Domajot – Why is the correct amount of anger to those events defined by those who have never faced equal dangers for the sake of their progeny?
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Your generation did it. So does ours and so will the next one. The generation coming to power (regardless of race) will redefine the culture, the values and the methods of communication. That's just reality. We've never said you can't be angry. We are angry too. However, we believe that there are much more productive and effective ways of expressing that anger than yelling out ridiculous things like the GOVERNMENT CREATED HIV to kill black people.

Domajot – By showing understanding and appreciation, Obama is not showing a desire to emulate. Perhaps, he is simply saying 'thank you' for the benfits the modern generation reaps from the anger of its forebears.
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If you read the post, this is why I said he will not desert the pastor and I wouldn't expect him too.

Domajot – A good dose of anger was required to produce the resolve necessary even for peaceful protests, you know
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As I said it was appropriate then and justified, but it isn't any longer. Whether you are white or black from that era, you have a responsibilty to evolve just as the country has.

Domajot -The world in another 20 years will be different again. Are you ready to be held accountable by the generation of that day for mot living now according to the conditions of the future?
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Absolutely. And I'm also ready to adjust my communication style to the way that best furthers the interest of black people 20 years from now if that style is different than it is now. My objective is progress.

Wright continues to want to “fight the power,” but the only result will be keeping the power white.

Well DLS, it will promise to be good theater. One thing we Americans are ultra skilled at creating.

I just made the mistake of tuning in to CNN (for the first time in months): and I watched ttwo young and black commentators go after Obama. Their message was that Obama has to denounce and renounce, not just certain passages of Wright's speeches, but the Rev. himself and, possibly, the church (even though the church has many whites in the ocngregation, and whites may even be the majority, if a census was taken).
The woman, without blushing, prefaced her comments by saying she hadn't actually read the offensive sermons in question. !!!!!!!

The whole civil rights movement just got stabbed in the back, and the knowledge base on the topic of race relations, black history and vcvil rights is shrinking, not expandidng. Either that or commentators who are particularly ignorant about the topics on which they expound are in high demand.

I feel as if I'd been caught in a time warp and had been transproted back to the '60's.
People are obviously being hired as commnetators for their screaming ability, and no knowledge of the topic they are opining on is required.

CHRIS: Based on what I have read about Jeremiah Wright — both now and months ago — he is a demagogue and not someone whom I would embrace as a mentor and certainly not someone who if I was a politician I'd be foolish enough to embrace in the written word. I take it you disagree, and I'm cool with that. There's very little you've posted at this website that I've agree with and I'm not looking for any sort of kumbaya meeting of the minds on this… If it's easy for you to write off my concerns as swallowing the media line (something you don't seem to do be so flippant about when the media line happens to agree with you, I should note), by all means, please do that.

Of potential interest is an in-depth story on Wright written in the New York Times by Jodi Kantor back in April:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/30/us/politics/3...

Surprised it didn't pick up any traction then… I know Wright thought it was character assassination (surprise!), and I'm not exactly one to take the NYT word as gospel nowadays, but it paints a similar picture to other things I've read. And yes, Jodi Kantor is Jewish, but I'm on the BOD of the Global Zionist Conspiracy(TM) and a quick check of our roster doesn't show her listed…

You said what was on my mind, but I was conscious of running too long.

I liked, particularly, your refence to how we hear things through different prisms. When the speaker is familiar, one of our own, we reflexively place what is spoken into a brad contextl When the speaker is the 'other', we take up combat positiions.

P.S. So you thought I was a 42 year old man? Imagine how I felt when I saw Brian Lehrer from NPR radio on TV for the first time. I had been convinced he was a hunk!

Most Americans don't care what race or ethnicity someone is. They judge individuals on what that person brings to the table in terms of character. Scratch below the surface of the average American; be they white, African American, Latino or Asian and what you will find is a that most of us (Americans) want good schools for our children, job and/or business opportunities, crime free neighborhoods, freedom, justice and the liberty to pursue their dreams.

Unfortunate as it is, America did not treat its darker hued citizens well for many centuries. But lest we forget, there we're Italians, Irish and Jews of European decent that we're treated with the same disdain, (sans the slavery element), that African Americans were subject to.

Rev. Wright sees the world through his experiences. It appears to this writer that he may have embodied the negative energy that he experienced through the bigots and haters he has had to battle most of his life. He is warrior. Unfortunately for him the battlefield has changed and his tactics are no longer effective. Our challenge is no longer is civil rights. For the most part we have won that battle. Our challenge now is to bring opportunity and change to those that are hungry for opportunity and change.

It appears Obama will give a speech about Wright and the issue of race tomorrow:
http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0308/Oba...

(h/t Andrew Sullivan)

I was shocked; I was embarassed; but I was too shy to say anything. This was the first time I'd ever joined the youth group, and I was basically there as a good friend's guest. This was my failure as a 13 year old, not knowing what to do.

The point is just that if there was video in the early 80s like there is today, there could be a video out there of me sitting in a van, turning red-faced but silent, while racist jokes are flying. Now, I never did attend a youth event again, but I did go to other church services. Should I have stopped? My great-grandfather was once a minister there. A nearby building of offices and playground equipment has my last name on it. And, as I said, I have no recollection of these views appearing in regular sermons or in any other teachings. It would be cool to say that I went for the relationship with Christ, but I actually went because I liked hanging out eating fried chicken with my grandad and playing ping-pong with other kids.

I'm not sure where I am going. One point is that I would be embarassed if that video of me in the van were to ever turn up. If the video was me as an adult, I would be ashamed. But I don't think it should exclude me from being a President if I have grown and learned since that time where I was too shy to speak. That's becoming an adult.

What I don't know about the Obama/Wright case is, was Obama's error in judgment like mine as a young teen where I sat silently while hateful things were said? Or was he attending a church in which he was hardly aware of other ideas being spouted from time to time because there were so many other good associations?

I guess in the end, I have a feeling that almost everyone has some experience in their background like myself or Obama. If the association with Wright is important to Obama, then the same should apply to me and the people of all races who've sat silent. I periodically think that white America's reaction to this is partly because they are familiar with their own inappropriate friends and can understand how it happens, but maybe aren't so accommodating to people who know the Wrights of the world. With their own great-uncle, they think, “oh, there goes the old coot again.” With Obama, they are shocked! Shocked!

So, a previous generation of blacks were angry in a way that is inapprpriate in today's world., and that makes you angry, int turn. What are you really angry about, then, that your grandparents didn't live under 2008 conditions?

I can understand the frustration, but I can't undestand your anger.
This reads to me like the ingratitude of the young to theri elders (Yes, I'm a grandmother, so I may have my own axe to grind, even though I”m white.)

It seems to me that the anger of previous generations is what made your modern perspective .possible. I was around when police dogs, clubs and bullets met MLK's peaceful protests.. Why is the correct amount of anger to those events defined by those who have never faced equal dangers for the sake of their progeny?

By showing understanding and appreciation, Obama is not showing a desire to emulate. Perhaps, he is simply saying 'thank you' for the benfits the modern generation reaps from the anger of its forebears. A good dose of anger was required to produce the resolve necessary even for peaceful protests, you know

The world in another 20 years will be different again. Are you ready to be held accountable by the generation of that day for mot living now according to the conditions of the future?

It probably is impossible. Yet I've always felt that a sizable amount we black folks know someone like Rev. Wright. It's a product of America's history between whites and blacks. But think about this question:

If a sizable number of black people feel like Rev. Wright, why don't we see riots, rabble-rousing, etc on a fairly regular basis?

The answer: black folks are patriotic Americans. We may feel a certain way at times but in the end, we are loyal to the country that we helped to build. For all the fire and brimstone from Minister Louis Farrakhan's mouth, what has he done? Congregations may get riled up by Rev. Wright, but they leave his church as continuing law-abiding, tax paying, patriotic citizens. That's the facts.

My parents thinking has evolved to a point. My parents did lean heavily into Marxism back in “the day” (as they've told me). But they scrapped Marxism a long time ago and believe in democracy (they've worked for the Democratic Party at times). But at times, they sound a lot like Reverend Wright. I'll sit there and listen, find myself nodding at some points, rolling my eyes at other points, etc. Same when I'm around their friends which are my friends. They're good people in their hearts. Lest I wouldn't be the charming BBQ wizard that I am today!

I think Senator Obama has handled this wrong. This was a time to be human not political. I would have called a press conference and just laid it on the line:

1. Reverend Wright is a dear friend.
2. I don't agree with everything he says but he's my friend.
3. I don't throw my friends under the bus unless they do something that warrants it and this isn't one of those times.
4. My campaign speaks for itself. People from this Great Melting Pot have voted for me.
5. Black America is complex. But Black America is part of America. So Black America's complexities are America's complexities. We need to work through all of our complexities.

All he had to do was hire me in the beginning as an adviser and he would have been alright. LOL!

ChrisWWW, just gave ya some positive clout. I've read ya over at the now defunct Captain's Quarters and those commenters did you wrong.

In all seriousness, I think it's a little too easy to say Mr. Wright is a conspiratorial hater based on a couple of soundbytes. I'm sure the reality is more complex than the narrative the media is pushing (which you've apparently bought into).

Are you willing to say right now, definitively, that Mr. Wright is an awful human being that Barack Obama should never associate himself with based on those few quotes you have?

I got into an argument with a 50 year old black man about what companies should do to increase diversity in their professional ranks. His first resort was to be angry, to point fingers, to place blame, make threats. My choice to put together a strategy that would lead us to more qualified minority professionals such as recruiting more at HBCUs, using search firms that specialize in minority candidates, partnering with black professional associations and encouraging more referrals from our minority employees.

He said I was a coward and unappreciative of what it takes to get things done because white people don't want us in corporate America and won't listen unless you back them against the wall.

Jesse Jackson Jr. even said that he and his father disagree on many issues because he father does it the old way and doesn't want to change.