Whoopi- So well said. In particular, the phenomenon of our very involved youth, as you said: “And people now recognize that the youth of America is a force to be reckoned with. And when you look at these shining faces that look up and look at each other as not black or white or any of these things but as Americans, it is a sigh of a relief that I can’t remember having in such a long time. - It is so true. And we also need to give credit to the generation of parents who created this new extraordinarygeneration of young people who are so open, so blended, so ethnically diverse and tolerant—it was the courage and vision of their parents from such diverse backgorounds and cultures who chose to live together, put their kids in schools together, allow them to play togethe, and truly communicated the values that we should all be focused more on who people are than what they look like or where they come from. This is a victory forhose parents too…and as the results made loud and clear—we are all ready for this moment of cohesion in America.

… While visions of sugar plums danced in their heads … Whoopi, Thank you so much for your words. I’m trying to imagine what all the little black kids will be thinking tonight, before they go to sleep. What thoughts are going through their minds. How are they feeling, what are they feeling. Before last night, what was the best they could hope for? That they become a basketball player like Magic, like Coby? Now they can really dream, really want, really reach. But now, we need to pour hideous amounts of money into all the grade schools. We need to come up with programs to help kids learn to read, to help them learn computer skills. For those that need help with their homework, we need to provide services for that. We need to pour money into the grade schools now, to make sure these little kids are ready for high school and college.

In my lifetime, after being deceived by Nixon I felt disenfranchised from the political process, I never felt the need to get involved in any political campaign. I watched the political process corrupt so many local politicians I wanted no part of the process. After the greed and corruption of the last eight years I’m excited to have been a small part of the process and be proud to cast my vote for Barack Obama and be a part of a movement for the hope that finally we will have a chance to be a United States of America.

Dearest Whoopi, I know for you and every single other African American who lives in this country yesterday was a great day. Why? Because an African American man was elected President of the United States of America. It was nice to hear you say something positive about John McCain. But I suppose you were only able to finally hear and see the man for who he truly is because you finally got what you had wished and hoped for. I believe your filter finally came off! I have read your blogs and I have listened to you on The View talk about how white people cannnot say the “n” word because we do not “own” it. You do. And I have listened to you talk about how white people do not have any right to put your race down because we were the people who owned slaves. Well Whoopi Goldberg here is what I have to say: back in the day when there were slaves (I myself have never been party to this nor have any of my relatives) it is an historical fact that the FIRST people who OWNED slaves were in fact African Americans! They were called blacks back then. And here is a quote from the time: The fact is large numbers of free Negroes owned black slaves; in fact, in numbers disproportionate to their representation in society at large. In 1860 only a small minority of whites owned slaves. According to the U.S. census report for that last year before the Civil War, there were nearly 27 million whites in the country. Some eight million of them lived in the slaveholding states. The census also determined that there were fewer than 385,000 individuals who owned slaves (1). Even if all slaveholders had been white, that would amount to only 1.4 percent of whites in the country (or 4.8 percent of southern whites owning one or more slaves). In the rare instances when the ownership of slaves by free Negroes is acknowledged in the history books, justification centers on the claim that black slave masters were simply individuals who purchased the freedom of a spouse or child from a white slaveholder and had been unable to legally manumit them. Although this did indeed happen at times, it is a misrepresentation of the majority of instances, one which is debunked by records of the period on blacks who owned slaves. These include individuals such as Justus Angel and Mistress L. Horry, of Colleton District, South Carolina, who each owned 84 slaves in 1830. In fact, in 1830 a fourth of the free Negro slave masters in South Carolina owned 10 or more slaves; eight owning 30 or more (2). According to federal census reports, on June 1, 1860 there were nearly 4.5 million Negroes in the United States, with fewer than four million of them living in the southern slaveholding states. Of the blacks residing in the South, 261,988 were not slaves. Of this number, 10,689 lived in New Orleans. The country’s leading African American historian, Duke University professor John Hope Franklin, records that in New Orleans over 3,000 free Negroes owned slaves, or 28 percent of the free Negroes in that city. It is sad to me that on a day when we should indeed be celebrating, sadly, the black community can only celebrate the fact that a new President has been elected because he is….well black. I listened to countless reports of people calling in to radio stations to say this is the first time they have ever voted in a Presidential election. They are African American. They are citizens of this country. But this is the first time they have voted? And the only reason why they voted is because the candidate was black. As much as I like the fact that America believes it has found “hope”, I am truly saddened and really in disbelief that we are so naive as a country and honestly, that a group of people have been themselves so prejudiced. You mean to tell me that all this time, there are hundreds and thousands of citizens living in this country that have never bothered to vote because they were racist? Can it be? Not to take the wind out of your sails Whoopi because you are right in there with Oprah. Two public figures who agree. The time has come. Well I think the time should have been ages ago when people took the filter off their lenses and started looking at people for who they are and not for the color of their skin. My only hope is that now that we have elected a President that you can be proud of - hopefully you can get off your soap box about racism and slavery and move on to something else. Because truth be told - and not just your truth Whoopi - there are many different versions of history. Not necessarily the one you seem to want to hold on to.

And it turns out that 70% of black voters in California voted FOR Prop. 8, which means that for all the years I worked for open housing, for voter registration, and on and on (without dragging my abolitionist relatives from long ago into it), the message for me from the black community is that I am NOT part of the fabric of the United States. In spite of the fact that one of my relatives wrote the Sacred Orders of 1638 saying in effect that I should be FREE of the religious beliefs of others. Ms. Whoopi, of course, you have long made it clear that everyone means ev-er-ey- one, every one, in your book, so please understand this in no way is a comment on you. But I am not at all pleased that the black churches, the LDS, and the Knights of Columbus are all vicious enough to deny me my rights because they are self-righteous and sanctimonious. Just imagine how many people the money they spent to put this travesty into place would have fed. Just imagine. But no, they chose to purchase hatred.