Barack Obama wants us to have a "conversation about race." Okay. My serve!

This post was inspired by some ding-dong on Democratic Underground.com who wrote a post about "white privilege." Initially I thought Democratic Underground represented the mainstream of the Democratic party, but I now realize that's far from the case. That's where the sandals and bongo drum set hangs out, the fringe.

Now for our conversation on race. Well, I agree it's high time the Indian and Japanese communities healed their rift. Life's too short for that kind of hate. Or do we mean it's time Asians and whites joined hands and built a hi-tech world together? Or are we talking Fillipino-Brazillian relations? There's a hotbed of controversy.

No, a conversation about race always means black vs. white, based on the premise that black people still walk about barefoot in torn overalls on dirt farms while their rich, white overlords roll by on golf carts, oblivious, sipping mixed drinks. That's whenever they're not lynching blacks or burning their churches.

Here's the reality for black Americans I see: Oprah Winfrey is wealthy beyond belief. The Grammys are almost nothing but a string of awards for Beyoncé, Outkast and other black rap and hip-hoppers. Colin Powell and Condoleeza Rice have had the top seats in government while Barack Obama ran almost all the way to the White House without the press asking a single hard question. Everybody may love Raymond, but everybody really loves Bill Cosby.

"A few wealthy black celebrities is not indicative of the well-being of blacks overall," my debate opponent said. Okay, try this on for size: my supervisor, who's black, has one house in Atlanta, and a beach house in San Diego. Many of the black people I work with drive to work in Mercedes, BMW's and Lexuses. The mayor, city council and police chief in Atlanta are all black. When I drove a delivery van for $9.25 an hour I well recall driving through a all-black neighborhood of $350,000-and-up houses with French windows and big yards, thinking, Wow, here I am among the "oppressed," and I couldn't afford to move into this neighborhood in my dreams!

Not enough? How about when someone with Jehri Curl and her name tattooed on her arm gets promoted over me when I've got a college degree and 12 years of work experience? How about when a supervisor tells me they're giving the El Salvadoran guy a bonus point over me to get a job because he's bilingual when the job didn't require bilingual skills?

My ultra-Lefty opponent still wasn't impressed with what he called "straw man arguments." I was STILL benefiting from this "white privilege" he was obsessed with.

Here's my idea of privilege. It's a privilege when black comedians can make fun of white people on the Def Comedy Jam with impunity. It's a privilege when someone less qualified can get a job through Affirmative Action. It's a privilege to have beauty contests that only feature black women. It's a privilege to have a race-specific TV channel like BET. It's a privilege when a black rapper like Ice Cube (who's CD's I own) can make a song like "White Cave Bitch" and millions of white kids buy it. It's a privilege to have access to not only the government funds I can get to start a business, but also to funds I can't get because they're strictly for minorities. It's a privilege to have access to not only the student loans white kids can get, but access to loans they can't get because it's strictly for minorities.

Some of those things serve a purpose, but don't tell me the privileges are all on the white side. And if white privilege really does exist -- I'll take it! I've learned life is too difficult not to take any help you can get. If anyone out there would like to plant a million dollars in my hand for being white, please contact me!

It seemed equality would only be achieved in this guy's mind when 10% of the population has control of 100% of the government and at least 75% of the entertainment business.

Reginald Denny took a brick in the face for all white men's sins during the L.A. riots. Now can't we do like Rodney King said, right before he won a settlement against the LAPD for millions of dollars and then got arrested multiple times more, and "all get along?"