But I also understand the cost involved in having another election. I can see wanting to avoid that. And after this last interminable election season (if there is such as thing as a two year “season”) do we want more campaigning? I think this is what is called a rock and a hard place.

This has been exceptionally hard to verbalize! I am 43 and white. I have grown up hearing about the change that people of color experienced through the Civil Rights Movement. But in my life, I have seen a fairly constant status…so many men in prison. So many children undereducated. Women struggling with parenting and working. I understand my broad brush here, but I have not seen much of a difference from when I was a teen to two days ago. Possibilities existed, but they were not the norm. But we just FELT a CHANGE today. Sherri Shepard said it so well through her tears. NO LIMITATIONS. Up until now, we have HEARD that this is true, but today we have EXPERIENCED it. That’s completely different. And if I am feeling this shift, I can’t begin imagine what my brothers and sisters of color must be feeling. Then I think of the older generations, the mothers and fathers of color. They lived with Jim Crowe laws. They saw, and participated in the fight for Civil Rights. They saw Johnson sign the Voting Act and the Civil Rights Act. Change came then, but not nearly what was promised. What a disappointment it must have been to see decades go by with the full realization set aside. No more. I pray no more.

I am too young to remember Kennedy, Johnson, Dr. King, and the Civil Rights movement, but I read and learned and continue to. This election made me feel electric, much like my father felt in the ’60s. I pray that we look back on this period of history with the same pride and optimism as he does then. Just imagine what Americans can do!

You are dead-on, Whoopi. We should be able to talk about race without being accused of “playing the race card.” Race, and racism, still exists. Our culture has made it okay to make one judgement about a pregnant black teen and a pregnant white teen. I think many people thought the thought, checked themselves, and did not express it. But we thought the thought in the first place because we have been taught to do so. Put another way, imagine “Juno” with Raven Simone instead of Ellen Page. Some people are not going to see the same movie anymore. It doesn’t make it right. And will only change when people TALK ABOUT IT! The other side to this is regarding the baby daddy. I was amazed to see this young man paraded in front of the country. All American kid. Hockey star. What a guy. Make this a black male teen, and how would people have reacted to him? Would he now be “typical?” Would you expect him to leave the young lady t raise the child alone? It’s an interesting thought. And, by the way Whoopi, I thought the other 95% of your post was worth talking about, too!