I am proud of Auburn, where I have taught high school English for 37 years. The Auburn educational system and the culture have made progress in fighting racial segregation. Now this presidential election is asking us to look even more closely at our racial attitudes.

I went to East High from 1957 to 1963 and not once saw a black person walking the halls during the class day. All blacks went to either West or Central high schools. Sports and the occasional inter-high schools activity were the only ways whites could officially mingle with blacks. With all blacks living west of Fulton Street, the city was a model of de facto segregation. It was a terrible system because it made African Americans into alien beings for the white people in the east end and as a result reinforced the stereotypes of both races.

With the building of the comprehensive high school in 1970, farsighted board members and community leaders put an end to Auburn's unofficial discrimination policy in education. Housing barriers were broken as well. However, these changes hardly created a racially harmonious environment. The results of 300 years of oppression and white privilege could not be reversed so easily.

Now we have a chance to elect not a black nor white president but a mixed race president. We all have different racial mixtures in us, and as our world interacts more closely, we can move beyond race.

The Republican campaign is, however, playing the race card: Obama is “from the streets.” He is not patriotic. He is “That one.” He spends his time “paling around with terrorists.” At McCain-Palin rallies, people yell “Kill him!” “Treason,” and “Off with his head!” along with the standard racial slurs.

Obama is not the savior. He is but a man. Neither black nor white, he is one of us. I ask all people to judge him as such.

Preston Wilson

Genoa