Dismissing as racists Republicans, Tea Partiers and conservatives who disagree with the liberal agenda has become the default position for more than a few Democrats and their allies in the media, nonprofit activism communities, and the academic world. Such knee-jerk responses to honest criticism only magnify the ugliness that so quickly envelopes many of the racially tinged controversies that regularly erupt in American politics. These dark embroglios highlight the critical need for a more honest and — dare we say it — tolerant discussion of race in American politics.

With the election of President Obama, race relations in America have obviously come a long way since former Ku Klux Klan member Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., was first elected to the House of Representatives in 1952. Just as clearly, there is still a long way to go before our society attains the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream that his children “will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”