SOME OF MY BEST FRIENDS ARE...

After one of my birthday parties someone commented, "You have a lot of black friends." I replied, "No, I have a lot of friends who are black." She asked, obviously mystified, "What's the difference?" Since I liked the person, I explained how it made a difference, but I'm sure she did not comprehend.

I read an interesting new book Some Of My Best Friends Are Black, The Strange Story Of Integration In America, written by Tanner Colby, who was surprised, on Election Night, 2008, as he was celebrating the victory of Barack Obama ("pretty much the awesomest guy to run for President in my lifetime!") to confront himself--a liberal--that he had no friends who were black! He also found that nearly all of his friends had no friends who were black.

CLICK HERE to see the article from NPR: Some Of My Best Friends Aren't Black.

Any time I hear anyone say, "Some of my best friends are_____________." (You can fill in the blank), I'm always rather certain that it is a false statement and I chuckle to myself, wondering about the motivation of the person telling it to me.