I don''t know about you, but I''ve been finding it rather unusual how the media as a whole has been covering the tale of how two Democratic senators, Barack Obama (of Illinois) and Hillary Rodham Clinton (of New York), have each made the decision to run for this country's most prestigious title, the Presidency, for the 2008 election. It seems like every time Obama comes out and makes a public statement about running, obsessive attention is immediately turned towards Clinton to see how she is going to respond. Up to now, there has been no negative response on the part of Clinton. In fact, it doesn''t seem as if there has been any public commentary about Obama from her at all. Yet and still, so-called political experts who have more than likely never socially interacted with either candidate are called upon to comment about how they are so sure that conflict between the two camps is brewing. In the process, very little attention is placed on other potential Democratic candidates, including former candidate Sen. John Kerry. Why is this?

Could it be that the media views the race between Obama and Clinton as being a very competitive one, considering that they are among the most outspoken candidates against the Bush Administration's foreign and domestic policies? Or is it much deeper than this? Could it have something to do with Obama being a Black man (really, born of a White American mother and an African father) and Clinton being a high profile White woman (wife to former President Bill Clinton)? Without question, race, culture and gender play huge parts in all of this. This has been most obvious when considering the amount of lies about Obama that have been presented in the media as if they were facts.

CNN recently debunked a story that appeared in Insight Magazine (which is owned by the same company that publishes The Washington Times) about how associates of Sen. Clinton had uncovered that Obama, while living in Indonesia as a boy, had attended a radical Muslim school that preaches anti-U.S. sentiments known as "madrassa." A spokesperson for Sen. Clinton has since denied that they were responsible for the misinformation and has simply labeled it as "an obvious right-wing hit job." However, analyzing the situation much more deeply may unveil how those in power, who control major media outlets, are seeking to play a game of divide and conquer and pinch a nerve into White America's highly unresolved racial paranoia when it comes to the Black man's interaction with the White woman.

This paranoia dates back to slavery, when slave masters would have their male slaves wear baggy pants in order to prevent any potential exposure of the genital area. Slave masters would break their sense of manhood by raping their Black women, many at times in their presence. It became more apparent within the century after emancipation, when well over 5,000 reported lynchings of Black men took place all over the United States, in most cases over an accusation that a White woman was raped, spoken to in an inappropriate manner was or simply looked at.

This paranoia is reinforced today with the repeated stories aired on sensationalist talk shows such as Jerry Springer, in which typically young overweight White women are being abused or cheated on by their "good for nothing," womanizing and usually jobless Black boyfriends. These stories are presented as if they were common without presenting a functional, more respectable alternative. Even more upsetting is how the predominant image of a Black man on television is one that can not be taken seriously; sporting "grills," speaking loudly and crazily in heavy slang, wearing "saggin" jeans, flossing jewelry "hangin'' low" – a caricature always associated with entertainment, and therefore is supposed to be fun or "funny." Yet, on another level, the image is threatening enough for White parents (even in this great age of "multiculturalism") to do whatever they can to keep their daughters from seeing Black young men who may (or even may not) have been influenced by Rap artists. For them Rap music and Black culture are one and the same and is potentially culturally, if not physically, dangerous to their well being.

What does this have to do with Sen. Obama competing with Sen. Clinton to be on the Democratic ticket to run for President? Everything! With it being made a big deal that Obama is Black and is regarded as a major threat to a high profile White woman's chances of being the first to gain such a highly prestigious position, it clearly shows and proves that America has not grown enough. With it being made such a big deal that Obama attended a Muslim school in a foreign country as a child, just like how it was made a big deal that recently the first Muslim congressman elected, Keith Ellison (of Minnesota), was sworn in using a Qur''an once owned by Thomas Jefferson, it shows and proves that America has truly not grown enough. Let us take the first step towards a brighter future and begin acknowledging prejudice where it truly exists. When we admit the truth that something is wrong, then we actually find ourselves in a better position of finding ways to correct it.

Peace and One Love

Tony Muhammaed of UAN

More from Bro. Tony Muhammaed can be found at http://www.uannetwork.com