We’ve heard the various tirades, raging against the injustice of Jennifer Hudson being voted off of American Idol. The accusation of racist system is what I feel needs to be addressed. Many bandy the term “racism” about lightly, not understanding that racism and personal preference are independent concepts. Since the system set up so that anyone can “vote” by use of the telephone, as many times as they wish for the singer or singers of their choice, I don’t understand why anyone would sincerely feel that white America should vote for one of us. Can’t they have personal preferences, be they blue eyed and blond screamers or red haired, little boys singing old standards?

My eye always seeks the darkest in the crowd. I really don’t pay much attention to the singers who are not African. I’m quite aware of my “RACIAL PREFERENCING”. That’s my personal choice. I feel an affinity towards their voices, their appearance and their style of dress. I can more identify with them than with the others, so my choice is always the one I “feel”. Why is this considered a negative when a white person makes their personal choice of “racial preference”? Racial preference is not a bad thing and not to be confused with racism, which are acts against people because of their ethnicity or race, based upon ‘power’.

There’s no American Idol conspiracy where a secret network of Caucasians are using their influence to force people in the privacy of their homes to vote for the non-African singers.

We seem to forget that last year the winner was a very strong African American, who didn’t seem to court the white vote to win. The runner up is admittedly talented, and obviously white. Naysayers abound, pointing out the marked difference in record sales between Clay Aiken and Ruben Studdard. I’ve yet to see a “bootleg” Clay Aiken CD for sale.

The following are comments made by Jennifer Hudson:

"I feel like I won the show since I lost the show,"

“I don't think it was based on talent," she declares. "If we're gonna’ base it on talent, I know I was robbed. I don't think ... I don't know exactly what it was based on, but I don't think it was talent at all."

"I never really received any of my props or accolades from any of the judges and they always gave me a hard time, so it wasn't really an easy role for me at all," she says, reasoning that perhaps it was just time for her to move on.

"We all feel John Stevens deserves to be there. We all deserve to be there," Hudson declares. "I don't think he should feel that way. He has fans, just like we do, and obviously they're voting."

"I'm just telling the truth because -- as far as the show goes -- I really don't have anything to lose, because it's over for me," she says. "I feel overall, I can't complain, because I experienced everything I wanted to experience."

The media has published a variety of reactions to Jennifer Hudson’s dismissal from American Idol. The reasons range from racism, to phone and electricity outages near her home town, to the teeny-bopper factor (young girls that vote for who they think is cutest and not who has the most talent) and that the voting was “rigged”. The anger seems very genuine from many people after they look at Hudson and compare her to some of the contestants that didn’t get the boot

Hudson's frustration isn't that John Stevens' fans flood the phone with their votes every Tuesday, but that other contestants' fans are slower to show their support. Then again, Hudson is of the opinion that she wasn't getting enough love throughout the competition.

Calling herself "The Good Diva," Hudson insists that she doesn't have "a bad attitude and a lot of demands and all that crap." The problem may just be that Hudson is a singer for a different time. As much as she enjoyed receiving her smattering of compliments from the "Idol" judges, she puts more stock in raves from the likes of guest judges Elton John and Barry Manilow.

"They come from the real era of music, when it was real singing, back when music was music," Hudson says. "I felt like if I was born in the time of Aretha Franklin then... it would be 'Aretha Franklin and Jennifer Hudson.' I'd rather be praised by somebody like them versus the people of today, because the people of today have no clue what real music is."

Hudson says she'll be rooting for close friend George Huff for the rest of the competition and refuses to feel bad either about her performance on the show or the way her run ended.

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