Posted by BRIGGS:

Posted by TheGame:

Obama handled the situation well and made some good responding comments. I was listening to National Public Radio today and they talked about Wright and had someone saying that his rhetoric is really not as bad as the media makes it sound. The guy talking, who was a prominent white preacher, said that he has no doubt that Wright loves American (he knew Wright and considered him a friend) as does Obama, and simply because he is critical of America, as most black preachers are or can be, does not make him any less American. He noted that white preachers don't preach the same way because basically, white America has not suffered through slavery and the other oppression that Black America has experienced.

That's the whole gig. I did not go through the holocaust--my grandfather did--but he is also gone. Most African Americans living today have NOT or WILL never be involved in slavery. Things have changed so much that White Americans are voting in mass for an African American president. Saying that Hillary Clinton has never been called the N word is a disgrace. She's been dragged through the mud by her own husband--I don't think it's right to compare or disparage her that way and I would bet a lot of Americans in any race were very disappointed to hear that. Is there pure harmony? No Have things improved 1000% in 50 years--YES--and hopefully the next 50 years continues on the same path. But words like that don't help anyone.

Posted by bitty41:

Posted by BRIGGS:

Posted by TheGame:

Obama handled the situation well and made some good responding comments. I was listening to National Public Radio today and they talked about Wright and had someone saying that his rhetoric is really not as bad as the media makes it sound. The guy talking, who was a prominent white preacher, said that he has no doubt that Wright loves American (he knew Wright and considered him a friend) as does Obama, and simply because he is critical of America, as most black preachers are or can be, does not make him any less American. He noted that white preachers don't preach the same way because basically, white America has not suffered through slavery and the other oppression that Black America has experienced.

That's the whole gig. I did not go through the holocaust--my grandfather did--but he is also gone. Most African Americans living today have NOT or WILL never be involved in slavery. Things have changed so much that White Americans are voting in mass for an African American president. Saying that Hillary Clinton has never been called the N word is a disgrace. She's been dragged through the mud by her own husband--I don't think it's right to compare or disparage her that way and I would bet a lot of Americans in any race were very disappointed to hear that. Is there pure harmony? No Have things improved 1000% in 50 years--YES--and hopefully the next 50 years continues on the same path. But words like that don't help anyone.

I think you are extremely out of touch. Our history, all of our histories whether you are white, black, jewish, Asians, latino etc will be apart of us until the end of time. I am curious as to how you came to the conclusion that "things" have improved 1000% in 50 years. You do realize that slavery doesn't just come in the form of chains and whips.

Posted by Killa4luv:

All I have to say is that Obama said some things i have been trying for a very long time get across on this very board. No one is trying to hold white people of today, accountable for the actions of their ancestors. BUT, we do want to hold people accountable to understand. Thats it. Americans need to understand HOW and WHY the black community is what it is today. WHY certain problems exist, and how they came to be. You should know these things before you open your mouth and say something foolish and most likely racist simply because you have no historical context. This is what Obama says:

“The past isn’t dead and buried. In fact, it isn’t even past.” We do not need to recite here the history
of racial injustice in this country. But we do need to remind ourselves that so many of the disparities that exist in
the African-American community today can be directly traced to inequalities passed on from an earlier generation that
suffered under the brutal legacy of slavery and Jim Crow.

Segregated schools were, and are, inferior schools; we still haven’t fixed them, fifty years after Brown v. Board of
Education, and the inferior education they provided, then and now, helps explain the pervasive achievement gap between
today’s black and white students.

Legalized discrimination - where blacks were prevented, often through violence, from owning property, or loans were
not granted to African-American business owners, or black homeowners could not access FHA mortgages, or blacks were
excluded from unions, or the police force, or fire departments – meant that black families could not amass any
meaningful wealth to bequeath to future generations. That history helps explain the wealth and income gap between
black and white, and the concentrated pockets of poverty that persists in so many of today’s urban and rural communities.

A lack of economic opportunity among black men, and the shame and frustration that came from not being able to provide
for one’s family, contributed to the erosion of black families – a problem that welfare policies for many years may have
worsened. And the lack of basic services in so many urban black neighborhoods – parks for kids to play in, police walking
the beat, regular garbage pick-up and building code enforcement – all helped create a cycle of violence, blight and neglect
that continue to haunt us.

Knowing these things, and viewing the community in this light, would change alot about how the public discourse is carried
out about the black community, and other communities/issues as well. This stuff is particularly important for immigrants,
to understand, because they have limited knowledge of what went on in this country before they
got here. Viewing things in this context inspires you to want to help change things. Viewing them in the popular racist context
just blames people and has you angry with them. The people who are trapped in these cycles need help. They didn't end up there
by their actions alone, and they wont escape by their actions alone either.

Posted by Killa4luv:

All I have to say is that Obama said some things i have been trying for a very long time get across on this very board. No one is trying to hold white people of today, accountable for the actions of their ancestors. BUT, we do want to hold people accountable to understand. Thats it. Americans need to understand HOW and WHY the black community is what it is today. WHY certain problems exist, and how they came to be. You should know these things before you open your mouth and say something foolish and most likely racist simply because you have no historical context. This is what Obama says:

“The past isn’t dead and buried. In fact, it isn’t even past.” We do not need to recite here the history
of racial injustice in this country. But we do need to remind ourselves that so many of the disparities that exist in
the African-American community today can be directly traced to inequalities passed on from an earlier generation that
suffered under the brutal legacy of slavery and Jim Crow.

Segregated schools were, and are, inferior schools; we still haven’t fixed them, fifty years after Brown v. Board of
Education, and the inferior education they provided, then and now, helps explain the pervasive achievement gap between
today’s black and white students.

Legalized discrimination - where blacks were prevented, often through violence, from owning property, or loans were
not granted to African-American business owners, or black homeowners could not access FHA mortgages, or blacks were
excluded from unions, or the police force, or fire departments – meant that black families could not amass any
meaningful wealth to bequeath to future generations. That history helps explain the wealth and income gap between
black and white, and the concentrated pockets of poverty that persists in so many of today’s urban and rural communities.

A lack of economic opportunity among black men, and the shame and frustration that came from not being able to provide
for one’s family, contributed to the erosion of black families – a problem that welfare policies for many years may have
worsened. And the lack of basic services in so many urban black neighborhoods – parks for kids to play in, police walking
the beat, regular garbage pick-up and building code enforcement – all helped create a cycle of violence, blight and neglect
that continue to haunt us.

Knowing these things, and viewing the community in this light, would change alot about how the public discourse is carried
out about the black community, and other communities/issues as well. This stuff is particularly important for immigrants,
to understand, because they have limited knowledge of what went on in this country before they
got here. Viewing things in this context inspires you to want to help change things. Viewing them in the popular racist context
just blames people and has you angry with them. The people who are trapped in these cycles need help. They didn't end up there
by their actions alone, and they wont escape by their actions alone either.