Black On Black Crime

No doubt we're all thinking the same thing. Why is Rev. Wright undermining, even destroying Barack Obama's candidacy? Above all, out of pride, I'm thinking, out of some gross negligence of spirit, out of a childish ill will, out of the dark habit of rage perhaps. Maybe, it's as simple as that.

but is it racist to suggest that this is a pattern among African Americans? Look at black on black crime in American ghettos. Or is this a phenomenon of the poor? And yet what other ethnic groups so intent upon denying their own? And Wright is not poor. To hear Vaughn Williams talking today on the Sean Hannity show, and you might wonder why Williams would be on such a show, but there he was talking about how Wright was torpedoing Obama's campaign and how there was something sinister in it all.

It's a mystery for pundits. And as you explore it you can make a perfectly good argument that maybe America in general has this strain of self-destruction, that transcends Rev. Wright and black on black crime. After all, what is George Bush if not proof of American on American crime, if not a proof that twice Americans would vote for someone so unlike them in many ways and yet a projection of all of America's worst personal traits. And who would so unwittingly destroy his own country....

In the end, you could say that this election is a test of America's soul. Are we able, are we willing, to see through the smoke and mirrors of our own fear and brittleness and get this man, with all his faults, to the office? Have we got it in us to give this man his dream, his potential, the parts of him that represent the best of us all? Are we willing and what will make us willing? What exactly is the courage required here?