"We know that race will have an effect on the presidential campaign — perhaps a profound effect. Presidential candidate Barack Obama found that out, too. And we know the media is having a field day with the racist sermon clips of Obama’s pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright.
Does Obama hold deep-seated hatred of white people? Does he harbor secret thoughts similar to those of Wright?
Here are my thoughts about the issues surrounding race, Wright and the presidential campaign.
We have our own history of race relations in North Dakota, but we haven’t had to deal with the racial complexities that bigger cities have faced. In our state, the major races were and are whites and American Indians. That’s changing, of course, as more people move into our communities from other countries and bigger cities. This is especially true of college and university towns such as Fargo and Grand Forks.
One difference in experience with other races was brought home to me recently when I had the chance to interview Kuot Yolo, a Sudanese refugee and UND aerospace student. Yolo moved to the Red River Valley some 10 years ago. Before that, he had spent his boyhood in the middle of a devastating civil war in Sudan, a war that forced him to move from place to place — sometimes starving and always just ahead of his enemies.
His story plumbed new depths of man’s inhumanity and made the prejudices in my own community seem insignificant."
Get the Story:Dorreen Yellow Bird : Changing stereotypes comes slowly (The Grand Forks Herald 3/22)
pwpwd More Dorreen Yellow Bird:
Yellow Bird: Pray for rain in western North Dakota (3/19)
Yellow Bird: Grandchildren are the greatest gift (3/17)
Yellow Bird: UND powwow survives budget woes (3/10)
Yellow Bird: Stereotypes and Hillary Clinton (3/5)
Yellow Bird: Celebrating 125 years of UND history (3/3)
Yellow Bird: High hopes for Indian health bill (2/28)
Yellow Bird: More Plains foods that are good for you (2/25)
Yellow Bird: Chokecherries, the wonder fruit (2/20)
Yellow Bird: Sadness on a trip to Standing Rock (2/18)
Yellow Bird: It's time for a change in music (2/11)
Yellow Bird: 'Sioux' drives Indian students away (2/7)
Yellow Bird: Another cold January in North Dakota (1/30)
Yellow Bird: Tribal casinos should be alcohol free (1/28)
Yellow Bird: Race and gender in presidential race (1/23)
Yellow Bird: Barack Obama is my choice for 2008 (1/16)
Yellow Bird: Artman right on off-reservation gaming (1/9)
Yellow Bird: Barack Obama's big win in Iowa (1/7)
