Trump's disrespect for President ObamaBy Etan Thomas, Special to CNN
Editor's note: Etan Thomas is a poet and author who plays basketball for the NBA's Atlanta Hawks. He is a peace activist and actively supported Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign.CNN) --
Donald Trump's most recent challenge to President Barack Obama took me back to my collegiate years at Syracuse University. I had studied for two weeks straight for a calculus class, harder than I had ever studied in my life. After I completed my exam, I was confident that all my hard work had paid off.
But the next day, my professor greeted me with accusations of cheating, saying three-fourths of the class had flunked. How could I possibly have managed to get a B minus without cheating? Thankfully, not all of my professors were cut from this same cloth, but I had my share of run-ins.
One professor asked me on the first day what I was doing in his classroom, and shouldn't I be in remedial English or Rocks for Jocks?
Why did I have to prove myself worthy of being in their classrooms? The vast majority of professors at Syracuse University were not like this, but the sting of disrespect from those encounters has resonated with me till this day.
Donald Trump questioning the president's educational background took me back to those unfortunate memories.-snip-
By removing Osama bin Laden,
President Obama has accomplished what Bush couldn't do in two terms, no matter what he promised. So why is it still so difficult for the right to give him respect and credit?The president should not have to prove anything to anyone. Yet, he has handled every unmerited insult with nothing but grace and class. He has risen above every act of insolence, and proved them all wrong. There is, as CBS' "Face the Nation" host Bob Schieffer described, "an ugly strain of racism that's running through this whole thing."
Going back to "The Donald": I don't think he is some cross-burning, Confederate-flag-waving racist. But I do believe he is a "Hey, what is that black guy doing here?" racist. He is the type of racist who wants black people "to stay in their place."
It is a sad situation that a man who has earned a degree from Columbia University, graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law School, has been elected as president of the United States and received a Nobel Peace Prize has to continuously prove himself as a man worthy of respect. He simply shouldn't have to. http://www.cnn.com/2011/OPINION/05/05/thomas.trump.obama/index.html 
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