Rep. Joe Wilson’s outburst during Obama’s speech has caused much controversy in America. It all started because Wilson apparently disagreed with certain things Obama said during his speech and consequently shouted, “You lie.” Former President, Jimmy Carter, recently spoke out about Wilson’s outburst stating that he believed that Rep. Joe Wilson’s inexcusable behavior was based on racism.

Some believe people believe that racism is no longer an issue in America, some believe it is & other’s just chose to ignore the whole issue. Racism does still exist, but it is becoming so concealed, that even some African-Americans are convinced that it doesn’t exist and if it does it’s not big enough to address. The fact is that America has had several Presidents in office that have done things that the country, as a whole, did not agree with. Most of them were not criticized nearly as harsh as Obama has been criticized. With the economy being the way it is and so many people being without jobs, certain issues are challenging to fix.

Any president in office at a time like this would have some complications while trying to fix this kind of recession. It’s not going to be easy and it is important that everyone, regardless of race, come together on certain issues in order to make it better for the majority of the citizens here in America.

Truthfully speaking, there are probably a good number of people that are just speaking out on issues more aggressively simply because they don’t like the fact that Obama is a black president. In some cases, some citizens do disagree with his views, but they are more ruthless than usual because they don’t like the fact that the president is black.

For instance, Pastor Steve Anderson in Arizona asked his congregation to join him in prayer for Obama’s death. It is one thing to disagree with the president’s policies but to go as far as wishing death on the president raises suspicion of racism. If someone says they disagree with Obama on health care issues or any other issue and they decide to explain then, that doesn’t come across as racism. On the other hand, if someone says something like, “President Obama is stupid, I hate his guts and want him to rot in hell,” this would strongly suggest that racism is the motivation behind the statement.

It was actually upsetting to hear the former president speak about racism because it causes many to face the hurtfully reality that racism is still around. However, it’s a very powerful thing for our former President Jimmy Carter to say because it is extremely hard for someone who is not of African decent in America to recognize racism. Many will never be capable of identifying racism or understanding it because they are not African-American. So, it is a great thing that the former president has that wisdom that enabled him to speak out about it. That was a very brave thing that needed to be said as oppose to just sweeping this issue under the rug.

Even African Americans fail to realize that Malcolm, Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr. all played a part in African-American rights, but there were many Caucasian-Americans who also stood up for blacks. The Underground Railroad would not have existed if there weren’t people opposite of the black race willing to help blacks along the way. Sometimes a person of the same race as a racist can help them realize there wrongs easier than someone of the opposite race.

Although, racism is a very sensitive issue in the U.S. people must address this issue and stop ignoring it. Whether Americans agree of disagree with Obama there has to be a certain amount of respect granted to the president of this country. Race should never play a part in supporting or not supporting the president of the United States of America.