All Comments (15)

It is not only America that wants to "stick its head in the sand" to avoid issues.

That is the problem in the nutshell.........when this occurs deterioration of any relationship will abound, and what a shame.

Avoidance never does anything but "corrode" the one avoiding dies from a lack of interaction when it is called for and suppressing the "awareness" of a "call to action" and the one "waiting" dies from a "perceived rejection" due to the lack of the interaction and gives up hope of "action" ever occurring.

Lesson: communication, direct communication,and effective communication is the essential key......avoidance is for the cowardly.

Dear Rev. Smith,
I totally agree with what you said. America Wants to stick its head in the sand and pretend everything is alright and whenever we point to areas of discrimination because of the color or our skin, white Americans want to accuse us of playing the "RACE CARD". So until we have an open forum (with more Whites than Blacks), this cancer will continue to metastasize causing more pain and agony to a country that is always fighting for the freedom and liberty of other nations. What a hypocrisy this nation portrays.

Get successful blacks to come out and share regularly with their black brothers and sisters about how they made it to the top. Let them share honestly their struggles in making their way in a society where whites get a head start and enjoy some advantages because of the color of their skin. Let them share honestly the support they got from their own families and communities. Alternatively let them be brutally honest about the enemies within their own families and communities who tried to keep them down and prevent them from breaking out of the status quo out of envy and out of fear of losing a member of their family or community to the wider world in which they would no longer abide by unwritten rules of the black community. The US is a melting pot of many nationOalities. Each community has a story to tell of hardships endured while finding their niche in a new country. The native Indians have a heartbreaking story to tell as well. There are other minority groups that did not have it easy. It is a challenge for all. But Obama and others like him, Oprah, Tiger Woods etc is proof that a black person can get to the top in the US.

Celebrate how far the blacks have come since the days of slavery. Hold not yourself in chains of slavery in your minds. Focus on what needs to be done so that every black child feels confident that the achievement of Oprah, Woods and Obama can be replicated by them. All Americans share the same dream no matter what their color and ethnicity.

Here is yet another label for us typical whites, we feel guilty??

Look, I spent 32 years working for the government. I spent at least 30 of those years embroiled in a race conversation every day. I do not feel guilty for something I wasn't even alive at the time. This argument is getting old. Go check out the EEOC statistics. You just might be surprised how much we have paid for false claims of racial discrimination.

I'm not ashamed nor guilty. I'm white and I'm voting for McCain. Why can't it just be as simple as I worked for the Department of Defense for those 32 years, and at 55, relate more to what McCain stands for, less government and less taxes.

Joy Holtz you are right on the money with your post. Racism is alive and well in this country and because of this election we can all see how it is raising its ugly head. I am a white 62 year old woman voting for Obama not out of guilt but because he represents the best we have to offer in this country today. As far as Rev Wright I found most of his remarks right on. I completely understand everything he said and why he has said it. A white person can get pissed off about something the government does and say GD and that is fine. If a black person says that OMG what a sin that is. Don't tell me that any of you people have never been angry at the government for something! I watched a great special on MSNBC Meeting David Wilson and there was a discussion about racism afterwards. I think everyone should see a program like this that shows both sides of the situation. In the posts above where someone was talking about the young blacks well how about the whites that no one ever brings up. The so called "trailer trash". White people never talk about them because it is OK that they are trash because they are white. Double standard if I have ever seen one. In both whites and blacks we have people that are uneducated, going to prison, etc. But seems to me all we ever refer to are the ones that are black. I don't feel guilty for something that was done by past generations at all. I don't feel responsible but I do think that they are owed an apology as the Rev said in her post. An apology and saying that we will try harder to make up for that is not too much to ask of any of us. Obama can help bring this healing to our country. No he is not the whole answer but he is a start. He is as good as it gets and I respect a white that will not vote for him on issues but not a white who will not vote for him because of the color of his skin. I know many of those people personally and that is sad.

I think the extremist Black agenda, which conveniently fuels the demagoguery of preachers like Wright and keeps the collective chip on blacks' shoulders, is to blame white and to them feel perpetually guilty for the actions of their ancestors.

While their actions were shameful and we need to learn lessons from them, I refuse to be personally and eternally ashamed and a scapegoat for those who want to use this as an excuse for not getting off their butts, educating and taking responsibility for their children and making something of their lives.

No historical or cultural filter can mistake Wrights racist hatred toward whites. It's a flimsy excuse for his outrage.

I think the extremist Black agenda, which conveniently fuels the demagoguery of preachers like Wright and keeps the collective chip on blacks' shoulders, is to blame and to have whites feel perpetually guilty for the actions of their ancestors.

While their actions were shameful and we need to learn lessons from them, I refuse to be personally and eternally ashamed and a scapegoat for those who want to use this as an excuse for not getting off their butts, educating and taking responsibility for their children and making something of their lives.

The race that is still practicing Slavery is the Black race but you never hear Blacks condemning blacks no matter what the crime!

Part of the Obama snow job where he portrayed Rev. Wright's paranoid rants as coming from anger that is the baggage as the legacy of of old white racism, carried by old blacks. Well, there is current-day stuff that is alive and well, carried by the young blacks, that is a lot worse than the racism, sexism and homophobic intolerance of the older generation of blacks. It's called Hip Hop, Gangsta and Street culture. It's full of racism, paranoia, anger, violence, abuse of women, sexism and a whole lot of dysfunctional antisocial expression schemes. The social psychological disordered behavior that Rev. Wright's hate-speech-as-sermons represents and coveys to blacks and supported by Obama is alive and well in the current-day generation in Black America. It's just in a newer more dangerous carnation.

Blacks leaders should start speaking out about taking some personal responsibility for high rate of high school drop out, sexual promiscuity, children born out of wedlock, , absence of male parenting/role models, drugs, crime, incarceration, AIDS, instead of playing the victimhood game and blaming whites for black failures! Until that time there will always be hate mongers & race baiter,s to use them and profit from their plight like the Rev. Wright, Rev. Jessie Jackson, Rev. Al Sharpton, as well as 10,s of thousands of White and Black Politicians. In fact the whole Democrat party! Hand outs, instead of a hand up, is the means of keeping Blacks down and economic Slaves! Keeping Blacks as an race of victims and believing all of the above is Whitey fault is designed to keep them from progressing instead of a race of achievers! It is in the best interest of Black preachers and Democrat politicians! Blacks will never be lead to the promise land by hate mongering Preachers like Rev. Wright or by bottom feeding Politicians that wants and works to keep Blacks in the Ghetto, on Welfare, and voting Democrat!

I suppose this makes me a racist, but I believe there should be one standard for everybody, and that a person should be judged by the person's actions, not by the color of the person's skin. Haven't we had enough of one code for people with the right color skin and another for those with the wrong color skin?

Any competent MD will tell you that no wound ever heals if you keep picking at the scab.

I am a young white person, and I am not responsible for whatever my grandparents did or didn't do. I don't like it, I think it was wrong, I abhor it. I have not forgotten, denied or ignored the past. But I refuse to spend my days wallowing in "guilt" over something I didn't do.

It seems to me that all we ever do is "confront the disease" -- we have the same discussions over and over again, miring us in the conflict. Someone needs to take the first, brave step of being the one to say "Enough! I'm moving on."

Ms. Smith:

Did you really mean to write this: "And too many blacks, bothered by SHAME still felt about being African American"?

Do you really believe that Blacks are ASHAMED of being Black?

Do you really believe that Blacks feel ASHAMED of being created in God's image?

Next time, please think before you write.

I am not ASHAMED. I am just burdened by living under the effects of racism. Yet, in spite of this burden, I am strong and I am alive.

Check out my comment below in response to a point of view Sally Quinn put forth on the Charlie Rose show that in some ways mirrors your dreadful and harmful and, dare I say, shameful line of thinking that Blacks are ASHAMED of being Black.

Ms. Quinn --
I hope you have been receiving tons of email about the following.

On the Charlie Rose show the other night, you stated that Barack Obama had no choice other than to be viewed as a Black man because he "looks" Black.

Your statement implies that given a choice that no person in their right mind would choose to be Black.

In fact, Barack did choose, just like Tiger Woods made a choice. Tiger's choice was to not identify as Black, but as CaBlaAsian and marry a White woman. And others who look as White as you have chosen to self-identify as Black. Barack certainly had the same choice. Obama could have chosen to identify as a person of mix-race, like Tiger Woods and others, and marry someone other than a Black woman. But Barak - at some point in his life - chose to self-identify as Black.

So despite what White folks like you may think, there are many Black people who proudly choose to identify as Black. And even many more who in the words of Trinity United Church of Christ are unashamedly and unapologetically Black.

All the best to you ---
C. Robinson

Rev. S. Smith,
are we present day white americans responsible for the sins of our ancestors ? You have avoided this subject - shame on you - but the answer is an absolute no.

Reverend Smith, I have seldom heard such profound, truthful words spoken about racial relations in the United States. The fact that the majority of African Americans think discrimination and racisim is alive and well in this country and the majority of caucasians think it's not a problem speaks loudly of our painful division.

I watch with sadness as the media attempts again to vilify Reverend Wright and I can't help but think that we collectively learned nothing by our experiences of the 1960's, by MLK, or even Obama's speech on race? To understand Rev. Wright, his words must be filtered through a historical and cultural lens, and perhaps that's the piece that's missing from the reporting and from our understanding.