My people often are accused of voting for a political candidate because he looks like them.
My people often are accused of voting for a political candidate because of one position of his party.
Yes, I'm talking about two different groups of people.
Because I am African-American, it is taken for granted by many that I would support the re-election of this country's first black president.
Similarly, I am a pro-life, born-again Christian, and there are many members of that group who would not expect a fellow pilgrim to support a president who is pro-choice.
Am I conflicted? Not in the least.
First of all, there is no reason for anyone to support President Barack Obama just because of his skin color. Lord knows, he has bent over backward not to make race an issue, so why should anyone else?
Personally, I wish Obama would say more about race relations. Other than his famous 2008 speech in Philadelphia, and an oblique reference to racism after the February shooting death of Florida teenager Trayvon Martin, he has said too little.
That's not altogether surprising. I suspected before Obama's election that his international upbringing in a mixed-race household might mean he wouldn't treat racism with the same urgency as someone like me, who grew up in the Jim Crow South.
Obama's lack of a racial agenda also means African-Americans are under no obligation to let their pride in his historic accomplishment dictate their votes.
But there are reasons beyond race for them to turn out for him.
African-Americans are more likely to be poor and poorly educated than any other group of Americans. In fact, the average white household in this country has 22 times the wealth of the average black household.
That inequity doesn't necessarily require race-based solutions, but it does require leadership that understands the pivotal role government must play in education, job training, medical assistance, and crime reduction to reduce the disparity.
Mitt Romney, who brought the mother of Obamacare to Massachusetts, should understand that. But he's running on a ticket that would set fire to the social safety net that poor people depend on so he can avoid supporting any tax increase on the wealthiest Americans.
When it comes to which candidate will do more to protect the nation's most vulnerable citizens — a group in which African-Americans, unfortunately, are overly represented — the choice is clear.
It's Obama.
By the way, you also couldn't blame African-Americans if they bristle at the condescending way Romney has campaigned for office. Romney has all but said the boy did as well as he could, but now it's time for a man to take over.
Just as Romney wants people to take it as gospel that a businessman knows best how to govern a country, he is counting on evangelical Christians lining up behind him because the Republicans have been more supportive of efforts to outlaw abortion.
But as hard as it is for Christians to leave their hearts out of a decision like this, they must.
They need to consider that even if a Supreme Court with Romney appointees banned abortion, it wouldn't end.
There still would be people getting rich by providing illegal abortions. Babies would die. Women would be subjected to butchery.
The best way to end the horrible devaluation of human life is to make this a nation that provides so many good, viable alternatives for women who don't want to raise a child that abortion stops being routine.
Foster care and adoption services should be guaranteed and abundant, so women don't have to raise a child if they don't want to.
Child care, education, and income supplements for mothers should be guaranteed and abundant, so having a child doesn't become an economic burden.
Will that require paying higher taxes?
Probably. But I would pay more to save a life.
That's the example Christians are supposed to follow.
If you consider which presidential candidate is more likely to put this nation on a course in which it provides the services needed to make it easier for a woman to choose to have a child, the choice is easy.
It's Obama.
Harold Jackson writes for The Philadelphia Inquirer. His email address is hjackson@phillynews.com.