit an act love. Here's to doing the right thing. - Ta-Nehishi Coates

I can not measure how much I've learned about race and society since Barack Obama announced his candidacy for President. With Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin in the picture, we as a culture, are forced to think and talk about race and gender issues not in a vaccum but in relation to each other, as it should be. Political blogs like Andrew Sullivan's and Ta-Nehishi Coates' have really deepen my understanding of racial and gender politics by articulating new narratives beyond standard politics. Beyond that, I have gained new perspectives and discovered nuances in this ever evolving world. Reading the blogs and listening to the radio and digesting the news have been a fascinating and personal journey.