But what we all thought was going to be the ultimate uprising of poor black people against their white oppressors never happened. Oh, we (as a people . . .I was too young) rioted a few times in a few cities. And the incidents attracted some media attention, but mainly all that happened was that our neigh-borhoods burned and people died or were hurt badly. All revolutions require money, and since it was the poor people who wanted change, it didn’t happen.

Many people in this country are now set to turn back the clock. A real "revolution" is just under the horizon. It will not come from poor people of color, but instead from the middle and upper class men and women who did what they were told they were supposed to do, to get the so-called American Dream, yet are still treated like "niggers." People will get tired of bouncing their heads off those glass ceilings, and something will happen.

It is especially likely if the wrong people are allowed to retake control of this country . . . people who are hell bent on returning to the good old days of trickle down economics.

When the people of color who have been allowed to see the glimmering hope of financial stability find themselves forced back into the projects or back to sub-standard jobs, this country will explode.

But these folks will have the money to fight. The angry black men and women aren’t just on the rap albums, the talk shows, and in jail. They are alive, well, and living in the suburbs. They are your doctors, your lawyers, your political leaders, your TV news reporters.

Every day of my existence, I have to spend a great deal of my energy fighting the cancer that is racism . . . and not just the overt and covert acts against me, and my family, friends and colleagues.

But I also fight the part of the illness that in turn changes how you feel about other people . . . people you may even care about or love. Some of this column comes from personal laundry that I won’t completely air right here.

But for those who have asked many times over the years why I am still where I am, know that it isn’t because of my work. Like many of your jobs and professions, I am not immune to the snake pits or snakes of life. They’re everywhere. They masquerade as liberal, fair-minded people, but they are not.

These kinds of people, when they hold power, cannot resist the natural urge to attempt to subjugate people based on some internal instinct.

In the last eight years, many of these folks who were able to jump into another tax bracket now find themselves feeling "America needs a change." What they really mean is that too many of us are around and they’d like a little space. I don’t want to feel like this, and I certainly don’t want anyone else to either. I don’t want that kind of revolution either, but if we do not act over the next few weeks, we will help set the stage for all the bad things that will happen.

From now till November, we should do all that we can to keep "our" voices heard at the tables of power. Tell your friends to get to those ballot boxes in November and keep an apple that hasn’t fallen far from the tree from growing into another bad tree.

Will it help us feel less angry, less frustrated . . . maybe not. But maybe we can contribute to making it a little easier for the generations to come . . . one election at a time.

As for what goes on inside of you . . . I always think about all the people who have lived and died before me, from Slaves, to activists, to Black journalists. Then, I think I don’t have it so bad.