You're missing the point. The campaign is working on transparency. Why not release Obama's thesis? Senator Clinton wouldn't release her papers when she was First Lady and she's running for president and we still don't have that data from her.

Personally, I think it's a very good paper. Of course, anyone who really thinks that black women should fall to their knees and thank the stars above that we can be treated like shit in the corporate world would probably be a little annoyed by it. I could imagine all the white people at Politico were just stunned that someone feels (felt) that way. I'm sure they all know black people who seemed like they were happy working with them. I'm sure if they asked Helena Andrews if she felt the same way, she'd tell them what they want to hear, regardless of it's the truth or not. Depending on the job, I know that I would.

Personally, I think it's great that her perspective is available publicly because most white people don't bother to understand at all how our social structure continues to make blacks feel as though they can never be fully equal, fully welcome, fully accepted simply as human beings no different than others while still having all the individual qualities, experiences, differences that all human beings have from other individuals. Maybe her thesis will bring these issues into the consciousness of white people and they'll get a clue about doing something to eliminate the causes of black discontent that they directly play a part in.

Many whites (if not most) these days tend to believe they understand, where black people are coming from and they also believe they are quite empathetic to their experience, but it is doubtful that most black people would share that same assessment. It is no wonder that we have this dichotomy as whites pay so little attention to the extraordinarily significant and different experience that black people in America live through. Thinking about what it's like to be black in America is a very occasional business for whites. It is a constant one for blacks. Just a rudimentary appreciation by whites of what this really means and how significant it is would probably be a very welcome development for most black people. The black experience in the United States has always been profoundly different from the white experience and it continues to be profoundly different for many, many reasons which are all inextricably bound to our nation's racist history.

While the harshest and most horrifying aspects of open racism have been eliminated, at least officially speaking, milder and more insidious descendants of that very racism thrive i our society, yet there is no sense of urgency or importance about getting rid of it among whites. All white people know all this is true, many are reluctant to admit it other than to themselves, and few whites spend anything like significant time considering this very critical and ancient problem. Black people live the problem 24 hours a day, every day of their lives. This is true no matter how good their education is, how much money they make, how many material possessions they amass and it is true no matter how much success they achieve. For most black Americans, however, living every day as the "other" kind of person also includes being in or near poverty for a significant portion of their lives, living in fear of and having always to be extra-vigilant with respect to the law and law enforcement, constantly being judged more harshly than whites, going about one's day to day routine often being treated disdainfully and very rudely by many white people they encounter who don't even recognize their disrespectful, unfriendly behavior, and a nearly endless litany of double standards, mistreatment and hardship that simply isn't part of the experience of being white in America.

Whites do not generally believe it is their responsibility to "do" something about this now that overt, legally sanctioned racism is officially no longer allowed. Whites tend to believe that black people alone must "do" something about all this and despite this, whites tend to get annoyed and exasperated about blacks "always complaining" and being "hypersensitive" about race, racism and so on. Whites feel little responsibility for eliminating all this residue of the evil of slavery. If white people looked at the problem less as a historical wrong that needs to be righted as opposed to a current and ongoing mistreatment of fellow human beings for no justifiable reason then perhaps action would be higher on the white agenda. But they don't and it's not. That white people allow this continuing, widespread mistreatment to go on is shameful, if not downright sinful in my opinion.

White indifference and inaction is a terrible problem for our society that we must face if we want to overcome racism eventually. We need to do this not only because it is obviously the right thing to do. If it only brought harm to black people that would be more than reason enough to put an end to it. But in point of fact, racism hurts every citizen regardless of race and prevents us all from being the best and most we can be.

Eradicating racism is made more difficult because most Americans of all races continue to live in segregated neighborhoods, go to segregated churches, and generally speaking lead segregated lives. Our remote and at best arms length relationships with those of different races impedes progress on every level because we are so unfamiliar with eachother. Unless and until white and black people mix at every level of interaction social, vocational, etc... and at a frequency where the notable and defining characteristic of, for example, a Michelle Obama, is her individuality and unique character as opposed to her race, then we will continue to live in a society where black people are made to feel as though they will never fully belong, never fully be accepted for who they are (as opposed to what they are)and whose lives will be defined not by their own ability and effort, but by the socioeconomic boundaries determined by white people.

Personally, I would love to see an ongoing (and by that I mean daily) consideration of how white people can change their behaviors, practices and attitudes to break the back of racism once and for all. Though I could be wrong, I think that might be the most important thing most whites can do to speed the end of the days when black Americans are made constantly to feel as though they will never be treated as fully equal. Frankly, it would also be a favor to themselves to finally shed the foolish, ignorant and just plain unjustified fears and beliefs that keep them from fully accepting and welcoming every human being regardless of race.

While it's undeniably true that much progress has been made and many things have changed during the course of the last 50 years. If nothing else, Michelle Obama's senior thesis should serve as a gentle and welcome reminder to white Americans that we have not come nearly far enough. No citizen of our country should ever have to feel the sense of disrespect, "otherness", and lack of acceptance, even for one day, the way every black American is made to feel every single day of their lives no matter what they do.

Every white citizen has a contribution to make in righting this wrong do they not?