I understand how an African American who lived through segregation has an anger he can't forget.

Obama did not come from a history of America's racial past I have to think his ebrace of Rev. Wright was calculated.

Watching the chattering class act as if they havd been beatfied by the the Pope when they glowed about Obama's speach and said the world " Race" out loud was laughable.

One thing I am curious about is the lack of voice from rich and middle class African Americans?.

I am not African American so I can only guess where the anger comes from.

It comes from a justice system that is not equal. It comes from Katrina. It comes from watching a media that portrays America as one boring middle class froth. It comes from a media that ignores the working class and poor.

I think someone needs to ask what will appease your anger?.

I think I might understand O.J. today more than yesterday. I think African Americans were saying here is one for all the African Americans who died without a trial?.

Because I am a white women I can only guess, but I am taking a chance of ridicule by saying we are unable to express or know the anger of African Americans.

paragraph. It is a myth that only Blacks have suffered in this nation or have suffered more than any other peoples in this nation.

I can think of a few dozen ways off the bat how a White person can know red-hot rage at injustice and suffer just such injustice in this nation. It happens every day and it happens to all races, Whites, Browns, Blacks, and so on.

Blacks have neither a lock nor a monopoly on pain or in suffering injustices. Many of them, in fact, will tell you just that. DO not for an instant think that Reverend Wright's Black Liberation Theology church represents the norm of thinking or feelings among African-Americans, but they are currently getting painted with that one size fits all brush, and that's a damn shame.

It's time for the that sub-minority within the African-American community that is still preaching rage sermons to honestly face the rage within them and get some counseling or spank the inner child. Whatever it takes, but this blaming whitey for everything and this permanent victim's mentality has got to stop. It's not doing the greater Black community [which DOES NOT agree with them] any good and it is damn well harming the rest of the nation as it drags on for forever and a day.

Except for American Indians who were robbed of their land and life I don't think we can pretend that being a slave is a good thing.

This is a common assumption, but I do not understand why people believe that when someone says that a white person (or not black person) would not be able to understand the anger/suffering of African-Americans that it translates into: "No one can understand pain/suffering/anger except African-Americans." That is not what is being said.

No one is claiming a monopoly on pain in this country. But there is a specific experience that is unique to African-Americans. How any intelligent or rational person can deny that is beyond me. There is a certain anger and resent that comes from being lynched, burned alive, beaten, having your family sold, being sold, stopped from eating in restaurants or shopping in stores, being forced to sit in the back of the bus, being turn down for a job, being given a higher interest rate on a loan, having laws that disporportionately put your race behind bars, being forced to segregate into the worst areas of the country, lacking opportunity to a decent education, etc all based on your skin color, that sorta leaves a bad taste in a person's mouth. It really is no wonder that so many people, most especially from Wright's generation, are so angry, bitter, and depressed. Why is it that people can not at least try to understand or empathize rather than condemn?

claim that slavery was a good thing and only someone utterly stupid would make that judgment over what I was writing.

think that no one has ever considered any of those issues. You want to know why race discussions are at a standstill in this nation? It's because pinheads like you and the fluff brain that crafted that top post shut down any and all efforts at discussion by endlessly repeating ad nausium what everyone in this nation knows perfectly well as if that puts a cap on further discussion or intellectualism.

The only reply to well meaning morons such as yourself is, enjoy your insulated little fantasy world. Now go play with yourselves.

Gatewood, are you responding to me? I see that your first line of attack is ad hom, have fun with that. It still appears you missed the point. You believe that someone is monopolizing pain and do not understand the difference between saying one can not understand an experience unique to a particular person and one claiming that only they have suffered. Do I need to give you another analogy to help you understand? The only moron here is you.

I am white and can honestly say that I can never know or understand the sufferings of African-Americans in this country but I do emphathize with their pain. And, I also think that we need to look at all the progress we have made in lifting up those who were treated so unjustly. I was all for entitlements because that is justice. Obviously we have a long way to go but we will get there. Rev. Wright puts us all back in the 60s and victimizes his own people. Black Liberation Theory, from what I've been reading, is Marxism. He and Obama are hurting and dividing. They better go back and refresh their memories about Martin Luther King and what he taught because they are taking African-Americans and dividing them and our whole country. These message boards prove that.

if you cannot understand how you reply was worthy of condemnation then you are not only a moron, but hopeless with it too.

equal rights AND Affirmative Action all my life and still am. Like you, however, I am also capable of independent thought, and these knee-jerk ultra-liberals have just plain gotten on my nerves of late with their insistence that anyone not endorsing Obama for president MUST be a racist.

If I'm the moron Gatewood, then why don't you break it down for me and explain how what I said was worthy of condemnation. It still appears to me that you really can not tell the difference between someone claiming that only they have suffered vs. someone that says, you can not understand my specific pain. Are you claiming there is no difference? Can Obama as a black man claim to understand Hillary's suffering as a woman? I would think not. Can Hillary, as a woman, claim to understand the suffering of a gay man? I would think not. Do you get it yet?

I think you are incapable of having an actual discussion and would rather resort to personal insults. This implies that you have no leg to stand on. Have fun falling.

no, and you do not care either, BECAUSE I am not Black, and that's the point really. It's all skewed in one direction. There is no discussion allowed that does not BEGIN with presuposing that all Black laments and complaints supercede any other's in legitimacy and potency.

End of discussion, and then people like you wonder why there is an increasing tide of hostility in this nation from Whites and even from White liberals who have had a belly full of this garbage?

Now I write this out of mere courtesy but you being who and what you are as a knee jerk non-thinker are going to immediately twist everything around to justify your original observations and conclusion because you CANNOT, you CANNOT question the validity of your own prejudices.

Wow, you seem quite psychotic. What are you so bitter and defensive about? And where on earth are you getting these ideas? Again, I will repeat, since you have yet to refute this, you some how believe that when a person says that you can not understand their specific pain, they are attempting to monopolize pain in general. I only said that this was not true, and went on to say that if someone pauses for a moment to consider that SPECIFIC experience, perhaps they could have empathy or understanding for why a person is angry, bitter, and full of resentment. How you managed to change this into whatever the hell you are trying to discuss is beyond me. But I'll bite.

NO ONE SAID that any one person's pain supersedes another. In fact, that's EXACTLY what I tried to explain to you but you absolutely refuse to listen. You obviously have your own issues and bias which prevents you from doing this. But, what's absolutely hiliarious is that you become a hypocrite as a result.

Also, quit it with the assumptions since you do not even know who I am. I actually don't wonder at all why there is an "increasing tide of hostily" from the white community. In fact, I applauded Obama for pointing this out since it is very often forgotten, unknown, or dismissed in the black community. So, sorry to disappoint you in not being the person you wish I was so you can rage all day and feel good about it. The true reason there can be no real discussion is because idiots like you, instead of articulating your issues and trying to be civil, you immediately go for personal attacks. Again, I wish you luck with that. It's obvious that you are a very miserable person. Seek therapy.

Oh and that last paragraph is excellent. It's a cute little way of avoiding a real discussion by claiming I have turned the tables to support my conclusion, when, oddly, you never refuted it in the first place. You have no idea what it means to monopolize...wait, perhaps you don't know the definition of the word. Is that the problem?

Toodles.

that you have a case of hysterical blindness in regards to them tells me all I want to know about you. I've run into your type a million times on this board. You are a pathetic group-think joiner and no one and nothing can shake your tired little thought patterns from their worn grove. Our 'conversation' just amply demonstrated that.

I won't reply again in this thread, because anyone capable of reading my posts and still not grasping my points is not capable of carrying on intelligent discourse, period. Bye!

Yes, please run away with your tail between your legs dear. You never made a point and you still can not counter what I said in the slightest. The sum of your argument is this "If you can't understand what I'm saying, well you are just stupid and I can not be bothered to explain." Which is a nice cop out for a pathetically weak argument. Again, you resort to insults like a child, there is no way you would be able to have an intelligent discourse.

So, you know my type? Muahahaha, you don't even know who I am. And this gem "...the fact that you have a case of hysterical blindness in regards to them..." Them? It seems we have a closet racist on our hands. The funny thing is, I would make the same exact case for ANYONE. In fact the logic of my argument applied to all races you freaking moron. If you had even the slightest ability to comprehend what you read you would know this. Duh!