I got a flat tire yesterday but was rescued by a good Samaritan from the Auto Club. I asked him to tow me to my usual mechanic, but he warned that the big companies like to sell new tires even when they're not needed. He filled my tire and discovered that the problem was actually with the valve. He towed me to a local mechanic, who fixed the problem in ten minutes and charged me only ten dollars.

On the way to the mechanic, my good Samaritan brought up Tuesday's election. I asked him who he liked. He said, with neither venom nor apology, that he was going to vote for McCain because he's more American than Obama. And because Obama's black. I was astounded by this bald expression of racism. I asked him why he thought McCain was more American. He didn't know how to respond but said it didn't matter because there's no denying that Obama is black. I couldn't manage any further response to this Latino non-citizen, who knew I was Christian -- he'd picked me up at St. Agatha's Catholic Church and asked me if I was a priest. (At St. Agatha's, the more deeply rooted African Americans and the more recent Latino-American members seem to get along fine, although I'm reminded that black/Latino relations in Los Angeles are notoriously strained.)

Today's saint, Martin de Porres, was born of an African (and probably Latina) mother and a white father, who was embarrassed by Martin's African features and eventually deserted his son. Yet just as the outcast Samaritan brought healing to the man at the side of the road, the outcast Martin became a fantastically devoted minister to the poor in Lima.

Racist feelings are nothing to be ashamed of. Probably all of us, especially in the United States, carry this disease within us. But it's certainly our duty to recognize our racism and ask God to continue to free us from our twisted fears.

I'm also not suggesting that we don't take race into account when we vote. Why shouldn't someone vote for Obama (or black Green Party candidate Cynthia McKinney, who has a Latina running mate), at least partly because he's black? And perhaps it's even appropriate that "white" (and male) -- to the extent that "white" actually exists -- is, for some voters, one negative factor among other factors to be taken into consideration. That's not racist if it's the recognition of the benefits of diversity.

Writer Dominic DeLay, O.P. is the writer and director of the new election thriller Inside Darkness, about three presidential candidates -- a white evangelical woman, a black Catholic man, and a white agnostic man -- trapped in a dark cell.

Labels: agnostic, black, catholic, election, evangelical, Good Samaritan, Latino, Martin de Porres, McCain, McKinney, Obama, racism