The challenge is that everybody thinks he is an expert on "race," pundits included. Nobody knows a damn thing about "race." All we know is that "they" are different from "us." Part of the population believes that "we" are really nice, so they (the others) must be bad. Our "culture" is best, their "culture" must suck. Part of the population believes "we" are really bad, so they (the others) must be good. Our "culture" is plastic and flawed, their culture must be deep and filled with truth. The reality is much grayer. Some of us are good, some of us are bad. Some of them are good, some of them are bad. "Our" culture is neither good nor bad. Neither is "theirs." They are just different.

But what the hell, everybody is an expert on what they don't know.

There is no universal white culture--but there is an Italian-American culture, a Jewish American culture, an Upper West Side culture, a white Southern culture, an Appalachian Scots-Irish culture etc.

Then what is the Cracker Barrel restaurant and gift shop chain?

If it's pathological for a sixth grader to tease another kid for being "too white," then its equally pathological to bloviate in the Times about whether Barack Obama is "too black."

I would say moreso, assuming that the Times bloviators in particular and the punditocracy overall have advanced further than 6th grade socio-political discourse.

You say you're a liberal and a lefty but none of those that I know could have written this article...or know what you know.

"The challenge is that everybody thinks he is an expert on 'race,' pundits included. Nobody knows a damn thing about 'race.'"

I would respectfully assert that we need not dive into such relatism. Many people have studied racism. For a quick overview, check out Human Rights Watch (http://hrw.org/reports/2008/us0508/) or the ACLU blog (http://blog.aclu.org/category/racial-justice/)

My own saddness is that many of us who are white get so defensive about this issue, and lose clarity. I think this is because racism has been made into a cultural issue -- one of words -- and has not been looked at as a societal issue.

When racism is merely a cultural issue, it becomes a way we can make others wrong, or make ourselves right. We can either wag our fingers at Don Imus, or we can defend him, or both.

I think we are just scared because, the way the problem is defined, if we admit there is racism, then we as whites are "WRONG," and no human being wants to be wrong -- especially in the stupidly shaming way this idea of "wrongness" is manifested in our society.

I would like to suggest that we are all human -- not wrong. However, we do cut off a little bit of our humanity when we don't acknowledge the dehumanization that is happening in our society.

People have studied racism; they have compiled copious and well-regarded reports. African Americans do face opression in this country. Unless we want to engage in truthiness, the statistics point in no other direction.

Admitting this won't kill us, nor does it mean we have to hit our heads on a wall of shame. Admitting this, learning about it, daring to look at it will open us up to the possibility of a better society.

CNN 4:00 PM

Wolf Blitzer: Senator Obama, what role do you think 'race' will play in this campaign?

CNN 10:00 PM

Anderson Cooper: Barack Obama speaks out on 'race's role' in the campaign, will it be enough? We'll be right back with our round table
discussion.

Good post, Mr. Coates.

"...anybody who spends some time studying, and is equipped with some measure of empathy, can get it."

I agree 100%. The problem is that most Americans aren't willing to spend even ten seconds trying to imagine what it's like to be black in the USA. Just like most Americans aren't willing to imagine how they woud feel if an army from the other side of the world came down their street, killed some of their neighbors and friends, bashed down their front door, and threw them down on the floor while pointing guns at them and screaming at them in a language they don't understand.

The problem is that most Americans aren't willing to spend even ten seconds trying to imagine what it's like to be black in the USA. Just like most Americans aren't willing to imagine how they woud feel if an army from the other side of the world came down their street

Gag. Retch.

I'll bet you're still wearing the clothes your mommy picked for you.

@Coates

In some ways you remind me of Thomas Sowell. 40 years ago, when he was about your age, he, too, concluded that white liberal academics were largely full of shit.

I can't remember his line of thinking but I'm pretty sure the research he did on "Ethnic America" was part of it.

What's hopeful about that book is that he predicted blacks would enter mainstream America in a couple of generations and here we are; Barack Obama is the Democratic candidate for President and you are who you are.
What's not hopeful is that Sowell has become far more conservative anyone would have predicted.

"One of the most poisonous ideas to emerge out of the cultural wars of the 80s and 90s was this portrait of black America as a hotbed of radical leftists who spend their days berating Jews, demanding reparations, and thinking of new and exciting ways to make white folks feel guilty."

Remember, there has been a cottage industry of black public intellectuals, such as Shelby Steele, who have made a living from this portrait. Granted, there are some some black folk who truck in this commerce, but there are more who have grown beyond "blackness." Meaning, they have sense of group solidarity as a people and as Americans, but they don't spend their time conspiring against whites. It's a waste of time. They got jobs to work, children to feed, and more important things on their minds.

However, if you look at Steele's books, beginning with his first one, The Content of Our Character, his general premise is that blacks set out to do so. Having nothing to add, one of his latest book is about "white guil," as well another book on how Obama appeals to white guilt ( a conservative theme).

Even people like John McWhorter works this beat for the Manhattan Institute. At first he was scorning Obama, saying that if he were white no one would be paying attention him. Now, that Obama has won the Dems nomination, McWhorter, writing in the NY Sun, is claining that racism isn't as much of a fact as blacks claim it to be.

This is the kind of rank cynicism that some black conservatives trade in; they wouldn't have much of a job if they weren't black-bashing for the media. Ever check out the kind of black commentators that Fox News have? Same ilk. And despite Juan Williams' perch at NPR, on Fox he serves the same function.

Their job is to feed whites comfortable talking points about black people without having to get to know them as friends or neighbors, or as brother or sisters. They are the trusty native informants who tell people what they want to hear instead of what they need to know.

I've been of the opinion that effective black politics ended years ago because some black leaders decided it was more valuable, career wise, to base their politics on a certain kind of black orthodoxy that didn't resolve problems.

Then you have another school of black public intellectuals—Cornel West, bell hooks, Michael Eric Dyson—who trade in black attitude, but who have given blacks (and liberal whites) intellectual oatmeal for years. A whole lotta postmodern jargon masking as serious thoughts but is merely a camoflage for being market intellectuals.

Some of these people, while not on Fox News (and would be allowed) attend the umpteenth convention of Black Problems and What To Do About It, or the Million Man March, Vol 6. People like Tavis Smiley run these State of Black America forums when they know the state is: black America is doing well by 75% and badly by 25%, meaning those folks in the deep inner cities who subsist of off a tangle of pathologies described by Daniel P. Moynihan 40 years.

Yet no real political mobilization to solve real intractable problems:healthcare,the collapse of public education, crime, broken familiy structures, no wealth creation or jobs. I know I have gotten sick of talking or listening or reading about race without an understaning of the dynamics of class.

This would mean an understanding of the dynamics of black America, which has fractured along class lines in the post civil rights era. Most blacks, in my view, would prefer arguing over hip-hop than class. America's black leadership class—the middle class—has been MIA for years, which is why Obama is refreshing.

The discourse on race precludes any understanding of how class works, and who is getting what. Americans would much prefer to talk about race since that is in, literally, everyone's face. But class would meaning dealing with the structure of inequality that sorely undermines what this country says about itself.

Let's see how much dialogue and understanding is shaped around "white working class" people (against "black people") as a means to underscore the politics of "whiteness," as opposed to creating programs and opportunities to deal with structural class dynamics that have a bearing on of us all, some more so than others.

Coates, what is your opinion of the Congressional Black Caucus. Extrapolating from your post, one could surmise you deem it to be irrelevant, and a debate could be had over whether a caucus in our Congress based on skin color sends the right message to the country.

I'm a white girl who was married to a black guy for 6 years, and I was fascinated by how culturally and politically diverse my in-laws were--far more so than my own family. Some were from the south from all-black communities, others were army brats who had lived all over the place in a multi-cultural environment. One was the son of a Nigerian, another was half Native American. The older, more conservative men tended to be sexist, anti-gay, and very suspicious of whites, including me. My mother-in-law was one of the wisest, most tolerant and open-minded people I've known (unlike her sister), and her sons were as comfortable with white and Latino culture as they were with black culture, and had no problems with gay culture either (this was the Bay Area, I should note). Family gatherings were interesting, to say the least, and sometimes people left angry or outraged after contentious debates about culture and politics.

It seems to me that the generational differences in our society are even more pronounced in the black community, and the concerns and attitudes of Wright's generation are strikingly different from those of Obama's, and are changing yet again in the generation just now reaching voting age. Maybe Ta-Nehisi could comment on that?

Why can't you post here more often?!

You're like a breath of fresh air on this site, a voice of common sense reason, plopped between ranting of of obsessive-compulsives, juvenile keyboard warrior hijinks, and role playing of personal dysfunction issues in Reader Blogs,
and the drone of traditional left-o-center wonk columnists sprinkled with the inflammatory gaming of a paleo-liberal Israel lobbyist on the main page.

There is a problem with your stuff here for me, in that every time I read it, it makes ashammed of myself that I have spent so much time giving clicks to the other stuff here since columnists like Matthew Yglesias, Mark Schmitt and Michael Lind left. I hope the management here realizes what an asset your participation is.

Ta-Nehisi:

Your article makes me want to give you a virtual "terrorist fist-jab"!

You were told by who? Who is this person that knows what all African Americans are doing when "white people aren't around"?

Posted by TM

Wolf Blitzer. Just kidding, because I can't stand him.
All the "pundits" on CNN and FOX news, claimed that "unless you've been to a black church, you just don't understand" They also said that " this kind of sermon, was common in most black churches" They repeated this as often as the Rev, Wright video. Of course they were speaking of the entire context of the sermon, not the snippet.
I am a middle aged white woman from Vancouver Canada. My household didn't perceive anything particularly wrong, when we saw the snippet. After all we know how the rest of the world feels about the US , considering the foreign policies. My father used the expression" chickens come home to roost" quite often. That's a generational thing. We know about Tuskegee, LSD experiments etc., so why would any one be surprised about the claim of deliberately infecting people with AIDS/HIV? I was curious, so I googled it, and found that the most progressive/established, AIDS organizations, recognise that very possibility, among many others. Guess what ? They say that " they can neither prove, nor disprove that theory. There is no proven theory as to how it originated.
The repeated snippet, just made us mad at CNN, FOX and the rest.

We were not impressed with Rev Wrights' grandstanding later though.

In closing I have to tell you that when Father Phfleger did his shtick, we almost peed our pants laughing.

Everyone needs to lighten up! Not everything is sooo serious. We are really fed up with so much political correctness, you can't say a damn thing anymore, let alone have a laugh. Everything, and anything is offencive, and racist one way or another. Another thing I used to be told by my parents was "sticks and stones, may break your bones, but words can never hurt you". It took me a few years to figure out, "unless you let them".

I'm guessing that his is as much on (or off) point as any other comment here, but please read this comment from a person who is 78 years old and Afican American.

As a 78 year old American of African descent, I feel compelled to respond to all this 'much ado about nothing' when it comes to the statement that Michelle Obama made about the fact that this is the first time in her adult life that she has been proud to be an American. The country needs to hear this from the Black perspective.  Long before I was born, my grandfather Joseph Burleson, owned a considerable amount of land in oil rich Texas ; Because during that era, Blacks could not vote, nor could they contest anything in the courts of the United States, my grandfather's land was STOLEN by his White neighbor. My grandfather, who was literate and better educated than my grandmother, drove to town. Seeing my grandfather leave, the covetous neighbor asked my grandmother to show him the deed to the property. He snatched it. She could not insist that he give it back, nor could she have reported this THEFT to the sheriff because of the fact that Blacks had no rights in the 1800's. The prevailing law at that time was he who held the deed owned the land.
      
      Do you think that is something that I am PROUD OF? Right now I should be living off the oil and gas royalties.
      
      In 1934 when my dad drove us to Texas to meet his family, when he stopped to purchase gasoline, his daughters and wife were not allowed to use the washroom. As a man it was easier for him to relieve himself in the bushes, but not for the females. We were, however, reduced to having to go in the bushes, also. Do you think I am PROUD OF THAT?
       In 1938 when my oldest sister went to enroll in Hyde Park High School, she was told by the counselor that she did not want to take college preparatory courses, she wanted to study domestic science.     
      Do you think I'm PROUD OF THAT?
      
      Of course, when Beatrice Lillian Hurley-Burleson went to school the next  day, that was the last time anyone thought that the Burleson girls wanted to study domestic science.
      
      When in 1943 my parents attempted to buy the 2 flat at 5338 South Kenwood, where we had lived since 1933, in Hyde Park, Chicago , IL we were told that we could not buy it because there was a restrictive covenant that said that the property was never to be sold to 'Negroes.'
      
      Do you think I am PROUD OF THAT? 
      
      In 1950 when I graduated from college, I was unable to get a job because I was considered overqualified'....the code word for they would not hire me because of my race. All of the want-ad s called for
Japanese Americans or Neisis (the word given to Japanese Americans at that time).
      
      Do you think that was something that I should have been PROUD OF?
      
      I understood that America was trying to make up for the interring of innocent and patriotic Americans who were our enemy by association.
      
      My cousin's barbershop was bombed in Mississippi in the 50's because he was encouraging Black people to register to vote. His wife who had earned a Masters Degree from Northwestern University lost her position as the principal of the local school because of the voter registration activities.
      
      Is that something I should be PROUD OF?
      
      Now we get to Rev. Jeremiah Wright, the pastor of the Obama family. Rev. Wright like so many religious zealots overstates many things, that many of his members do not agree with. To suggest that Senator Obama should leave the church of his choice is not only a double standard, but it is absurd.
      
      Would any of the talking heads who are so alarmed by Rev. Wright's thoughts and speeches suggest that Catholics should abandon their faith or ; denounce and reject the Pope because so many priests have molested children. These children were exploited and taken advantage of and they had no choice to even know they could resist, reject and denounce. To me the situations are parallel, except for the fact that the priest's behavior is a physical violation of the innocence of children who are marred for life; and the priest's behavior is a crime.
      
      Rev. Wright's speeches are just words, that one can listen to or not, the members have a choice. Should Governor Romney denounce and reject the Mormon Church because some of their members practice polygamy?
      
      As Senator Obama has previously stated, we have entered the silly season.
      
Barack Obama is an adult, and most importantly, he is an exceptionally intelligent adult. Like most of us adults, fortunately, we do not accept all we hear or see. If we did, the world would be more amoral, debased and perverted than the world of today is. I see all these 'so called' ponderings as an attempt to marginalize the candidacy of Senator Barack Obama. I cannot truly call this racism because some ignorant Blacks have also spoken disparagingly about him. I accept this as the darker side of mankind who because of their own inadequacies, they project their deficiencies on others.
      
      Barack Obama is a very rare individual, the likes of whom the world seldom sees. Like most geniuses, they are often misunderstood. They are objects of envy and jealousy. They are suspect because they soar above the average man who does not have the intellectual ability to understand the greatness of special people. They are also targets to be pulled down to the level of the mediocre who cannot stand to see an individual with deep convictions and high standards.
    We have not seen a phenomena like Barack Obama in many years and many generations. Like Ghandi, like Jesus, like Einstein, like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., like Mother Theresa, genetically, intellectually and spiritually, these people offer the world so much, but they are often maligned and misunderstood. Barack Obama is a Christian in the true sense of the word. A true Christian loves his fellow man unconditionally. A true Christian wants the best and tries to bring out the best in his fellow man. A true Christian wants to unite and bring the world together in peace and harmony. This is what Senator Obama stands for; but,unfortunately, he has had to get off point to answer these false charges, innuendoes, and just plain lies.
      
      We are in the presence of an angel unaware in Senator Barack Obama, and this country needs him, more than he needs us. He is the only person at this time in history who can restore respect for America with the world's people. Because of his family background, the influence of his beloved mother who instilled great values in him, the influence of his absent father who vicariously inspired a son to go to Harvard as the father had done, the influence of a minister who brought him to an understanding of the value and meaning of Christianity, the influence of a brilliant Harvard educated wife who inspires him and keeps him grounded; he is the epitome of a citizen of the world. He is of the world because the world is in him; and this is what America needs to bring us out of the abyss to which we have sunk in the eyes of the world.
      
      Like, Michelle Obama, after living in this country all of my 78 years, loving my country and not understanding why my country has not loved me, I now for the first time in my adult life feel PROUD OF MY COUNTRY because I sense a maturing, a recognition of talent and character, and not color, and a field of candidates aspiring to lead this nation coming from very diverse backgrounds of gender, religious beliefs, national origin, ethnicity, age and experiences. This to me is the HOPE that America is coming into her own and will begin to CHANGE and will embrace the philosophy upon which this country was founded, where all men are created equal and are entitled to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
      
      Now I truly believe, YES WE CAN!