I had an eye-opening conversation with someone, who I will name Bob, a few days before the presidential election. I knew going into this conversation, that Bob was extremely conservative in his views, but seemed willing to hear my point of view regarding my support for Obama.

In class, we talk about those people who are trapped in their "bubble"; people who have no concept of the tragic lives of those minorities living in poverty; those that think nothing is actually wrong, simply because they're so far removed from reality, even when these problems are occuring right in their city, town, or neighborhood.

Well, after a few minutes of letting Bob know that I was not only a democrat, but a huge Obama supporter, Bob said something that...well...just blew my mind with the ignorance that was being displayed. Bob said that he did not feel that his tax money should be used to help provide housing for everyone in America, especially since ALL of these people do not have housing because they are lazy and unwilling to work. I almost had a heart attack. My mind shot straight to the literature we have read in class that contain historical and factual information that has led to the slums and impoverished today.

I wish I could have given Bob these works, or at least had the guts to say something to him at that moment. I wish I would have explained the concept of covenants in neighborhoods and real estate, the "white flight" to suburbs, the increase of knowledge based jobs in the inner cities, the cyclical nature of the ghetto life, the lack of funding for education, and the fact that inner city minorities, at birth, are already 10 steps behind a middle class Caucasian.

I did not say anything, I simply nodded and grit my teeth. "These are the people we have been talking about in class", I thought, "that is one of them". I could not believe and I didn't want to believe that people this IGNORANT exist!! In the back of my mind I knew that they were out there, but had never spoken with someone, who I would consider to be an intelligent person, yet still held these beliefs.

I can only hope that it will be the younger generations, the people like myself and my classmates, and our new president (yay!) that will move our country forward, and begin to help with the problem instead of selfishly refusing to believe it exists.