That is the question I want to ask my white brothers and sisters. Now is not the time to act like you did not know there probably were slaves in your family. Especially since, “United We Stand,” against terrorism has become a matter of life or death.

Can you feel an ounce of the soul-wrenching anger and hurt that Americans with a God-given tan have felt? In order to find answers to why the world seems to hate America, we must continue the national dialogue on race. (Unfortunately, it was derailed by former President Clinton’s “Zippergate” hearings.)

As America still searches for the hows and whys of September 11th, let us begin with a truth-shall-set-us-free thought: There is no way in hell any bank would have welcomed black people to open accounts with the large amounts of money the hijackers deposited, without [at the very least, first] checking their social security numbers. Trust me, the sun shining on those Negroes would have been sirens and camera lights. Officials would have immediately called the FBI, CIA, and the DEA to report they had uncovered a drug ring.

Feeling patriotic, I went to see an original copy of the Declaration of Independence. It is making a road trip across the country until 2004. Upon reading the awesome document, I was steaming hot like a nuclear power plant.

The same acts of oppression that the hypocritical forefathers accused King George III of imposing on them, they brutally enforced on African slaves. They even had the audacity to call the Indians merciless savages brought onto their frontiers.

When President Bush spoke about Iraq’s President Saddam Hussein having weapons of mass destruction, I thought about the excruciating pain my ancestors endured. White men boldly burning their homes and communities, and ravaging families. The law protecting them from being punished for the lynching and murdering blacks. Case in point, Emmett Till. The occurrence was only forty years ago.

African-Americans have seen the faces of evil. As have Native Americans, the Jewish community, the Iraqis, and sadly, many others groups of ethnic peoples. Attention America, your treatment of ethnic groups, has also been documented and submitted to a candid World.

The Emancipation Proclamation did not convince the majority of whites that blacks were entitled to certain unalienable rights. After all, they were part human, and mostly mule. It took a King named Martin Luther to preach non-violently, to boycott, to march, and to die for All Americans to legally have civil, voting, and fair housing rights. Again, we are talking only forty years ago. Now that al-Qaeda has threatened your life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness, CAN YOU FEEL ME?

It would be a shame and disgrace not to acknowledge the countless white people who do, and have done, the right thing. Such as the following notable cases, that received national attention, and involved honorable citizens for whom no justice truly meant no peace.

Afer thirty-nine years, Bobby Frank Cherry was convicted of the infamous bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. His granddaughter, Teresa Stacy testified against the ex-Klansmen, even though some of her family branded her “white trash” for doing so. The compassionate mother and smart blonde keeps a picture of the four murdered young black girls on her refrigerator.

In Johnston County, NC, Terence Garner, whom many perceived as another black menace to society, is now free because of two white sheriff detectives’ thirst for righteousness. (Sadly, Captain Jerry Best has died recently, while on the job nonetheless, making sure others were safe.) Best was featured on PBS’s “Frontline” proclaiming Garner’s innocence while the judge labeled him and his partner, “buffoons.” We call him a role model for all humankind.

Dr. King’s comment about ‘injustice anywhere threatens justice everywhere,’ will always reign true. Amidst the turmoil of the world, and in the wake of the heightened awareness of injustice, let’s try to understand each other better as we deal with issues such as education, healthcare, job and homeland security. We are not just one nation under God; we are one world.

God Bless the World!