First, watch this:

Barack Obama has said we need a national conversation on race. One of the reasons I’m so eager about a potential Obama presidency is that I think it’s time we stood up, went nose to nose with racism, and made clear that while we’re open to a good-faith conversation on race, we’re done tolerating racism.

Make no mistake, in the coming months you’re going to see the ugliest artillery that our nation’s drooling, inbred hatemongers have at their disposal. The looming prospect of a nigra in the White House is going to bring the vermin out of the woodwork, out from under their rocks and out into the light. It’s going to incite the well-heeled country club elite to crank up the meme machine with every sort of subtle, codemongering dogwhistle it can manufacture. The truly ignorant and hateful are going to be liquored up on rhetorical bile of the lowest sort and those who live further up the social ladder are going to be provided with a variety of messages that let them vote white without having to admit to themselves that they’re fundamentally just like the snuff-suckers in the trailer park across the tracks.

This is a good thing. Let me say that again: this is a good thing.

Ignorance breeds in the dark recesses of a culture. It thrives when it’s allowed to grow and fester free of scrutiny. But when you throw harsh light on it, when you force it to stand and face the reality that educated, enlightened, progressive people aren’t afraid of it, that they relish the opportunity to face off, to take a stand on their principles, well, that’s a little different story.

No, you can’t intimidate ignorance into some kind of magical, After School Special transformation just by standing up to it, because you don’t stamp racism out overnight. But that’s precisely the approach that ensures eventual victory. We will not tolerate your ignorance. We will not be intimidated by your threats.

We will not fear the hood. Because what we believe in doesn’t need to hide.

In this election campaign, let’s invite the Klan and its fellow hate groups out into the light. Let’s get their hoods off of them. Let’s show all their videos. Let’s make sure that everybody gets to read their brochures and visit their Web sites. Let’s hand the microphone to their most eloquent speakers and stand aside. Let’s get them front and center and make sure America sees, in all its slack-jawed, toothless glory, precisely what racism looks like.

Let’s understand that the polls are probably going to lie to us – there will be a 5% closet racist error, so a reported 10% Obama lead is really a 5% lead – and let’s all work 5% harder.

And above all, when we hear racist code masquerading as legitimate, issues-based messaging, let’s not be afraid to say “excuse me, but will you take off your hood?”

It’s decision time, and I’m ready for a referendum on hate. How about you?