Throw Down the Guanlet!

I understand why Barack Obama is loathed to throw a punch at John McCain. I, like many other people of color, know from personal experience that as soon as Obama is deemed by a critical mass of whites to have stepped across the line (and there's no accounting for where that line is located at any given moment)--been "too" aggressive--he will be pegged as "an angry black man," and there's no coming back from that. There is little grace or benefit of the doubt given to the historically marginalized: we get no do-overs.

White supporters of Obama often lose sight of this very real double standard that highlights the meaning of "white privilege." As columnist and commentator Eugene Robinson has said, Obama must remain the most "un-aggrieved black man in America."

Although I don't want Obama to throw any ad hominem punches, I did want him to throw down the gauntlet last night and say to John McCain,

"When you find someone--anyone--at a John Lewis rally who screams out, 'KILL HIM!' in reference to you, Sen. McCain, then i will both repudiate Rep. Lewis for inciting such despicable behavior and condemn the degenerate who acted so despicably. Until then, you need to get your own house in order!"