DD, It's appalling to see you writing this. Is being a partisan Democrat more important to you than your otherwise progressive agenda? Isn't Obama's extreme lurch to the right since his clinching the nomination worrying to you? Are you sure he's a candidate worth supporting anymore? Is he worth sacrificing dissent or activism for?

I echo the disappointment. It's odd that Ms. Dickerson, to favor her mainstream hero, would neglect the mainstream's disparaging reaction to now-glorified moments of resistance like that of Tommie Smith and John Carlos at the 68 Olympics. Resistance is denigrated when it hits its mark.

And I'll add that it is straight up "Obama" to prefer a postponed "much needed discussion" over a controversial cultural moment. Seems that Ms. Dickerson has internalized Obama's politics of elision. We need to be critical and outspoken rather than have Obama "speak" for all.

This just goes to show you how rampant racism is in the Black Community that Obama leads. We are not fooled by all his happy talk.

DD,
Nor was this Marian Anderson singing at the Lincoln Memorial in 1939 after the Daughters of the American Revolution prohibited her from performing at Memorial Hall in Washington. And there's the irony of Rene Marie's "personal action," as she described it. The best Marian Anderson and tens of millions of other persons with African ancestors could hope for was "separate but equal." Yet now that a man with an African father is on the verge of gaining access to the White House, Rene Marie and some others are demonstrating, ostensibly on Obama's behalf, that they wish to be "equal but separate." To the extent that Rene Marie and her ilk are influential (she downplayed her own influence), they may convince voters that Barack Obama would be an ideal President--of Black America. --JS

I understand where Ms. Dickerson is coming from on this completely. Or at least I share the view on the bottom line, whether we agree on each nuance. After all, we're different people from different backgrounds.
How I agree is in the sense that I know what a careful road Obama has to walk to gain the Presidency. If we lived in a strong economy, without an agenda from the right to stack activist judges against progressive agenda, without senseless wars and saber rattling, it might be the right time to throw away an election for the sake of making strong and altruistic points. That is not a luxury we have at present. If Obama has to tone his image by 'middling' on some points, it is likely because he knows that everything he says will be so mischaracterized by the right wing media that he needs to go 'right' for it to even look 'middle' to the average American after the media distorts it. I don't think this country can stand another Republican prick in the White House; we need to trust that Obama does have the values that were expressed in his keynote address at the Dem Convention in 2004. I believe he does. But he has to win the Presidency before he can make some change. Politics are more complicated than the idealistic believe. And an old expression that holds up well here is 'You catch more flies with honey than you do vinegar.' [How sad that no Windows update has yet to send the word 'Obama' to Spellcheck - so even over a year into this campaign one gets the red on that word.]

"Does a black person older than about 20 have a legitimate beef with the powers that be? No doubt."

I doubt! I doubt! They've been put ahead of me in line through no merit of their own in so-called "equal opportunity" (which means 'get in front of whitey') schemes, minority set-asides, a media who worships ghettoized culture and tells me my grandparents were evil because, "they were racists."

Heck, this stuff is part of the reason I'm getting out. Enjoy your handbasket ride south, Amerikwa! Have fun complaining to the 'La Razas' about "institutional racism!"

Paradoxically, America's greatest warrior for equal justice under law and an end to reverse racism is, like Barack, a man of mixed ancestry. He is Ward Connerly. And his life's mission is to drive through reverse discrimination the same stake America drove through segregation.

And when one considers that the GOP establishment has often fled Connerly's cause and campaigns, his record of achievement is remarkable.

Connerly was chief engineer of CCRI, the 1996 California Civil Rights Initiative, Proposition 209, which outlawed affirmative action based on ethnicity, race or gender in all public institutions of America's most populous state. Two years later, Connerly racked up a second victory in Washington.

In 2006, Connerly went to Michigan to overturn an affirmative action policy that kept Jennifer Gratz out of the University of Michigan, though she had superior grades and performance records than many minority students admitted. The Michigan proposition also carried and has been upheld by the courts.

One U.S. senator, however, taped an ad denouncing Connerly's Proposition 2 in Michigan and endorsed affirmative action for minorities and women. That senator was Barack Obama.

"Does a black person older than about 20 have a legitimate beef with the powers that be? No doubt."

Huh? No black over the age of 50 has any "beef" with the power structure. The Marxist/Zionist/Fascist/Corporatist/Misandrist/Anti-White Racist powers-that-be have done nothing but promote the interests of blacks for the last half century. They have been pampered and privileged for too long, that is why they feel empowered to commit these openly racist acts of hostility

I like very much the writings and pictures and explanations in your adress so I look forward to see your next writings. I congratulate you.

I like very much the writings and pictures and explanations in your adress so I look forward to see your next writings. I congratulate you.