St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church

Obama’s recent speech was a brilliant piece of rhetoric and oratory. It was composed, not in the period of one or two weeks, but over many years of gestating the varied perspectives he’s witnessed and experienced.

Obama’s detractors will never be satisfied. They will continue to ask why he didn’t abandon Wright earlier. But Obama demonstrated that he is not easily buffeted by political winds the way Clinton was and the political climate demands. He does not abandon his friends. Obama learned Peter’s mistake.

Sadly, the Supreme court has undermined the sincere attempt to mitigate racism in the country through mandated desgregation. The logic for desegregation is simple, and based on a few sociological facts we know.

We know that people tend to prefer to live with individuals who look and think like them. They hire individuals they know; they generally marry within their tribe. Although this isn't universal, it represents a fairly common pattern. I don't begrudge this. It is just the way it is, and in a democracy, this can be dangerous. We know there is a better way to do things.

Recently, New York chose to ban the "n" word. In my world, the word isn't used. Instead, there are subtle nuances, oblique references to "our kind of people" or "urban" to convey identity. The word in question conveys gross bigotry in some, or refers to "uberblackness" by others, where both the metaphor conveyed by the word "black" and physical identity are made identical, heightened with a negative understanding of ghetto culture.