After the Henry Louis Gates Jr. arrest uproar, the polemics of race are back in the spotlight as everyone questions the post-racial label some too easily gave our society after Obama's election.  To broaden the discussion beyond simple prejudices to include economics and history, I suggest taking a peek at Tim Wise's impassioned lecture about the political use of race in the founding of the US. You may disagree or hate his tone, even find his analysis simplistic - that race was used as a conceptual tactic to divide workers of different races who shared class interest in the larger strategy of capitalism's need for wage suppression - but it's a good place to start in questioning the very concept of "whiteness". Wise astutely observes that before the 17th century, far from being a loving happy "white" family, the concept of "white" didn't even exist in Europe, as the majority of people spent their time killing each other for many religious, ethnic, and nationalistic distinctions.