African American

This has some great stuff!

Here is the issue I have. To deny the power bestowed on ruling whites by virtue of their unjust enrichment through slavery or that it is correctable is to concede our subjugation into perpetuity. This is precisely because you are correct about the nature of racism. It is genetically -- in a practical sense -- embedded in white folks. There is no mechanism to induce them to voluntarily break the chains other than to alter the connection between wealth and power or to alter the distribution of wealth, both of which have occurred at least to some extent in the last century.

As for our failure, and I say "our" as a former member of the Panthers - or should I say a member of the former Panthers, I ask you to consider whether we failed because workers withheld their support or because the wealthy held the bigger guns in Oakland or the bigger bombs in Philly and other lesser known battlefields? Not saying you're wrong, just asking you to consider it because I too was there and the "be patient" white folks were the ones sending the cops after us because they couldn't stand the inverting of power and the radicals were the ones getting their heads busted by the same cops.

And they still are.

I could be wrong about all this, of course. I am old now and past glory is just that, past. Sometimes when I speak to young people about that time, all I see is hopelessness and acquiescence to the reality that whether their name is LeBron, Oprah, or even Barack, it will still be . . .

I cannot express my appreciation for the work you put into your response or my respect for your intellect. I ask only that you remember that there a million or more people who share our experiences and who like us may well vote Democratic Party without fail but who feel no more part of it than the leaders you and I grew up admiring.

Thank you