Response to Tim Wise's post on 360 blog

I have had enough of Dr. Wright. Let me explain. I believe that everything that he has said is ABSOLUTELY true. Walk in the shoes of any black man in America today and you will feel the sting of racism all over your body. It is no mistake that there is a rise in sensationalism over the words spoken by Dr. Wright right when Obama is gaining momentum in what will be an historic event in American history. At the same time, New Yorkers are up in arms over the unjust murder of yet another Black man, shot 51 times by the police. I feel a bit of Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man coming out here. You see, these events are all connected to America's refusal to face the insidiousness of the racial divide. In the midst of the struggle to validate the seemingly invisible body of Black American men, Barack Obama is made to denounce (angrily) his (angry) pastor of 20 years. He is made to denounce all things "too black" about him in order to obtain the vote of Americans. i.e. He needs to lie in order to win. If he has to deny the very thing that has shaped his life, what is it worth? This entire situation has been so painful for me to watch. Obama wants to bring about change but how can he successfully do so when America is blind to change, to justice, and to her own faults? America is not a spotless lamb. America has issues just like any other country and it is time that we face those issues, publicly, and seek ways of reconciliation. Until the philosophy that holds one race superior and another inferior is finally and permanently discredited and abandoned, That until there are no longer first class and second class citizens of any nation until the colour of a man's skin is of no more significance than the colour of his eyes(Haile Selassie), then we will have division, separation, and the whole "YES WE CAN" will never make sense to people in America. It is time to wake up and smell the coffee--dark coffee, that is--our dark past is haunting us and history certainly repeats itself in so many ways. A black man is running for office and has to denounce AND reject everything black about him...There is something absolutely wrong with this picture. Thank you, Tim Wise and others for weighing in, honestly, on this subject. Let's face it, racism exists and it's not going anywhere until we all become honest with ourselves and each other.