thank you for your very kind words. You state:

“What I’m really impressed with are the comments to your posts. You don’t seem to get the usual ugly, demeaning, and racist comments regarding race you see on other blogs. The people that come here are more interested in intellectual dialog, discussion, and sharing of thoughts. That’s good!”

I do like that there is more intellectual discussion here, but I think there are a couple of reasons the usual bigots that populate ESPN conversation tend to stay away from commenting. It is because many of the regular commenters will hand them their ass if they don’t come with logical arguments and reasoning. It is one of the few sites (see Sports on My mind; The Starting Five) where the bigots don’t have the luxury of strength in numbers. I’m often more likely to get derogatory stuff via email (I got aquainted with the Nazi crowd after some posts in October on the Jena 6). It also matters who picks up a story. If DeadSpin picks one up (its been a while) you are more likely to get some one-time drop-in bullshit.

In any case, it would be nice if discussions on race could be elevated a couple of notches like Obama suggested. Unfortunately, after initial praise for his speech, their subsequent coverage didn’t honor his request….

Thank you!

I.ve enjoyed reading your posts since I discovered your blog. I am really astonished by the clarity of reason you possess and display. What I gather is that its not just an overt denounciation of racism or race pandering, but a rebuttal of the unfairness in this society of one class over another or a denigrating representation of facts or individuals in persuing an angenda. A honest evaluation of the facts in historical context instead of the usual manipulation to support or justify a position. That’s good!

What I’m really impressed with are the comments to your posts. You don’t seem to get the usual ugly, demeaning, and racist comments regarding race you see on other blogs. The people that come here are more interested in intellectual dialog, discussion, and sharing of thoughts. That’s good!

Google Contras and see where that leads you.

Thanks for your contributions.

Yes, I should know. I was ONE of those white people. The level of her indignation made me believe that she was absolutely sincere in her absolute absurdity. I also factored in that she lost two statewide elections including one very close primary so that there were some white sour grapes at work as well.

Temple, can you direct me to links on some of those stories years ago that showed government officials behind pushing drugs into the black community…

Of course, there are those pearls that are occasionally the product of insiders who get out…like Smoke and Mirrors on the drug war by a former WSJ reporter.

Rev. Wright was treated the way he was treated because he challenged the dominant worldview. Ferraro’s comments were handled the way they were handled because she was reflecting the worldview of many people. She was castigated for saying what she said, but there was an undercurrent that assumed she probably believed those comments because many white people do believe them. Very few white people actually considered the fact that she lying her ass off knowingly to score political points. They would rather label her an old out of touch politician.

So let me ask you, when a quote like this slips by or say, when Rev. Wright is quoting former Iraqi Ambassador Edward Peck… just how much of this is gross oversight or purely intentional in your humble opinion?

It’s inexcusable that this was not noted by the mainstream media. As a journalist, I have been so depressed at how bad a job my profession has done. More importantly, I’ve been sickened by how convinced people were that they were doing a good job.