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As it turns out, the introduction to "Christianity" was the greatest thing that could have happened, and quite possibly the real reason for the whole ordeal. However strange this may sound, there is suffering in salvation...
CHRISTIANITY at its core, when compared to all other beliefs, unbelief, religions, etc., in the world explains MARK, NAME, NUMBER, and IMAGE (Rev. 13:15-18/KJV), answering the 2000-year-old question.
sharehopeinpromise-ministry.org/blog

One almost hates to say anything negative in response to Mr. Jordan's eloquent words.

But once more, a commentary by a prominent African-American ignores the elephant under the rug. The illegitimate birth rate in the black community drives a stake into the heart of the hope for progress for those black Americans--a tiny proportion of the overall American population--still mired in poverty, unemployment, poor education, drugs, and crime.

Until leaders like Mr. Jordan deal squarely with that problem, all the black-white reconciliation in the world will not significantly change those blacks situation.

Reading all capitalized characters for an entire article or essay is somewhat straining...

So here it is without all caps:

Being born in Georgia in the mid-1930s, I grew up in an era when the lives of black Americans were shadowed by limitation. That was especially true in the south where most often the best kind of behavior one could expect from whites was indifference. There were plenty of times during my childhood and adolescence when white southerners displayed human behavior at its worst. But, while I was aware at an early age of the injustice white America imposed upon black Americans, i never felt intimidated by it. I never felt I needed to bow to the white society’s insistence that I radically limit my aspirations.
The reason is i was reconciled with the future.
That’s not how one usually considers the matter of reconciliation. It’s most often thought of as having to do with the past. But for many black southerners born in the time of Jim Crow, reconciliation was a much more complex matter. Their embrace of reconciliation with the white south and with the whole of white America was grounded in their vision of a future in which black Americans would live as free men and women – a vision black Americans have carried with them since we landed on these shores – despite the fact that we didn’t come willingly.

We know, from the scholars of the colonial and antebellum periods, that black Americans, enslaved and free, continually, insistently expressed our belief in our own humanity and that we believed our rights as human beings were no less inalienable than those of white Americans. They did so nonviolently all through their history here, culminating in the civil rights movement from the 1930s to the 1960s. This bespeaks an extraordinary commitment – I call it patriotism – to the American ideal. It also involved a remarkable hope that white Americans would come to practice that shining concept which was the guiding principle of the black freedom struggle: the self-evident truth that all human beings are created equal. Certainly, some significant part of that vision and hope came from black Americans immediately adapting the Christianity they were taught by whites, affirming that they, too, were equal in the eyes of god, and thus, were equal on earth as well. Black Americans had a spiritual as well as secular faith in America because they had a spiritual as well as secular faith in themselves.
Part of that faith in the future was expressed in the nurturing of the talents of the young. This went on even in the cities, towns and hamlets where the restrictions against what blacks could aspire to were codified in thousands of laws. I benefited from that nurturing, that pushing and pulling within my family and within the black community of Atlanta as much as anyone. I believed at an early age that i was in training and i was preparing myself for leadership in the future.
This, for me, is the individual and broad context that has made possible the reconciliation – still occurring, still far from completed – between black Americans and white Americans. It could begin to happen because black Americans have always known not just for themselves but to enable Americans to realize the promise of America. Black Americans undertook that great mission because we’ve always known this is our country, too.

Vernon Jordan is an attorney, civil rights leader, business consultant, and influential power broker. Although he never held political office, Jordan served as a key adviser to President Clinton. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

V.Jordan
“That Faith in the Future” you mention is really Your personal faith in your own future.

------------Vernon did not permit obstacles to become justification for failure.----------
Those ten words build successful lives. This holds true in professional careers as well as private spirituality. Substitute Vernon with another name, perhaps your own, see where you stand.

VERNON...IT WITH EVERY BREATH THAT THE ALMIGHTY REMINDS OF THAT NEVER ENDING BOND. YET, TO LIVE IN THE SPEED OF ILLUSION,THERE FOREVER TIMES WE FORGET, TIMES WE NEED REMINDING. LOVE AN BREATH AWAY, MANY UNTIMED MOMENTS,THAT GIFTED TO ENJOY. xx X

Chuck, excellent comment. Couldn't have said it better myself. Having worked in the DC government environment, I have experienced first hand that many African Americans "were tightly focused on the racial inequalities they perceived in the world around them, and did not seem to recognize that their own failure to apply themselves to their schoolwork was likely to result in a suboptimal outcome for them as well." In many cases, their education was not up to par, their work was sloppier and slower than that of their peers and when called on to account for mistakes their first line of defense was discrimination. I know can be construed as racist, which I am absolutely not, but many supervisors failed to correct sloppy workmanship for precisely that reason. To be called racist. The black community needs to quit playing the race card at every opportunity, take a realistic look at their shortcomings, and start making improvements.

VERNON, IF I MAY ADD,THESE FEW WORDS. LOVE BEING FAR MORE DESTRUCTIVE THAN HATE, IF NOT BALANCED WITH UNDERSTANDING, EXPERIENCE. (((AN IMPORTANT LESSON ALL NOW MUST LEARNT))). THOSE IN TERMS OF SPIRITUALLITY, WHOM ARE STILL BE CHILDREN, ONE MUST CONTINUE WITH AN ATTITUDE OF COMPASSION, AS DEPTH IN UNDERSTANDING. IT BE ALSO WISE TO ARISE FROM ONE'S KNEES, GOD, (( UNDERSTAND )), BE NOT WHITE, BLUE, GREEN, YELLOW, PINK, GREEN, ORANGE. ALL EQUAL BEFORE GOD. THE CREATION OF UNIVERSE, FOR ONE PURPOSE, SUSTAINING THE HUMAN FORM,THAT IT BRING THROUGH HEART AS BRAIN, UNDERSTANDING, EXPERIENCE, WHICH ,THE VERY ESSENCE OF CREATION.

Chuck: while it is always valid to make the points you do (and Bill Cosby does, much to the consternation of other black leaders) the question is what to do about it. What you describe is taken by some as an excuse to end any efforts to address the lingering pathologies that resulted from the not all that distant past. The cry to end affirmative action as being counterproductive is deceptively attractive, to those with motives pure and not so pure, for example. It's too easy to say that blacks should just "get over it" and enjoy the supposedly color-blind society we supposedly have. it's also too easy for those affected by the inner city pathologies you describe to wallow in their victimhood. I think we need to avoid both extremes, fully appreciating that the damage done in the past is not easily eradicated, while at the same time not accepting excuses. The tough work is in the middle.

Sir, I salute your achievements, but I fear that your experience and your attitudes are far different from those of the black Americans I encountered when I was in high school a few years ago. At the time, many of my black peers (with one or two notable exceptions) seemed to feel little or no pressure at home or in the community to perform, and as a result were generally poorer students in the classroom relative to students of other ethnic backgrounds (this was an ethnically-diverse private school in downtown DC, by the way). This contrast was particularly striking when compared to the small number of black students of direct African and Caribbean origin I encountered, who were among the hardest-working of the students at the school.
Even the relatively privileged native-born black students with whom I went to school were tightly focused on the racial inequalities they perceived in the world around them, and did not seem to recognize that their own failure to apply themselves to their schoolwork was likely to result in a suboptimal outcome for them as well. The most common sentiment I heard was that the system was rigged, and there was no point in trying to succeed. Although I disagreed with that viewpoint, I did not and do not consider that to be a valid reason for not attempting to maintain at least an average class standing. Further, this was not a point I felt comfortable making even to my black friends, as I was well aware of the defensive and hostile response it was likely to provoke.
Is it possible that the lessons your generation learned in a time of genuine and overt racial injustice have been forgotten or subverted in a time when the greatest obstacle between black students and academic and professional success seems to be black culture itself? That the disintegration of traditional black neighborhoods and values has left many young blacks paradoxically convinced that they have no chance of success when in point of fact their chances are far better than any previous generation? That not only are they entitled to rely on governmental support, but that to do so is entirely appropriate because they cannot be expected to take responsibility for their own destinies? If so, I fear the efforts and contributions of those in your generation to the cause of social, economic, and political equality for all races may come to naught in the face of a poisonous social worldview that subverts its adherents by tolerating mediocrity and rejecting personal responsibility.

VERNON....ONE BEING PUT ON THE ALMIGHTY'S ANVIL HAVING THE IMPURITIES BEAT OUT OF THEM BEING A GREAT GREAT HONOUR, SUCH THE REALITY FOR BLACK AMERICANS. WHEN PUTTING ASIDE....THE INJUSTICE, THE BRUTALITY, THE APPALLING ABUSE, IGNORANCE, THE ARROGANCE, WHITE SUPREMECY, WHITE STUPIDITY, THE DAILY ENDLESS SUFFERING.... WHAT HAVING YOU LEFT, BUT TURNING FROM WORLDLY ILLUSION, UNTO THE "SPIRITUAL REALITY", WHERE ONE GROW AS GAIN IN TRUE KNOWLEDGE, THUS IN TIME, BEING BLESSED. ENABLED. TO STAND BEFORE THE POWER OF CREATION.

The web editor who posted this piece should be fired.

Reconciling race is an important first step in achieving the success of the American Dream. The reconciliation is not about acknowledging differences - but rather about acknowledging the same-ness of humanity.
Ohg
http://thefiresidepost.com/2007/11/26/oprah-and-barack-transcending-race/

Why all caps? reconciliation must be mad serious these days