Haven't we gotten over color? Isn't it time we got over Al Sharpton and his like?

From CNN one of the saddest news items of late. It seems that the New Your Post published an editorial cartoon below and Al Sharpton objects.

But soon after the issue hit newsstands, the Rev. Al Sharpton -- and other black opinion makers like CNN's Roland Martin -- blasted the cartoon as an attack on Obama's skin color and African-Americans in general.

This is one of those you can't make this stuff up. To wit, it's a cartoon Al. Oh, by the way, this is the same Al Sharpton who brought us Tawana Brawley. You remember Tawana Brawley, the 15 year old black American who accused 6 white men of forcible rape. It turned out after considerable posturing and racial rabel rousing by Mr Sharpton, that it simply wasn't true. What was true was that Mr Sharpton had manipulated the situation to garner publicity and support for himself. Al's VERY fond of being in the public spotlight.

Al seems to be at it again. This time it's a cartoon for goodness sakes. A cartoon that doesn't in any way involve race, unless of course you believe, as Al seems to, that some how black Americans might be equated with out of control chimpanzees! By the way, Al, on the off chance that you really did misunderstand, the chimpanzee represents Congress, who might well be, if not a chimpanzee, at least out of control.

Al's equating of a chimpanzee and an American of African heritage is, in my opinion, an affront, not to just black Americans but to all Americans! It's an affront to the 53% of Americans, black, white, yellow, red, and sky blue pink with yellow pok-a-dots, that voted for Mr Obama.

Al seems to have missed this. He seems stuck in the past, unfortunately not so long ago, when race was a very different matter than it is today. Al doesn't seem to realize that some weeks ago as a country of many ethnic and religious backgrounds we elected a man who is ethnically part African and part American.

Many years ago a very wise woman, my Irish grandmother, told me something important apropos this. She remembered immigrating to the US when there were still places that posted help wanted signs that said "Irish need not apply." She told me that she knew that being Irish was no longer an issue when the Irish got over it, not when other non-Irish did. She was right, of course.

Americans of an African ethnicity have started to understand this truth. That they are as free to be Americans, no hyphenation required, as they themselves admit. That they have outgrown Al Sharpton and his like. That they have arrived as simply Americans when they, themselves, think of themselves as simply Americans.

Al seems to have missed the fact that over half of us are over race. Don't think so Al, checkout the chap residing in the White House, or the 4 governors who have an African heritage, or the 40 plus congressmen. These folks got elected by Americans, some of whom have an African heritage and most of whom don't. Go into any restaurant or school or library or shopping center and watch people of all ethnic backgrounds interact with one another with little regard for color.

I'm not saying that there still isn't racial discrimination in America. There is. I am saying that it's much less common. Much more unacceptable to most Americans.

I am saying that most of the people in America are over color Al. Isn't it time for you to focus on real issues and not cartoons?