CNN iReport

As I near the release of my third book which features the "impossible" feats of Barack Obama and the 2008 World Champion Boston Celtics' head coach Glenn "Doc" Rivers, I found myself pondering the potency of probable truths. (Yes, I said that tongue twister without stuttering...an amazing accomplishment for me!) After my time of reflection ended, I smiled, I cried, and I hoped for a better, more sensible world. Here are some of my What Ifs:

What If...the first Black President of the United States of America was not named Barack Obama, but named John Hanson (the Black guy on the $2 bill who served under the Articles of Confederation)? Or What if there was one iota of truth to the research/reports that Thomas Jefferson, Dwight Eisenhower, Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln, Calvin Coolidge, and Warren G. Harding clearly had Black ancestry? Would my peers and I have grown up with a more positive outlook on the contributions of African Americans? Would non-Blacks have grown up with a healthier picture of the African American segment? Perhaps.

What If...my White cousins in Georgia, Virginia, Illinois, and Maryland knew me and I knew them, and we simply ate together, let our kids hangout, and by evening's end we danced to Ray Charles' ...What'd I Say? Would this racial tension thing subside, even for a day? (Smile) Probably.

What If... we deduced that if what scientists say is true and the oldest skeletal remains are from Africa and thus WE are ALL Africans or cousins as are Barack Obama and Dick Cheney? Would our humanity heighten as we grasped the absurdity of racial prejudice? Hopefully.

The profound nature of these What ifs is not for the weak of heart or the close-minded. Thoughts like these are too humane for the elitist or the evil-ist. I beckon the soft-hearted, the hopeful, the Godly, and the humble to ponder such realities.

P.s. Happy Birthday to my princess. I hope that by expressing the truth in love, that I can somehow free your generation from needless sandtraps. Love, Mommy.