Please, just where to your come off as painting me "black?" Can you see through your computer? Are you jumped up on crack? My "race" and desciption is generically Caucasian, which means neither black, Pacific islander, or Southeast Asian.

It's hard to argue that strong families and self discipline don't help anyone who has those advantages. Behind that argument is often the Calvinist notion that you'd do better if you were a better person; e.g., God bestows grace on those that deserve it, and withholds it from those who don't. We seem to have a lot of undeserving blacks. "Maybe" they have a harder time? Double the unemployment rate of whites. Thirty or forty percent lower wages if they do have a job. Maybe? Of course the military is egalitarian. That's to their credit, but when I did my four years the common denominator was that all enlisted men got treated like crap. You are correct, sir, that family structure underpins our society, and the extent to which that unit fails is reflected in the failure of society as a whole. A fifty percent divorce rate (including Honest John McLame) doesn't speak well about white folk either.

I neither host nor heed the harranges of hysterics. If Katex were cool, measured, and calm, her arguments might come across clear - as both reasoned and strong.

I'm glad you left New Orleans, Louisiana doesn't need you. But here you are back in my homestate, kickin' up hell, totally oblivious, to the hysterical ravings, of your sensational smell. You say you're a jounalist? I say you're a journalist too. A yellow journalist, a liar, a sensationalit, a con, a fake, what other rules of good journalism can squeaky clean Katex break?

Manos, you can't handle the truth, can you? I guess as far as you are concerned white people are the devil and blacks have no responsibility at all for whatever situation you think they are in. Get this, we are all responsible for our selves. Nobody is going to help you but your family. So get your family together and work your way up in the world.

I know it's not as easy as that. Do blacks still face discrimination? Yes. Do blacks have a tougher time making it in the USA than whites? Maybe. But not as much if they come from strong homes with good values and an emphasis on education and self discipline like the one I came from. I know plenty of blacks like this as I grew up in a military community, a very egalitarian community, and there is no difference between us. Or between any other race.

What I don't think is helping either blacks or whites is our huge emphasis on materialism, selfish disregard of one another, and for many lack of strong work ethic. And the lack of investment in infrastructure in our country doesn't help either. Bread and circuses for everyone. Instead of anger why not just pull together and make this a good place for everyone to live, without guilt and recrimination. Find constructive ways to move ahead without blaming anyone.

Sure she deserves a slide, but no way a free ride.

I'm glad you left New Orleans, Louisiana doesn't need you. But here you are back in my homestate, kickin' up hell, totally oblivious, to the hysterical ravings, of your sensational smell. You say you're a jounalist? I say you're a journalist too. A yellow journalist, a liar, a sensationalit, a con, a fake, what other rules of good journalism can squeaky clean Katex break?

I've been known to be critical of her comments, but isn't one of the main points of Obama's speech is that we're all a little fucked up, black and white (and asian, and hispanic, and, and, and)? No, not of us would pass the purity test. I don't think I would. Maybe she did have bad experiences in New Orleans that are worth talking about, even if they don't generalise to the entire city or the entire country.

Wow. Dem darkies done let de lebbies get weak 'cause they was doin' the cakewalk fo' de tourists instead 'a workin' them shovels like dey's supposed ta. For textbook closet racism, just read Kate. It is EXACTLY the argument that was made when blacks started into the political process during reconstruction. Some blacks are incompetent, so don't elect them. The next step, of course, is not to let them vote. Same mindless mindset 130 years later. You don't have to wear a hood or unleash police dogs on demonstrators to be a racist. You have to believe that black people deserve what they get, including a Category 5 hurricane. Kate puts the big in bigot, and she's a long way from alone. And she doesn't think she's a racist, I guarantee. That's the most dangerous aspect; the David Dukes are easy to spot. It's the Bob Barrs and the Trent Lotts that slither under the radar. Ask McLame about the Vietnamese. You can watch him try to suppress the word gook the same way Peter Sellers had to suppress his seig heil salute in Dr. Strangelove.

and the poor white people had to suffer because while the colored folk were looting the stores, the white folk were humbly scavenging for something to eat. Now I understand by a seemingly intelligent person is so committed to bring Obama down.

You're really angry at black people.

Continue to let all of that bad karma creep up on you and kick you in your clownish keister. You bring dullness to our days as sing your own praise.

You say: "The institutionalized racism of a mere generation or two ago certainly does continue to reverberate today."

There is no denying the pernicious effects of the institutionalized racism of years past. But I can tell you that, in New Orleans, beginning around 1980 or so, institutionalized racism in city government took an interesting turn. This time, the racism was black on white. In nearly every corner of city government, there were virtual signs reading "No whites need apply - for employment or promotion." Because of bloc voting by race, black politicians became increasingly greedy, corrupt, and incompetent over the years. The city fell apart in front of everyone's eyes.

Held captive were the many thousands of blacks living in veritable Third World conditions who could be depended upon to vote for these crooked politicians year after year. Whites, many of them well meaning and increasingly disillusioned, dared not raise their voices in this climate, as the cry of 'racism' would immediately arise. And so the city became almost completely stalemated. Meanwhile, many thousands of black children who were lightly parented, to say the least, were doomed to repeat the poverty cycle, to become functionally illiterate thanks to a complete politicization of the corrupt public school system. Crime became rampant, public services deteriorated, vast stocks of housing fell apart, the streets were filled with trash. New Orleans was well on its way to being destroyed long before Katrina hit.

After the storm, when America got a look at the some of the realities of non-touristic New Orleans, who got the blame? "Whites living in rich enclaves on the high ground." This was a bitter joke to those of us who were middle class at best, who had purposely avoided moving to the suburbs in the hope that we could somehow make a difference, who lost nearly everything ourselves and had to start all over.

My point? Some of the black community's problems in this country can only indirectly be traced to a legacy of white oppression. They cannot be solved by superficial gestures or hand wringing in All-White Falls, Iowa. They most especially cannot be solved while whites continue to look at blacks as some sort of separate social unit, one which operates outside the human condition.