Reply #15: I am black. I have lived in England and traveled to South America, Africa,

[tblue]

all around Europe, Mexico, Canada. I stand by my statement. I've been in restaurants here in California that wouldn't seat my party. Have you? The fact that this country still reacts to race in this way, with so many black people in prison, on death row, and in poverty, and when a man of Barack Obama's stellar character, achievement, brilliance, and talent is vilified for his race, has his life threatened for his race, has his wife attacked for her race -- to me makes this a racist nation. Black people can't even be assured that they can vote in this country, despite our Constitution and Bill of Rights. I have a friend from Iran who gets treated like dirt here; people don't want to do business with him for no discernible reason. A woman in a city not far from me was gunned down in front of her child because she looked like a Muslim. Huge swaths of this nation are filled with bigots. This election has put them on Page 1, but I've always known they were here. Just the fact that people are shocked at the ugliness of McCain rallies shows that a lot of America does not even know America. We'd all like to believe our country is a shining city on a hill. But it is not. America is not who America pretends to be and it is not what it says it stands for.