Catherine Donnelly and Alice Brown did something few of us are willing to do in a story in last Sunday's AJC: talk openly about racial attitudes that are shaped in large part by how we are raised.

Staff writer Brian Feagans stumbled on Donnelly's story about rooming with Michelle Obama at Princeton University while making political small talk during a real estate closing. Donnelly mentioned having Obama as a roommate. When contacted later, she talked about Alice Brown's horror upon learning her daughter's roommate was black.

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Readers have reacted strongly to the story, as have bloggers. Some have been critical of Donnelly and Brown's attitudes. Said Feagans: "The responses have generally fallen into two camps: those saying thanks for exposing this kind of racism and these two women in particular; and those impressed by how frank the women were and their attempts to change."

Some readers felt Donnelly's comments about never having a chance to have a black friend "rang hollow," he said.

"I tried to let the women frame their own stories of regret and change, then stay away from telling readers how to feel about it," said Feagans. "There is one undeniable truth, one that drove the story: This stuff is passed through the generations."

One reader asked Feagans if Obama had tried to befriend Donnelly. "Was it only Ms. Donnelly who failed to make the effort? The tendency of the AJC seems to be to focus on white racism, which [is] from a historical perspective," he said in an e-mail to the writer.

Feagans tried several times to reach Michelle Obama. She declined to be interviewed, but the campaign confirmed that Donnelly was her roommate. Until recently, Barack Obama has consistently avoided talking about racism, choosing to focus on the economy, the war and other topics. Michelle Obama hasn't minced words about the social isolation she felt as an undergraduate at Princeton. In her widely quoted 1985 thesis, she wrote: "My experiences at Princeton have made me far more aware of my 'Blackness' than ever before. ... I have found that at Princeton, no matter how liberal and open-minded some of my White professors and classmates try to be toward me, I sometimes feel like a visitor on campus, as if I really don't belong."Donnelly bore that out, describing her mother's urgency to get her moved to another room. For her part, Donnelly regrets not standing up to her mother about the roommate she thought was fun to be around.

Only a few of Donnelly's friends knew about her connection to Obama. She decided to tell her story to prompt conversation and reconciliation among people of different races — something Barack Obama has also stressed.

"I tread very lightly with this because it's not something that I'm particularly proud of," she said. "With all of the blogging that's going on [about the story], there are some really angry people out there."

Donnelly, an Obama supporter who grew up in New Orleans, was apprehensive about two things: She didn't want to be viewed as an opportunist in search of a reunion with her famous roommate; and she didn't want to embarrass her mother. Alice Brown is a retired teacher living in North Carolina.

"I called her right after I talked to Brian and said, 'Mom, do you want me to do this story? It may not portray you in a very good light.' She said, 'Do it.'

"I do regret that people distort things that are printed about you," said Donnelly, referring to some of the blog posts. Other than the secondary headline, which mentioned that Donnelly shunned Obama, Feagans' story accurately portrayed the womens' evolving racial attitudes. Donnelly said she never shunned Obama but was relieved to get out of the crowded room she shared with two others.

Friends have commended her for her bravery and shared similar stories from their past. I too, felt Donnelly and Brown were courageous.

Reading Donnelly's story reminded me of my first college roommate. She was a 23-year-old from Greencastle, Ind., and I was a 17-year-old from Lexington, Ky. Neither of us had spent much time in the houses of people of other races, and we shared very little in common. Our brief association was a mix of curiosity and apprehension that ended with her moving out after a few months, never to be heard from again.

Hopefully, such pairings have a decidedly different ending today.

To read Feagans' story, click here.