With All Due Respect Mr. President

[An Open Letter to President Barack Obama]

Dear Mr. President:

With all due respect, former President Jimmy Carter is correct. I’m not saying that you are wrong, I’m just saying that former President Carter is correct. If anyone knows the white Southern mind, certainly the gentleman from Plains, Georgia does. He has been privy to the conversations that go on behind close doors, at meetings, in homes, at cookouts and at church. No former president has distinguished himself after leaving the White House more than the former president. He has been a tireless international crusader for peace, justice and equality. His work earned him the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002 and he hasn’t stopped.

Last July, after 60 years of congregational affiliation with the Southern Baptist Convention, he left his Southern Baptist church after concluding that he could no longer carry the burden of association with a denomination where “women were subjugated to the desires of men.” ”Women and girls have been discriminated against for too long in a twisted interpretation of the word of God,” stated former President Carter. Having taking such a bold stand against sexism in the church he now finds himself wading in the ever-flowing waters of racism.

Our country and the world could not easily dismiss his words, “an overwhelming portion of the intensely demonstrated animosity toward President Barack Obama is based on the fact that he is a black man, that he’s African-American” and that African-Americans are not qualified to lead this great country.”

Former President Carter has walked in your shoes. He knows that there will always be those who stand up to challenge the President (one of the wonderful things about American democracy) but the criticism that he has seen and heard thrown at you is of the sort that he and no other previous American President has had to endure. Not just partisan disagreement as it pertains to your position on matters of policy, but deep rooted hatred and resentment for the man whom some believe to be unworthy of the Oval Office solely based on the color of his skin without regard to the content of his character as envisioned by another Georgian, Martin Luther King, Jr.

A lack of respect for you and the office that you hold puts our nation at risk and should not be tolerated. You are due respect by Democrats and Republicans alike, by those who voted for you and by those who campaigned against you, by those who share your skin and by those intimidated by it. I applaud you for continuing to take the high road it is a true measure of who you are. I do hope that you do not dismiss former President Carter’s words and that you will find a way to seek his counsel as you try to govern the United States of America.

You are right about one thing – Kanye West is a jackass!

Respectfully,

Thomas L. Bowen