And I agree with you that the speech was motivated by damage control. But I think it’s great that he used a bad situation as an opportunity to do something larger. I think that’s an excellent leadership skill. If Obama was going to begin and end at damage control, then he wouldn’t have made that speech, because the speech, obviously, was not very safe.

What, exactly am I responsible for?

What I believe I am responsible for is is making the effort to see past what was, make a conscience effort to not fall into the traps of the past and move on. This is not denial of what happened but a recognition that it happened, it was not right, the past cannot be changed and the future can be what I want it to be – a more tolerant and understanding society.

That said, and the more I think about it, I don’t think Obama’s speech was driven by a attempt to deal with racism but an attempt to do some damage control. The consequences to all may be more beneficial, but I think his primary concern was political.

Bill: Indira Gandhi was the daughter of Nehru, a PM of India, so her assent to the top of Indian politics was due to her family associations. In fact, the leadership of the Congress Party in India is driven by blood relationship more than anything else. That doesn’t take away from her abilities as a leader, but it should be noted that she was not exactly self-made.

But this “devil” isnt giving his vote to Obama. A few states on the far east and west may be blue, but Obama will realize quickly that the majority of the country is Red and the majority of the people in those states are the “devil”.

bill if you want to feel better about yourself, understand that it’s not personal. you might be the best white guy in the world, it doesn’t make any difference. the repercussions of racism reverberate throughout everything we do.

“Wright is not the only black person in America suggesting that there is systematic political oppression of poor black people by whites”

makes you two jump to the defensive position.

Just to be clear: I have been called a “cracker bitch” by more 10-year olds in the NYC schools than I can count. I am not saying that black people are good and white people are bad.

What I am saying is that Obama’s speech eloquently expressed the mutuality and the intractability of the problem of racism. You two are implicated. I am implicated. Wright and Obama are implicated. We all live surrounded by this extra gravity. I think he captured *that*.

You two are definitely proving that this is easily misunderstood and turned into a blame game, and that there are a lot of people who would rather see themselves as completely innocent and other people as completely guilty. I think that instead we are all responsible and all blameless at the same time.

I didn’t oppress anyone. In fact, I have been the victim of racism directed toward me as a white person in a black environment on many occasions. I also don’t know any black people who have actually been enslaved by anyone.

But I exist in a culture with a gulf between two kinds of people. And so I must care about why this gulf exists and I must personally work to minimize it.

And this takes as much self-control and strength of character as it must take your “average black person” (whatever that means) to ignore injustices (perceived and real) and resolutely resist blaming Whitey, as you two are (rightly) demanding.

I am merely saying that *everyone* has to tap into the strongest self they can be and rise above this–not just black people.

That’s what I thought the Obama speech was about.

I’m a 32 year old white guy born in Brooklyn, now living in clinton hill. Ive got an MBA, work a 9-5 job as well as run a small business in my free time.

Who the hell have I oppressed ?