So, all of the polls now indicate that Sen. Obama's lead is shrinking and perhaps even disappearing after the revelations that the pastor of his church in Chicago vented his anger with rhetoric that many white (though no black) people may consider anti-American.
Give me a break. Have any of those taking this preacher's words literally ever attended a black church?
Let me tell you a story. Forty years ago, I visited the Clayborne Temple in Memphis, Tennessee. I heard some similar rhetoric, anger against America, launched by various preachers. They were organizing the last protest march Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., would ever lead, before he was assassinated by a white racist.
Racism is and always has been the ugliest thing about this country.
Preachers like Obama's play a useful service by blowing off the steam that still seethes within the black communities, but they never, ever incite any kind of violence with their words.
Why? Because their sermons are all about helping people to cope.
The main civil rights movement has always been about peaceful non-violence. Words matter, but actions matter more.
I continue to support Sen Obama as the best candidate to lead my country going forward. I hope the current racist blowback he is experiencing will dissipate, but that can only happen if those white people still defensive about these issues think deeply.
Do they really want to revert to a time when prejudice ruled and ignorance prevailed?
I hope not. Now, finally, is the time to let go of our collective racist past and embrace the potential of a multi-racial future, where little black kids and little Latino kids and little white kids and little Asian kids and all other races might join together and celebrate the spirit of Dr. King with the words of that old Negro spiritual:
"Free at last. Free at last. Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"
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