May I remind my black brothers and sisters of the words of the honorable Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. -- words I heard as a child of that era that helped form the person I am today, with hopes and dreams of equality for all:

"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."

I say to you and to citizens of all races in our wonderful country, please do not take the enormous step backwards to vote for someone because of their race. We must open our minds and welcome full and thorough vetting of our candidates, especially of their character. Otherwise, you dishonor the life of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.

It was clear to me from the beginning that Barack Obama intended to use the race card to win his bid for the Presidency. And don't think for one moment I am racist in saying this. No my friends, nearly 80% of the people who are helped from my charitable efforts are African or African-American. One third of my income from 2007 went to charity, and I am making far less than the average American these days. I write this because I simply cannot tolerate this agenda to paint Black America as a victim and to paint White America as racist -- in order to put Barack Obama into the White House.

The first time that the real ugliness of racism confronted me directly was when I was planning my sweet sixteen birthday sleepover. I was told that I could invite all of the girls from my class, which were about 35. I made out invitations and handed them to each one. One of the invitations went to a 15 year old black girl. As R.S.V.P.s started to arrive, my stepmother opened them to keep track so we could budget for the party favors and food. One evening, she came up to my room and sat down on my bed, with an R.S.V.P. in her hand and told me point blank, "We cannot have this girl at the party. You will have to uninvite her and just explain to her that we have to limit how many girls can stay over." My father joined in to state point blank that "we cannot have blacks in this house." I should have known that. There will be no party otherwise.

So, I cancelled the entire event.

Let's get the facts straight about who is injecting race into this election process, and stop playing with words to divide this nation.

1. Barack Obama's father was African and his mother was white. He hardly knew his father, and was raised by his white mother and then her white parents. They are not here or available to tell their story, so we only get his stories, like the one about his white grandmother's prejudices against black men on the street.
2. Barack Obama has decided to represent himself as an African-American, even though he is only half African-American. If he represented himself as a mixed-racial American, we would not need this discussion because he would not have made it this far. Where I grew up, the black community had a harder time accepting mixed-racial kids than the white community did. In Los Angeles California during the 80's, I had a very good friend who was white, who married a black man, and their two children who were light-skinned with black features and hair were shunned.
3. In Barack Obama's book, "Dreams" he stated that he decided to head to Chicago to organize black folks.
4. Over 90% of blacks in this country are supporting Barack Obama. That is a strong indication that many have made a decision based on race. (So I hope they reconsider the words of MLK posted at the beginning of this article.)
5. The black community rallied behind Obama early on, including the black churches, who as 501(c) tax-exempt organizations, are suppose to be non-political. I attended an African Methodist Episcopalian (A.M.E.) church on Martin Luther King's Birthday in South Carolina this year, one of two A.M.E. churches I visited that week during the Democratic Debate and Caucus. The church in Little River had visitors from out of state speaking to them on why they must vote for Barack Obama. They referred to him as The New Prophet sent from God to lead the people to the promise land. They said, just like Martin, our new Prophet should not be judged for his experience or past, but only viewed as a messenger from God whom we must follow. The pamphlet they gave out had this quote from MLK:

   "The Negro needs the white man to free him from his fears;
   The white man needs the Negro to free him from his guilt."

   This quote was the prominent remark in an hour and a half-long program that was to honor the remarkable life of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. I am sorry to tell you, but in 2008 as a "white" woman in America, I have no idea what guilt is being referenced here. And if there are black folks out there today who harbor a fear of white folks to the point that it keeps them from being a fully functional member of our society, you need to get over it.

Yes, racism has raised its ugly head in 2008 during this campaign. It was initially raised by Barack Obama and continues to be raised by him and his followers any time someone criticizes him or questions his background and experience. Barack Obama likes to hit the campaign trail and point out these criticisms as "Okey-doke." He carefully explains this is the black community code word for white folks using code words to discriminate against blacks. His continued racial divisiveness, not just in his words and those of his supporters and campaign staff, but also in his actions, has caused people like me for the first time in my life to think in terms of black and white.

And make no mistake about it -- he has purposefully rallied the black community to get him in the White House. During this campaign, he paid ACORN $800,000 to drag poor blacks from the street to register to vote, and many cases have been reported and videotaped that they were not just helping them to vote, but to vote for Obama.

Barack Obama has been endorsed by some of the most unsavory of the black community, including the New Black Panthers and Louis Farrakhan, to name a few:

Note: The original AP news release on the Farrakhan endorsement has been deleted. The blog about the New Black Panthers endorsement has links to the original endorsement on the Obama campaign Website and captured a screenshot before that, too, was removed from public access.

Here is video from a trip Barack Obama made to campaign for his cousin, Odinga of Kenya, also known as the "Butcher of Kenya" -- an election that Odinga lost.

Some Kenyans I know believe Barack Obama was born in Kenya, which has been reported to have been claimed by his Kenyan grandmother. From the video above, they sure seem to know who he is. I fear that most voters in this country don't know the real Barack Obama. An attorney, a Democratic leader in our country, is using the court system to find out.

So who will Barack Obama be working for, should he be elected in the White House? Who will he add to his group of insiders? Who will he owe favors to for putting him in the highest position of the free world? Who will be sleeping in the Lincoln bedroom?

I don't think he cares about me. He wants to put me in a "class" so he can conduct class warfare, taxing the "rich" and giving to the poor.

I have found myself needing to think about race more often now, rethinking my choice of words because some may consider them racial, such as uppity, a word I use to describe snooty people. But who I am is unchanged by this attempt to racially divide our country, and I will continue to care for ALL AMERICANS and persons around the world without consideration of their race. That is my record....but that is not the record of Barack Obama.