President Obama has his hands full. On one end, if he presses too hard for equality and justice, he will be crucified for “playing the race card.” On the other side of it, if he sits still and says very little, at the end of his presidency not only will Blacks remonstrate but many other ethnic minorities will bawl for justice and equality against the beast of racism. In the recent weeks, we have seen the struggle President Obama has had; Shirley Sherrod is case in point. Moreover, now you have Charlie Rangel and Maxine Waters being probed by the ethics committee; both are African American. Does race play a role in all this? Of course.

This country has never dealt with its deep embedded history of racism. From the U.S.’s inception (and beyond for that matter) racism has been at the forefront of politics, the economy, and “expansion” (e.g. Manifest Destiny). During the 1960’s we had a small window of opportunity to engage and embrace these issues; the time was ripe and open for the conversation. However, after the Civil Rights Act was signed into law, many people felt as though racism was a “dead thing.” The problem then gets placed under the carpet to seethe, simmer, and eventually boil over leaving ethnic minorities to blame when they call out for justice. Hence, it stands to reason why we have these eruptions in the news of racially charged cases, politics, and narrative.

The President is caught between doing what he knows is the right thing in terms of leading out on the issues of racial inequality, and getting re-elected. This was evident in the swift firing of Sherrod over some drummed up charges made by a fanatic who plays on emotion and people’s fears. The Obama administration reacted, partly, out of self-preservation; no one wanted to be blamed for harboring a “racist.” Republicans would have eaten that up; just in time for elections. Moreover, if Obama pushes too hard on race he does run the serious risk of being assassinated. Keep in mind he already has the security level of a president being threatened constantly. Moreover, the patterns for ethnic minorities, in particular, who speak out against racism get publically shunned and as NY Times writer Matt Bai puts it have “public outrage and humiliation” to contend with—consequently one of the major problems.

Once again, Obama is caught in the middle…what do you do? This goes deeper than what we actually see on the surface though. The country is still shocked that a negro is even in office. Many in the South, who still feel sensitive over that Civil War thing, look at Washington in complete contempt. Why? Well, there are a list of reasons. For example, no matter how educated, smart, sharp, wise, or polished a Black man is, they are still looked at as less than, incompetent, and or placed in positions of power because of some type of Affirmative Action or quota needing to be met. That is a stereotype long-lived and extremely difficult to overcome, if even able to be overcome.

In my classes, I have students take a social photograph of their school. I ask them to see who is in power, who has decision-making power, and who is in charge. I ask them to notice blue-collar jobs around school and who performs the grunt work. I then ask that they observe the gender and race of each of those positions. Overwhelmingly, White and male is in the power seat while ethnic minorities are in positions of service with the least power. But what is even more imperative to note is that most White students do not seem to care; in fact, most say that “God put them there” and why would we hire a minority over a “qualified” White person—the sub text being that the minority is not even qualified to begin with and that Whiteness must be some divine and pious appointment.

No matter how many books I publish, degrees I get, intellectual words I use, suites I wear, or shined up grins I give, when I walk into that all White classrooms, I am still battling those historical stereotypes and images placed upon me by years of media and social conditioning of Blacks. Thus, it is even more an issue for someone in such a public office such as the presidency.

For White’s who are new to this issue or even tired of this issue, it is very difficult to have these types of conversations. Many White’s have rarely had to comprehend White racial identity and or be placed in constant situations where they haven’t had the choice of being the minority. Therefore, since White’s still control most of the power in this country, it complicates the issue even further. Someone like me is looked at as a complainer, someone who is playing the victim, playing the race card, not being able to pull my self up by my bootstraps, or, even worse, not having enough faith. The conversation is even muddier when I speak with a White person who sincerely believes that I bring these problems on myself by talking about them and or entertaining the idea that racism still exists.

The President has a hard road ahead. Maxine and Charlie are two long standing players in Washington and if Obama were to call out the obvious for what is happening to them, he too would be called a racist and lose those precious votes come next election—a problem in and of itself.

So, where do we go with this? What do we do with the curious case of race and racism? Do we all just “take it to Jesus?” I wish it were that simple, because even there—in theological discourse—we see the power of racism as well. Non-contextualized Gospel messages, one size fits all salvation approaches, one style worship only being accepted, Westernized styles of devotions, disenfranchising “other” labels, the dampening of variety in approaching God, and even interpretations of sacred scripture have all been shot through racialized lenses. In fact, when Rome concentrated power of the church, they castigated any other form of worship and theology; it was their way or nothing. In effect, anyone who didn’t practice church the way they laid it out was condemned and excommunicated. We have some problems.

It is important to begin dealing with some of these issues. Recent tragedies such as Oscar Grant, remind us that we are nowhere near what we have come to idealize as a “great country.” We’ve cuddled the mythology of “justice for all” far too long without ever looking at what that really means for “all.” We’ve also ignored those voices on the margins who cry for equality and justice but are looked at as trouble makers, loud mouths, and unpatriotic. Moreover, we have looked upon God as a God who only really “loves” one type of people; multi-culturalism takes work—a lot of it. And we cannot falter just because it seems or appears that things have “gotten better” because for many they have not. We have a presidency with the capability of taking us into a new era of racial equality, but are impotent of doing so and caught in the cross hairs of special interest and votes.

Dear God, help us.