President Elect

A friend mentioned to me the other day the this year marks Abraham Lincoln's 200th birthday.
Regardless of how you or I may have voted how cool would it be for ol' Abe to be around to see that as a country we've elected a black president?
It will be interesting now to see where/how/if the race card is played since it was carefully danced around during the campaigning season. It is very easy for any of us folks of lighter shades to say "It shouldn't matter what color skin our president has..." and while that is true is doesn't quite play out that way in the day to day. The fact that anyone has even mentioned that this is the "first black president" means there is something different going on. We wouldn't point out the first "green-eyed president" or the first "red-headed president" so while we may want to believe it doesn't matter, it does. But how does it matter?
I was fortunate to have grown up with friends of varying hues.
My best friends before I was subjected to the educational system were mostly oriental kids of one flavor or another. In grade school I counted several kids of hispanic persuasion amongst my closest friends.
In middle school my best friends were white and black respectively. (Well, darker brown really but we stilled used the term "black" back then.)
The high school I attended had more people or darker shades than folks of the white/off-white variety so I close friends who were black, white, yellow, brown, and plaid.
In both high school and college I was dubbed an "honorary brother" (brutha) by the guys I hung out with who had the "authority" to confer such an honor.
Even with all of my integrated background I still recognize moments of what could be classified as prejudiced thought in myself but then I wonder if it truly is prejudiced thought or if it is just recognizing racial differences for what they are...racial differences.
I love to get into racial discussions with my black friends specifically because they have a perspective on these issues that I can never have. I have never had someone cross over to the other side of the street to avoid passing me on the sidewalk. I have never had a cop stop me and ask what I was up to because of my color. I have never had a woman clutch her purse more tightly as I pass.
Interestingly enough my hispanic or oriental friends don't have the same stories.
They have other tales to be certain but none that are as universal or comprehensively negative, at least none that they openly discuss as broadly.
So will it make a difference that in a few months we'll have our first black president?
I don't know...but I look forward to the dialogue that should come about as a result.

Editorial Note:
I intentionally avoided using the term "people of color". One of my black friends always jokes that white "isn't a color". I repeatedly remind him that that is true...if you're talking about crayons.
If, on the other hand, you're talking about light...then white is the presence of ALL colors.
And since none of us is any different color in the dark...then we're ALL people of color.