[theboys]

Y'know, its a sorry thing that a school board official - or anybody - feels that way. But, the good thing is, it sounds like a lot of right thinking people stood up for what is right. There are two messages here - one really bad, and one really good. The important thing is, we need to raise both of them up.

What this country really needs is a frank dialogue about racial relations. I think if we discussed things openly, without rancor, we could clear up a lot of issues.

Having said that, while black people have certainly borne the overwhelming brunt of racism over many years, we all have to realize racism burns in all directions. For example, our girls high school team just won the state AAAA championship (next-to-highest classification). Our school is predominately white. I filmed the elite 8 game while standing next to a girl filming for the opponent, whose team was black. We talked off and on throughout the game. As we pulled away close to the end, she commented that they didn't think we would be very good because we were white. Was that racism? Nah. Basketball in our area is dominated by very good black players. But, could someone easily take it the wrong way? Sure. It happens all the time.

Please don't think I'm trying to trivialize the egregious behavior of the people in the article. Their actions are abhorrent. But, at some point, we need to learn to separate true racism from innocent comments or actions.