On this, the 2012 remembrance of the birth of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., let me just offer three very random thoughts on the "post-racial" question.

Obscured by incessant chatter about the credit rating and national debt is the sad reality of poverty and hunger in America. At the root of these issues is the ugly legacy of racism and the failure to recognize white privilege.

It seems that the rush to declare the Obama presidency the harbinger of a "post-racial America" has coincided with a concurrent rush to forget what was once widely known about racism.

In many ways it appears President Obama's victory and presence in the White House has actually caused a lot of people to get worse about their issues regarding so-called "race."

In our efforts to move past race, we have run right smack into it. There is no doubt about it. Rather than moving us toward a post-racial society, it has made us hyper vigilant of how race and power intersect in American society.

The real conversation on race, like it or not, is still pending. Barack Obama's win was a profound public testimony to American decency. But in numerous areas, blacks remain severely disadvantaged.

There is no comfortable time to discuss America's racial issues. There is no right time. There will always be something else more pressing. America needs to look its racism in the mirror.

Sarah is a tintype of what we used to be -- or who we believed we were: rugged individuals who charged across the continent, ripping up trees and taming the prairies.

The incident in Cambridge comes on the heels of a number of incidents over the past several months that reminded us of the unfinished business race and prejudice in our country.

Gates was charged with "disorderly conduct." Blacks easily recognize this offense as the failure of a black to show proper deference to a white police officer.

Professor Gates is someone who deserves better from America. Yet, at the end of the day, he was just another black man residing while black.

Now that President-Elect Obama has become President Obama we can finally turn our attention to the real work of getting this country back on track and into that famously promised "post racial America."