[KeithLBrown]

Speaking as a Black man, I personally feel that in certain areas of the country racism has always been and continues to be an issue. I do not think that it is as large an issue as it was during the Civil Rights Movement (1955 - 1968), but there are some places in this country that I would not be particularly welcomed simply because I am a Black man.

I remember an incident when I was in the Navy. We were in Mississippi. Two of my shipmates decided to go to the bayous to have dinner together. One was White and one was Black. At the restaurant that they went to they were told that the White guy would be served, but they would not serve the Black guy. How sad to think that this type of behavior still exists, but in reality it does. During my 20 years of military service I also served with people who never had the experience of being around Black people and so they only had one opinion of Blacks to go by and that is what they had been taught. In that case I don't think that racism was the real issue, but rather it was "ignorance" or the lack of knowledge.

May I also say that a lot of the problems that I see in the world today is not so much that Whites are against Blacks, but in some cases Blacks are against other Blacks. Why? I think that some of it is out of jealousy. There are some people, rather we want to admit it or not, that literally hate to see anybody doing better than themselves. Again, sad, but true.

May I add as a final note that I was extremely proud of this great nation and how the outcome of the election was handled. It did not turn into a race issue, although, being a realist, it could very well have. I believe for the most part, race is not so much an issue as it once was, but stereotyping on the other hand is. Too many people are quick to throw a group of people into a category and judge that whole group of people according to the actions of a few.

At 50 years of age, I still dream of the day that Dr. Martin Luther King preached about -- when man will no longer be judged by the color of his skin but by the content of his character. When that day comes, I believe that once and for all, we will put the issue of racism to bed. May God speed the day!