...we had no perception of race?

After President Obama's inauguration, the Reverend Joseph Lowery delivered a prayer that ended with this:

"Lord, in the memory of all the saints who from their labors rest,

and in the joy of a new beginning,
we ask you to help us work for that day
when black will not be asked to get in back,
when brown can stick around,
when yellow will be mellow,
when the red man can get ahead, man;
and when white will embrace what is right.
Let all those who do justice and love mercy
say Amen."

Personally, I thought it was humorous. After seeing a number of other blogs and responses to the prayer, however, I realize that many whites feel that the sentiments Reverend Lowry expressed were anti-white, or "reverse-racist". 

I can understand how many whites may have felt hurt by the insinuation that whites don't already embrace what is right, but such a sentiment is immature and shows a lack of understanding of the history of our country. Of course there are whites that do what is right (abolition and the civil rights movement would not have been possible without them), just as there are yellows who are mellow, reds who are ahead, and browns who are around, and blacks that are not asked to stay back. Reverend Lowry's statements were not an expression of anger or resentment towards the past, but rather an exhortation to a new beginning. His hope, as is the hope of many Americans, is that race should no longer divide us, instead it should bring us together. We cannot deny our diversity, but we should choose to embrace it.