Whoopi, I think the work you’ve been doing for the past thirty-some-odd years has played a very large part in bringing America to this point of healing. You and so many others have worked your whole lives to get Barack Obama into the White House. Slavery inflicted a gaping wound in our national psyche. The Civil War, Reconstruction, Jim Crow, any number of bandages were applied to no effect. The sixties finally flushed and purged the wound, and while there may still be some black v. white pockets of infection, thousands of Americans like you and Liz have applied the most effective healing balm. Thanks so much for sharing your conversation with me.

It is interesting that some people see Michele Obama as angry? I wonder if any of those “republicans” ever considered the fact that the woman had a right to be angry, simply because she’s being judged by people who don’t know her? Truthfully, I would wager that these people really wouldn’t choose to know her despite the fact that she is grounded, a caring and giving mother, well educated and has worked her way to the top of her field. Angry? I don’t think so. I think Mrs. Obama is a woman who chose to lover her man enough to support him in his dream even though hsi dream threatened her sense of basic security. How many women, whatever their political leanings can honestly say that they have supported the men that they love even if that support threatened them? Few, I’d bet. We still have a long way to go in race relations. We, that is, a lot of us still judge one another based on the color of one’s skin, the dress size of a woman, or whether the person we’re talking to has perfect teeth. How do we get down to the essence of the person in front of us if we can’t put aside their physical attributes?

I’ve learned that anything is possible if you have the money , resources or the support of others to help you. I am white and I live in Third World America. It takes money to make money. Whether it is gas to get to work, bus fare, childcare, clothes on your back, shoes, or clean hair and fresh breath all these things require money. Without the financial resources the American Dream is just a fairy tale. I know only too well. My granddaughter whom I am raising and I go hungry everyday. Holidays are no different from any other day. I am smart, loving, kind, talented, creative, and funny to name a few. I do random acts of kindness every chance I get, and I see opportunities where others don’t. I am a smile millionaire. But few people know these things about me. Because I am disabled and need SSI and Welfare to survive, few people bother to look beyond the label. They will not raise a hand to help me, because they assume that I am lazy, a bad parent, and looking for handouts. I give handouts. I don’t ask for them. Even on this site in the Change the World section when I asked for help and listed what I can do and already have done (I am a talented artist, photographer and poet. A small sample of my work is on RedBubble.com, artist name Blueccs)I got ripped apart. I even offered for anyone who wanted to to shadow me (unbeknownst to me ) at any point and time they chose. It takes a village of active participants. So far I have only found a village of finger pointers and blamers. Yes, with help the American Dream is possible. But not without it. I survive alone in a world full of people. I have already helplessly watched my wonderful, talented, free-spirited children’s hopes and dreams burn down around them and now it is even worse for my granddaughter. Welfare gives no cost of living raises. SSI does only to be penalized by the lowering of food stamps. The cost of living has gone up over the years to the point that we truely are choosing between clothing and food; yet, such a choice predicament is rediculious as to choose one over the other constitutes neglect for which we are then blamed. I could not afford to get help for my daughter who is dyslexic, now I am blamed for that too. Here the public school system refused to even acknowledge that it exists. Instead they labeled her as “nonspecific reading retarded”, lazy, and a trouble maker. My son auditioned for the Young Americans in nineth grade. In twelveth he found out he had made it. We had no way to raise the money to get him to California. He gave up on his dreams. Shea is now wearing clothes that are much too small for her because it is the best I can do. There are thousands upon thousands of charities on line; yet, I can not find one where I can go and say what I need and be matched up with an agency or individual that will help. When I contact the sites asking where to go to find help I get the same response each time. They take donations, they do not give out money. I do not even want money. I would not know where to start. I just want help getting my career started and I will gratefully pay back every penny needed to accomplish this and more for the time, services and more. Personally I think a lot of people are getting rich of f of the guise of helping others. As for the American Dream? I would gladly move to another country if I had the means to do so.

Great conversation ladies, thanks. Like Whoopi I also always believed I could do or be whatever I wanted. But where we differ is I never placed restrictions on any Black person’s aspirations because of race. We have countless Black doctors, lawyers, scientists, writers, politicians and physicists. My way of thinking has always been “why them?” What made these Black men and women aspire for more out of life than the Black men and women who choose to settle for less? The very politically incorrect answer is drive. To tell someone they lack drive is one of the utmost insults you can say to a Black person short of the old line “your mama” which is the universal insult that means everything and nothing all at once. What I am finding so wonderful about Barack’s win is that it is now putting a spotlight on a whole hosts of educated, intelligent, attractive Black men and women that most of our society never realized existed. I literally have White friends that are shocked at the number of Blacks that have attended and excelled in top colleges and went on to respected careers. They are blown away as one after another, one Black person upon another is placed in the news and on a world stage as part of Obama’s cabinet or his transition team, or simply as a topic of comparison from his days in Chicago. For Blacks as myself it comes as no surprise, but for most White Americans this is just the beginning of the lesson in inclusively that is underway. Young people played a huge role in sending Barack to the White House. This was done because they don’t see race first as some my age and older do. So for them, an educated Black man or woman is a “yeah…and your point?” type of situation. They work under, for and beside the very people that surround Barack and Michelle. Call me psychic, but I truly believed when I heard Barack speak at the 2004 DNC that he would be our President one day. I had no idea it would be so soon, but I genuinely felt it. It was something about who he was and what he said that told me he was in the right place in time to make an impact on the world. Jesse Jackson…no. Al Sharpton….I think not. But Barack Obama…..it was his time and I felt all along “we” were ready for him .