Acting White: CNN Black In America

Over the past few weeks I have gotten plenty of calls from friends and family beckoning me to watch CNN’s Black in America, presented by Soledad O’Brien. I have perused the series web site many times and watched portions of the shows. The show has value, especially to blacks who suffer the main stream media’s (MSM) penchant for ignoring them or showing them almost exclusively at their entertaining worse,
ala’ BET.

So why haven’t I jumped on the bandwagon of this show? Last week I saw Harvard economist, Roland Fryer, talking about paying black kids in NYC for good grades. Nothing new. I have blogged about this and that I think he is a very smart, frustrated, and desperate man flailing his arms in the wind. Last night I listened to the plight of Black women lacking eligible suitors. Again, nothing new. I hear of drop-out rates, HIV/AIDS, crime, drug-abuse. All bad – nothing new. I see interracial couples, no nirvana, still not new.

What I do not hear are solutions, beyond talk that black people really need to get it together and the rest of America needs to help them. But how would a real solution look, if it were to walk in the door? Would anybody recognize it? What would it purport to do to make a real difference in 40 million lives?

Well first off, any solution has to recognize and offset the gap in intelligence between blacks and non-blacks. This subject must be un-tabooed. The universal one standard deviation difference in intelligence makes blacks non-competitive with their socio-economic counterparts of other races, and all that follows this disparity. The way to challenge intelligence difference is with skill-building through more education. Better education is good, but more of it is the only way to beat your competition from a point of deficit. Blacks need more and different schooling than non-blacks, to ever catch up. This is true at every level.

Second, blacks display a gap in work ethic where they labor for themselves the same way their ancestors worked for the white man, poorly. Hustle to a great number of blacks does not mean moving faster, but rather gaming the system to get more for less. Of course this self-investment strategy works against skill building, and competitiveness.

Lastly, it is human nature to value that which is earned and to devalue gifts, no matter the spirit of the giver or recipient. The energy invested in getting someone to give you anything of value, is wasted. Wrestling away what is rightfully yours is another thing. Equal opportunity must be truly equal and not rigged. That which is not given to blacks will be won, and fully appreciated to deliver much more.

This is some of what I would talk about.

James C. Collier

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Acting White: Hey New Yorker! Nevermind

I got all hot under the collar behind the New Yorker cover, like a lot of America, but now I realize that we got punk'd. No, it wasn't by the NY'r, but rather by the taboos of race, religion, et al. In short, Obama and his supporters risk the (Tom)'Bradley Effect', where supportive whites fail to follow-through with voting across racial lines, because concerns are kept locked away in the taboo closet and not confronted. Satire is one of the ways those concerns come out. Thanks to the New Yorker for braking ranks and 'keeping it real' instead of giving Obama a satirical pass. That cover introduced subjects that if avoided will doom him for sure in the privacy of the voting booth. So I say to all the people, including me, afraid to have the out-in-the-open serious conversation lurking in the humor of a turbin-wearing, fist-bumpin', no-flag-pin-wearing, tough-black-woman-loving, big-eared, fitty-per'cent-skinny-ass-brainiac-black-man - get over and on with it. And finally, blinking at the race-card ain't gonna put anybody atop of the free world - nor should it!

James C. Collier

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Acting White: New Yorker Magazine Falls Into Gutter

If the editors of the New Yorker really think that Barack Obama is some sort of threat because of a religion that he has never claimed, or that Michele Obama is a terrorist, because, like John McCain she dares to speak of her personal patriotic awakenings, then so be it - the First and Fourteenth Amendments gives them the right.

On the other hand, if they think that this is just harmless satire, then they need to pull their heads out of their NY asses. Good satire requires that the audience get it as such. A poll by worldnetdaily.com had over 60% of the respondents agreeing with the the authenticity of the depiction in the satire, and that is not funny. Not one bit.

I don't care if the editors are Democrats or Republicans (if you turn off the sound and just watch the behavior, I can hardly tell the difference). The cover smacks of fancy playing of the race card (from the bottom of the deck), and that is not cool whatever your color. The New Yorker needs get out of the race sewer, or stop pretending to write words for intelligent people.

James C. Collier

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Acting White: Rev. Jesse Steps In It, Again!

I can’t believe Obama’s good fortune. Every time the good Reverend Jackson makes a below-the-belt attack, Barack’s stock goes up with Americans of all ethnicities, but especially white voters. Jackson’s a spoiler and he is equally good at it even when the result is the opposite of his intention.

The Reverend still has not figured out that the world is on to his racial gamesmanship. And no one from the Obama camp is going to spill the beans to him either. He is the opposite of the canary in the coal mine. When Jesse says someone or something is bad, we all think we better take a second look for the good.

The most recent comment about the cutting off of Obama’s reproductive apparati was gruesome, especially for a man of the alleged cloth, but then again Jesse does not discriminate, he wants money and attention from wherever. The good Lord can attest to JJ’s commitment to by-any-means-necessary.

Looking further, it’s a funny thing about politics. We want our leaders to be responsive and reflective, but not to waffle. We want them to tell us the truth, but not to preach. We don’t want to be talked down to, while we wallow in the muck, and yell for help from above. And the waffling accusation only pertains to the other candidate, not our own (of course).

James C. Collier

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Acting White: National Anthem Kidnapped, But Found Safe.

Officials in Denver learned a valuable lesson for anyone putting on a public event, know where the power switch is, and be ready to turn it off in an emergency. Denver singer Rene Marie created such an emergency at the Mayor’s state-of-the-city address the other day, when she changed the lyrics to the national anthem she had been invited to sing.

As disrespectful and attention-grabbing was her stunt, I am amazed that officials present, including Denver’s current mayor, stood there with their mouths open and DID NOTHING! How about interrupting her? Had she exposed her breasts would they also not have known what to do?

This is not about Marie being black, or what she sang in place of our anthem. She is a selfish bozo who deserves to start her singing career at the beginning, where artists establish the trust of their sponsors and audience. She speaks poorly for no one but herself. She revealed no secret feelings of blacks towards this country. Anyone who pays this woman to sing deserves red ink and the unemployment line, right behind her.

And I am not worried about the anthem. It's lasted this long. For those who want to blow this into a race issue – forget about it. Sometimes people just do stupid things. Rene Marie is just stupid.

James C. Collier

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Acting White: DOG The Bounty Hunter is back!

How surprised I was to see a rerun of DOG, while channel surfing past A&E last night. Recall that his son sold his N-word laced phone conversation to a tabloid, thereby getting Dad and Family fired last year from the popular series. Well all is forgiven at A&E and the DOG is more or less back chasing down bail-jumpers.

As a sidebar, I’m not sure if partner Tim ‘not-a-real-relative’ Chapman will be back, since he was busted for terrorist behavior and indecent exposure during the hiatus. It seems Tim was trying a less acceptable outlet for the build-up of testosterone he normally reserved for the bad guys. I think they should have an episode where Tim jumps bail and DOG tracks his ass down, YEAH!

Anyway, I think DOG deserves another chance to act stupid while entertaining the world. That’s America. All my new NASCAR buds should not be deprived of one of their favorite shows forever. Its not like he said somebody famous and black should get lynched – like that golf lady. He did his time, said he is sorry, so let him back in the house already.

Now I ain’t saying that I want to go fishin’ with DOG, or anything like that, but black folks shouldn’t be treating the N-word like somebody just drove through a school yard of children either. If he messes up again, revoke his ass, but in the mean time I'm willing to look at his transgression in the greater scheme of things.

James C. Collier

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Acting White: Oh! Oh! Accuse Me! Please!

My first thought was that good ole' Ralph Nader was just re-tracing Rev. Jesse’s footsteps, for a little press and a dash of relevancy. No big deal, its just politics, and money of course. Then I thought about it. Hey, he just did Obama a big favor, accusing him of acting white.

Let’s think about this. McCain and his RNC crew are over there trying to figure out how to paint Barack as black as midnight, so as to pull in white folks in traditional ‘he-ain’t-one-of-us’ fashion. Hillary certainly did it. If anyone having credibility with any part of white America accuses Obama of acting white, it’s a good thing. The accusation, regardless of its stupidity, works against McCain’s strategy. Thanks Ralph.

There is also the added benefit that it pisses off the black electorate, and just might deliver more Obama votes come November from that group. It’s a win-win from where I sit, for Obama. Now the best of all worlds would be if McCain, during one of his senior moments, was to accuse Barack of pretending to be white, we could just call the election right then and there. But this probably won’t happen.

So the best for the Obama camp is help from people like Nader and others who ‘keep race alive’, and balance out the ‘acting-all-black-while-being-half-white’ strategy that is McCain's best hope for knocking whites off the Obama train.

Funny thing, race politics.

James C. Collier

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Acting White: Me, NASCAR and 60,000 Good Ole Boys & Girls

Yesterday, my teenage daughter, son, and I were treated to our first NASCAR auto race, at Infineon Raceway. NASCAR is the acronym for National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing and is very popular with working-class Whites, especially in the southern states. So I guess this makes us black rednecks, or at least the r-word is what comes to people’s mouths when I say how I spent my Sunday.

Our host, surrogate Uncle Marc, is a good friend and lawyer who happens to be a Hummer-driving Asian-American, and an auto-racing, hunting, photography buff, and a closet do-gooder(my term). A bundle of uniqueness. His carbon footprint is definite, but his H2 knows an off-road butt-whupping or two; he only kills what he will eat; he digitizes the rest. All of this I can respect.

One friend commented wryly that I was really ‘acting white’. I took this to mean that my weekend crowd was suspect, but I reserve to differ. My son loves cars and racing, so until otherwise proven, these ARE his people. I fell out of my chair when my daughter, unprovoked, asked Uncle Marc if he could teach her how to ‘shoot’. This stuff is contagious! I guess I'm just the guy who teaches her Algebra, and lays awake at night.

My children may ultimately reject these new interests, but it will be of their own choosing, not mine. NASCAR may or may not make my son feel welcomed, but regardless, I will be there, with the aid of friends like Uncle Marc, to present him with a another door to explore. Regarding guns, my daughter will be eighteen next year, old enough fire a gun in war, like it or not she needs to know their safety, if but for avoidance. A helluva' weekend.

Elvis, a southern icon often accused of acting black, has left the building.

James C. Collier

P.S. Great Geico Nascar Commercial!

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Acting White: Angry Blogger, Sider Bar #7

The nightmare continues. Two teens (black) in Minneapolis kill a mother and her son (black), stabbing her over 100 times and bashing her boy’s head with a television. This woman clearly had no idea what she was doing when she let these boys, acquainted with her older son, into her home. Who could comprehend this outcome? Sadly, the fear of blacks youths will only grow from such a horrendous act, and who can deny this logic.

In the last few days I have been criticized for using the word ‘animal’ and ‘savage’ to describe people in this country, and other parts of the world, who kill and injure with pathologies that reach far back into time before the moral leaps of the last century. Black people need to take these words off the ‘banned’ list, because this denial is making the problem worse.

A concerted response is demanded. Everything we are doing, to raise kids who do these things, is wrong. Everything. How they are parented, schooled, disciplined, loved – everything. We need an intervention and the first thing we must do is stop lying to ourselves that the fault lies with others. The Black community must take responsibility for this behavior.

I suggest one long time out. No more BET, parties, singing, dancing, or drinking. No drugs, no fast food, and no sex. No football, basketball, track, or hangin. No dressing up at church. No SUV’s, no 21” rims, no gansta’ anything. And no cell phones. And then use the time figure ourselves out. This is most serious.

James C. Collier

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Acting White: Angry Blogger, Side Bar #6

I’m a bit angry this Father's Day. I spent real time over the last two days jousting with my white brethren over at Mangan’s Miscellany. The blogger, Dennis Mangan, is a grumpy white guy frustrated with the impact blacks are having on the quality of his living. After getting to know the man, I count Dennis as a friend worthy of the effort to see through his frustration to what he is about - separate from many of his followers.

The other day he wrote a blog about the Philly platform murder of a white man by black youths entitled, “Open Season on Whites?”. I commented that the fear whites have today of blacks is similar to the fear blacks had of whites in the past. He and his readers took this as excusing the behavior, which it was not. Anyway that is not my point - go to the site if you want to see the flood gate I opened and my stand.

However, what pisses me off is to hear today about four “negroes” in Philly who robbed, assaulted and raped a white woman in her home, netting $600 in the gruesome process. I’m with Dennis and the Field Negro on this – where do I buy a chance to pull the switch on these animals? The nuance of my words don’t mean shit when you think about that poor man and woman in Philly.

James C. Collier

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Acting White: I Hate The Word Savages, Nevertheless...

I have a visceral response to the word ‘savage’. I have seen it used by whites to describe blacks and their behavior, as if whites have never committed anything of the sort that could ever measure up. What we know is that there are no new atrocities invented by trailing societies. The leading edge of inhumanity has always come from those with technology, be it guns, germs, or steel, to borrow a phrase.

So when someone uses the term I immediately go into laser-lock mode, but not today. Tanzanians and Kenyans are hunting, killing and dismembering their own people, whose only prior misfortune was to be born an albino. Life is already difficult to be missing protective melanin in the most sun-baked place on the globe, but now they must worry about their countrymen killing them for the ‘magical powers’ of their body parts. So I will say it – savages. Not black savages, not African savages, just plain savages.

All are vulnerable, especially albino children. Savages (I will not call them men) come in the night with sharp blades to harvest these poor souls, so that witch doctors can make potions that will bring alleged good fortune to their clients. Unbelievable! Believe it! If only humanity could be ashamed of itself to a proper level, but evolution does not work this way.

Whether our ancestors, black or white, killed for these savage reasons 500 years ago, or 5 days ago, the issue is not who is capable of such atrocities, but rather what we can do to stop it, immediately!

James C. Collier

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Acting White: Obama, The Candidate

The challenge of making assimilation of advancing behaviors a legitimate goal in Black minds cannot be understated. This legitimacy is needed from the earliest age, even before babies say their first word or take their first step. It addresses the paradox that is alive and well in the Black community – the quest to be individual ‘first’, while the group hangs on to behaviors that keep too many near last.

Nowhere is the legitimacy of Black opportunity questioned more than in the ability of the country to elect Black leadership, particularly a head of state. Until this happens there will always be the lingering question of whether it is a forbidden position. If the ultimate dream for a little White boy or girl is the presidency, is it also a bona fide dream for little black boys and girls? Barack Obama’s success as a candidate squarely proposes that America is ready to express the full confidence and reward for ability and hard work, regardless of race. Blacks can no longer claim de facto second class citizenship, and Whites are no longer automatically guilty of hiding a superiority agenda.

Throughout his campaigning there were questions from all sides on whether Obama was Black enough, or too Black for consideration. Many people rightfully challenged the questions themselves, but like it or not, they represent the state of thinking. Race does matter in America, but does it matter enough to elect reduced leadership, with the consequences this brings to our lives? In the end, after all of the politically correct and incorrect airings, Obama showed that he is indeed a Black man of mixed heritage, but not one whose ‘baggage’ precludes representing everyone enthusiastically. It may be that because he was born of two ancestries, one black, one white, he reached a harmony of the two that aides his leadership ability, and just maybe the country's too.

James C. Collier

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Acting White: Nothing But Nets Prophylactically speaking …

After five years, I just removed my yellow LiveStrong wrist band - the one that started it all. I wore it because I'm a cyclist and my sister had breast cancer. Long after it became a tired cliché for doing good and 'being cool', it was a still the simple statement that I wanted my sister to live. She inspired me to raise other monies to fight breast cancer and to ignore the rainbow of imitation bans that followed.

My sis is a cancer survivor now and it is great to hear her rail about how we ignore Vitamin D while the cancer 'industry' is raising boatloads of money to try to cure something that is better prevented. Every solution must start somewhere and for me it was partly that faddish, stupid, overblown, piece of yellow rubber around my wrist.

When I first saw the Nothing But Nets promo I thought, oh brother, not another catchy campaign to save the world for a few bucks! But that is just what it is, a simple swat at malaria, which kills a million children in Africa each year. The promo reminds me of one of my favorite words, prophylactic. It just means protection by way of a barrier. A Haitian auto-mechanic friend use to always joke that a 'Jim' should not forget his ‘Jimmy-hat’. He was speaking prophylactically about prophylactics. Of course I kept looking around for my baseball cap – like a dumb-ass.

The inexpensive nets are a barrier to the malaria carrying mosquitos that infect 500 million people every year. Like the buck people gave to wear yellow and fight cancer, the nets are not a cure-all, but they are on the road to a real solution. Kids are good hucksters because they can understand saving other kids like themselves, via netting that reminds them of indoor camping. We better watch out, the little buggers just might grow up to be caring adults. Wouldn’t that be payback?

James C. Collier

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Acting White: Racism and Skin Color

The xenophobic events in South Africa offer a good of example of how race and racism is a social construct and not one of real physical difference (Pres. Mbeki pictured). The killing of black immigrants by black South Africans, or the tribal killings between black Kenyans, are every bit as racist as whites killing blacks and vice-versa. The same was true when the English and Irish fought decades ago. The truth is that when we decide to kill someone because they are different looking, acting, sounding, or otherwise, we are hiding our true motives inside a bottomless trick-bag of superficial differences.

Furthermore, discussions of race issues are clouded by claims of inherent evilness, that hide true agendas. Black Americans look away from the issue of African-on-African violence with the same enthusiasm the group focuses on white misdeeds of the past instead of black dysfunction of the present. In fact, blacks and Africans have always exhibited the same behavior most deplored in whites, with the matter of degrees dictated only by available technology. However, to acknowledge this would eliminate the ability to guilt whites for simply doing what humans have always done - kill each other for self-serving reasons.

Whether you like his presidential package or not, Obama is the first candidate with an appeal to whites and blacks. Blacks were skeptical at first, because they have been conditioned by the Reverends in the us-against-them format. But by staying on message, and with help from Hillary and Bill’s race-baiting, Obama was able to scoop up the black vote to go along with disaffected whites. He has his faults, but his extension of Rodney King’s ‘can’t we all just get along’ into ‘working together’ is a hit. Unfortunately, while race issues threaten blacks, race is not the number one threat to this country’s future and this leads to questions of whether we are over emphasizing race.

We are living in a global mess, void of leadership. There is terrorism, energy politics, war, trade imbalances and deficits, immigration battles, and recurring natural disasters coming at us at every turn. But many in the world ask, smartly, how can they follow the US lead when our own 'house' is in such disarray? And this is why getting on a better racial footing is so important. Call it a precursor, or central to our future, either way it goes to credibility.

James C. Collier

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Acting White: Stereotypes and Lateness

Last week I was a guest on KDHX St. Louis. One of the hosts asked me about a popular blog site, www.stuffwhitepeoplelike.com. I like the site because the blogger talks about white stereotypes with dead-on accuracy, and humor. Now if he was black and talking about blacks, he might need a bodyguard. The truth hurts, and black truth hurts more.

The story of the blog is that real stereotypes are accurate and we should not be so afraid of them. Sure, the format sometimes gets hijacked by fakes with selfish agendas, but this trickery is obvious. Stereotypes help us quickly communicate and act. While we might not want to embrace them publicly for obvious reasons, they give us feedback that we should not ignore.

Let’s consider lateness. On the show, I made a point that black people are accurately stereotyped as late arrivers. This does not mean that other groups are never late, but blacks seem less discriminating about their lateness, and the damage is much greater than the group believes. US society is monochronic, where events happen in linear and dependent fashion. Lateness completely threatens the workings of societies like ours. If we were polychronic, like most developing nations, issues of lateness are easily placed among greater challenges, like limited infrastructure, disease, malnutrition, infant mortality, and such.

The challenge is that most black stereotypes describe trailing behavior, whereby low assimilation of accessible technology precipitates under performance. White stereotypes, at least the ones that get the most airtime, tend to describe leading behaviors, so they digest a little easier even if they are not flattering.

The next time you see/hear a stereotype, look for the grain of truth. If what others complain about in you is the same stuff you say about yourself, in private, don’t shoot the messenger, consider getting a new address.

James C. Collier

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Acting White: Angry Politician, Side Bar #5

Hillary is angry. Despite the complex arguments for her getting out/staying in the Democratic race, it is much simpler. The longer she stays in now, the more she hurts Obama, and helps Hillary. It's not about the party, it's about her.

If Obama loses to McCain, she can run in 2012, her best option. If she helps him beat McCain and he governs well, she has to wait until 2016, and try for the more difficult two-peat. If she helps Obama win, but he tanks in the job, the Republicans will sweep in, and her next chance is 2020, her worse option. So, putting her interest ahead of the party, she needs to help him lose and she needs to stay close to the voters. So on to the convention! Oh yeah, she likely won't take the VP slot even if questionably offerred, as it provides less than ideal room to undermine Obama's candidacy. I might be wrong, but not inconsistent with her reputation.

James C. Collier

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Acting White: McCain Says Out Of Iraq By 2013

This is an open call to John McCain supporters. Please help me understand how this pledge appeals to your voting sensibilities. He clearly understands something about you that I don't. This war is costing American lives and bankrupting our economy, for the arguable promise of making us safer. Meanwhile, al-Qaeda continues strong, as does mid-east terror. Are there people who really think "Yep, five more years of this, that's what I want, sign me up"? I want to hear from you, please! (I even updated my drawing of the MAC-man to prove my good faith intentions).

James C. Collier

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Acting White: The Clinton Question

Hillary Clinton does not think that America is ready for Barack Obama, a black man. Because of this, she says ‘pick me, forget the rules, just pick me – I’m white!’ She says that blacks vote for Obama because he is black, so we should plan for whites to prefer her over him, regardless.

If we believe her appeal, the only sad conclusion on race (in America) is that we are broken-down on the side of the road, in need of AAA. Add in the race-hucksters on both sides, from Sharpton to Limbaugh, and her logic gets more believable. Is the Democratic nomination really a battle between working-class whites and everybody else?

Hopefully there’s more to it. True, blacks are voting for Obama, but perhaps not only because he is black, but because he credibly summons them, like no other, to throw their lot in with whites who also feel left out of the American Dream. And perhaps the cynical working-class white Democrats that Hillary thinks will vote Republican rather than for a black Democrat are not so spitefully stuck in the past. Yes, they want Hillary, but will they stick a knife into their partisan guts to prove her point?

There’s only one way to find out – and we really need to know. Regardless, we will continue to move forward. The question is not direction, but rather how far we have come and have yet to go.

James C. Collier

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Mildred Loving: Quiet Pioneer

In 1958, Mildred Jeter just wanted to be married to the man she loved, and live in her home state of Virginia. But this wasn’t possible. She and Richard Loving, her newly-minted white husband, had to get the Supreme Court to order the state, in 1967, to let the two come home and raise their family.

Perhaps it is progress that today, 40 years after the decision, we are considering a presidential candidate by such a union. But depending on which side you are on, Senator Obama is more or less electable due to his mixed heritage. So how much progress is this really?

James C. Collier

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Acting White: Who’s Your Baby-Pastor???

Barack Obama’s ‘pastor disaster’ has me recalling the reverends I have known and how decisions to attend a particular church are inherently imperfect. First off, I have difficulty trusting pastors because I can count, on one hand, those who could come close to walking a straight path. Black, white, Catholic or Protestant, they are better at chasing skirts and money than keeping the devil away from the flock.

My favorite minister was a Japanese Presbyterian, Rev. Ichishita. He was a terrible orator, but I liked him mostly because my folks let me ditch school on some Mondays to go skiing with him, and he had no roving eye. There was a ‘white Jamaican’, Rev. Mullings who thought his light skin made him better, in my father’s opinion. My favorite priest was Father Verdieck S.J. a white, chain-smoking theologist who said I could make something of myself. I liked him, but he was exactly the kind of guy the church might send to some backward land to muscle the locals into seeing the Lord their way, or else.

Most people stick with a church, because members become family, warts and all, if only for one or two hours a week. Obama no more agrees with Wright than we agree with the people we marry, work for, vote for, associate with, or fight and die for. We ignore differences until we can no longer stand it. Everyone has their breaking point. I always wondered how non-racist whites could belong to racist country clubs. Sometimes the imperfect answer is that they just like golf - more than they care about certain racial inequality. Not pretty, but true.

For many, enduring insufferable ministers is part of the penance we choose to show God we are team players. But it is not only bad pastors, it can be bad singing, butt-aching pews, poor ventilation, misbehaving kids, dueling cheap perfumes, hypocritical doctrine or the constant haranguing for more money in the collection plate. All in exchange for the salvation of our mortal souls.

I think leaders choose churches to get leverage to lead, including when they are looking to break into politics. The bigger the church, the more votes in the bank. When people keep asking Obama why he stayed so long with Rev. ‘Wrongway’ Wright, I understand. You tune out the pulpit nonsense, you reprogram your kids on the drive home, you smile and enjoy the extended family-ness, you network those members who offer and/or want help, if just for that moment. During this time you are hopefully figuring out who you really are, because once the service is over you are back in the jungle, to eat or be eaten, walking that fine line.

People should give Barack a break - they know exactly why he stayed in Wright's church. That church helped him greatly. We all make these trade-offs every day of our lives. Some deals with the devil sink us, and should. Other's are just part of living and paint us as human. I won't go into Hillary's Bill dilemma, except to say that she would be nowhere without him. Meanwhile, the country crators. We need to move on.

James C. Collier

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