Subject: Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment: Larry, I am ashamed and embarrassed to admit that I have just found out that from 1932 until 1972 our government conducted human experiments on 400 poor black men in Tuskegee Alabama. For those of you who may be hearing this for the first time, I would suggest Googling it and finding out more. These 400 black men had syphilis and participated (unknowingly) in a study in which they were observed so that the U.S. government could study the devastating effects of syphilis, if left untreated. These black men were lied to and told that they suffered from a blood disorder. The real "value" of these experiments occurred after death...apparently, the autopsies revealed much more information about the ravages of the disease than could be observed while the human guinea pigs were alive. In essense, the black men were more valuable dead then when alive....which brings me to my next topic.....Barack Obama and Rev. Wright. I have re-thought my earlier positions regarding Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson..a bit. While I still denounce these individuals for some of the things they have done and said, I can't help but find my anger greatly tempered by a couple of things.....most notably, Barack Obama's recent, historic speech. Obama did a tremendous job framing and explaining the mindset of the older generation...both white and black. Older whites and blacks have had a much different experience living in America and I must say/admit...I think that was a bit lost on me. I found myself in their shoes, that is, an older black man's shoes...say like, Rev. Wright, Rev. Jackson or Rev. Sharpton and thought, how would I feel if I grew up being forced to drink from a different water fountain, use a different bathroom or having to sit in the back of the bus. I am outraged that you got a bogus ticket that is clearly retaliation for your reporting on the incompetence and dirty deeds of the police department. How would I feel if I found out that 400 black men like myself...and Only black men, were used as human guinea pigs....not by some sect of the KKK but by my own freakin government!!!!!!!!!!!! I would also probably have clear images of lynchings in my mind from my youth.......I would recall losing out on one business opportunity after another...not because I couldnt do the job, but because of the color of my skin......I would probably recall not having the same educational opportunities either...which of course can only serve to hinder my economic potential and possibilities. These experiences, as Barack Obama stated, can't help but establish a mindset of resentment, anger, frustration and outrage towards the white race/government (both being the same to a black man). How could it not? Rev. Wright grew up and experienced all of this and then some. And as Obama so eloquently stated, this does not mean that he doesnt love Rev. Wright any less for all of the wonderful things he has done, however, he does denounce and rightly so, the divisive things that Rev. Wright said....by the way, accusing the US government, as Rev. Wright did, of spreading AIDS is not much of a stretch considering the existence of the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment....A lot has changed in this country over the past 40 years since Dr. King's death...and I must say for the better. It is the failure of Rev. Wright and others not to acknowledge this achievement and realize that they have carried a tremendous burden for this country.....they have shouldered this movement, the civil rights movement as far as they can take it. The time is right for someone like Barack Obama to pick up the ball and continue this effort...but again, I would argue, with a tempered, almost appreciative mindset that yes, America is great, it can change and it has. This is not to say that more work doesnt need to be done. But the conversation has to be honest, straightforward and real.....just like Obama himself. This means that we also need to start hiring people based on ability, not the color of their skin.......and this goes both ways...and this, I would argue is what Dr. King's dream was all about. I have to believe that Dr. King's dream included the diverse mix of nationalities that I see at the Mullica School, Barack Obama running for President, Oprah Winfrey being Oprah Winfrey, Condi Rice being secretary of state (although I am not sure of anything she accomplished) and who can forget Colin Powell and all of his achievements serving this country. I look forward to the next generation with great hope of even greater equality for our country.

RESPONSE: It was an amazingly honest and courageous speech, indeed. Here are the highlights from the Obama speech;

"We have a choice in this country. We can accept a politics that breeds division, and conflict, and cynicism. We can tackle race only as spectacle—as we did in the OJ trial—or in the wake of tragedy, as we did in the aftermath of Katrina—or as fodder for the nightly news

"We can play Reverend Wright's sermons on every channel, every day and talk about them from now until the election, and make the only question in this campaign whether or not the American people think that I somehow believe or sympathize with his most offensive words. "We can pounce on some gaffe by a Hillary supporter as evidence that she's playing the race card, or we can speculate on whether white men will all flock to John McCain in the general election regardless of his policies. "We can do that. "But if we do, I can tell you that in the next election, we'll be talking about some other distraction. And then another one. And then another one. And nothing will change. "That is one option. Or, at this moment, in this election, we can come together and say, "Not this time." This time we want to talk about the crumbling schools that are stealing the future of black children and white children and Asian children and Hispanic children and Native American children. This time we want to reject the cynicism that tells us that these kids can't learn; that those kids who don't look like us are somebody else's problem. The children of America are not those kids, they are our kids, and we will not let them fall behind in a 21st century economy. Not this time.

"This time we want to talk about how the lines in the Emergency Room are filled with whites and blacks and Hispanics who do not have health care; who don't have the power on their own to overcome the special interests in Washington, but who can take them on if we do it together. "This time we want to talk about the shuttered mills that once provided a decent life for men and women of every race, and the homes for sale that once belonged to Americans from every religion, every region, every walk of life. This time we want to talk about the fact that the real problem is not that someone who doesn't look like you might take your job; it's that the corporation you work for will ship it overseas for nothing more than a profit. "This time we want to talk about the men and women of every color and creed who serve together, and fight together, and bleed together under the same proud flag. We want to talk about how to bring them home from a war that never should've been authorized and never should've been waged, and we want to talk about how we'll show our patriotism by caring for them, and their families, and giving them the benefits they have earned.

"I would not be running for President if I didn't believe with all my heart that this is what the vast majority of Americans want for this country. This union may never be perfect, but generation after generation has shown that it can always be perfected. And today, whenever I find myself feeling doubtful or cynical about this possibility, what gives me the most hope is the next generation—the young people whose attitudes and beliefs and openness to change have already made history in this election.

"There is one story in particularly that I'd like to leave you with today—a story I told when I had the great honor of speaking on Dr. King's birthday at his home church, Ebenezer Baptist, in Atlanta. "There is a young, twenty-three year old white woman named Ashley Baia who organized for our campaign in Florence, South Carolina. She had been working to organize a mostly African-American community since the beginning of this campaign, and one day she was at a roundtable discussion where everyone went around telling their story and why they were there.
"And Ashley said that when she was nine years old, her mother got cancer. And because she had to miss days of work, she was let go and lost her health care. They had to file for bankruptcy, and that's when Ashley decided that she had to do something to help her mom. "She knew that food was one of their most expensive costs, and so Ashley convinced her mother that what she really liked and really wanted to eat more than anything else was mustard and relish sandwiches. Because that was the cheapest way to eat. "She did this for a year until her mom got better, and she told everyone at the roundtable that the reason she joined our campaign was so that she could help the millions of other children in the country who want and need to help their parents too. "Now Ashley might have made a different choice. Perhaps somebody told her along the way that the source of her mother's problems were blacks who were on welfare and too lazy to work, or Hispanics who were coming into the country illegally. But she didn't. She sought out allies in her fight against injustice. "Anyway, Ashley finishes her story and then goes around the room and asks everyone else why they're supporting the campaign. They all have different stories and reasons. Many bring up a specific issue. And finally they come to this elderly black man who's been sitting there quietly the entire time. And Ashley asks him why he's there. And he does not bring up a specific issue. He does not say health care or the economy. He does not say education or the war. He does not say that he was there because of Barack Obama. He simply says to everyone in the room, 'I am here because of Ashley.' "'I'm here because of Ashley.' By itself, that single moment of recognition between that young white girl and that old black man is not enough. It is not enough to give health care to the sick, or jobs to the jobless, or education to our children.

"But it is where we start. It is where our union grows stronger. And as so many generations have come to realize over the course of the two-hundred and twenty one years since a band of patriots signed that document in Philadelphia, that is where the perfection begins."