Maybe, just maybe, you need to stop listening to Bill Oriely and Rush. You need to talk to some good black folk and hear there side of the story before you print something like this. Its totally bias and the information you got to write this is also bias. So your story sounds like B.S. Seriously, before you start to quote Rush again, go out to a black church and talk to them and try to understand without the comfort of that defensive white bias. Then come back and write. This is totally fiction. They won't kill you. Just try to understand.

What part of this is total fiction? That the color barriers of sports, busses, politics have all been broken? That guys like Terrell Owens cry and pout and act like babies because they are only making $49M over 7 years, which is below market value while other folks in New Orleans are dying and blaming Bush?

The African American community cannot distance itself from Sharpton and Jackson and guys like Hughly and Chris Rock and Kanye West and their race baiting statements. And the generation of Americans that Will and I represent--namely young Gen Xers and some Gen Y folks--don't feel sorry about slavery and segregation because we never saw it. We did not see how Hank Aaron was treated, only Barry Bonds acting like an A-hole. Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King are distant memories.

But we saw Reginold Denny in LA getting beaten by a brick and we saw Kanye West. We see Tupac and Lil Kim. We see guys like 50 Cent glorified for being a thug and former crack dealer. And we see that despite most of us wanting to envision African Americans as our equals, so many people within the African American community do not want to act like civilized human beings and simply want to blame either Whitey or the Government for their problems.

We are sick of spending billions to provide services and government assistance and levies and emergency services to folks that berate us as bigots and continue the race baiting crap. Segregation and Racism and Slavery are things of the past, save it be from the ignorant and uneducated. But notice that the reverse racism from Kanye and Hughly are not only tolerated, but encouraged as opposed to folks within the white community who make racist and ignorant statements who are shunned.

Hold on, folks. Don't go to fighting at the top of the thread. If you do there won't be any place to go.

Will has spoken from the heart, starting off by referring to "undeveloped thoughts" on Katrina. He is also, he says candidly, an under-30 white guy who is tired of hearing about the Civil Rights Movement. I know what he's talking about because my youngest child is probably oder than he and my own kids are not too different in their thinking.

As someone who does remember what things were like before 1964, and who worked to change them, I can assure you both that both of you are correct, but that is no reason to have a fight about it. There was and still is a very real and deep racial divide in America and in the world. That is an undeniable reality. But it is not grounds for anyone to sling around abrasive challenges and accusations.

I can't say in the restricted space of a comment thread all I want to say, but please, guys, chill.

I don't listen to Rush and never watch O'Reilly, just for reference. And I've been to black churches numerous times. The way the Democrats use and abuse African-Americans breaks my heart. Race-based political polarity is an absolutely terrible thing for this country.

The thing that breaks my heart is that one in three babies conceived to an African American mother is terminated by an abortion system that the white Liberal folks like Ted Kennedy have championed. It is an absolute travesty that the African American community is being systematically euthanized simply because of the societal issues of poverty and education. Yet, they continue to support Liberals overwhelmingly.

When you tell an entire group of people that it is ok to kill your future children, that it is ok to not take responsibility for your sexual relations, that STD's and unwanted pregnancies are not really a problem, and you create a culture of death, you end up with huge problems for the folks that buy into that system.

Ironically, it is the Black Churches that produce the strongest supporters of the Republican Cause. Not the churches run by puppets of the Democrats (see REVERENDS Sharpton and Jackson), but the churches where people actually believe in the Bible and where the congregations hear about President Bush's belief in a culture of life.

Minority homeownership, especially among African Americans is at an all time high. It is my firm belief that racism had not Disappeared, but rather, is managable and is not an excuse or what folks should be fighting about any longer. The Black community has far worse issues to address from within than to simply continue over and over to spit out "Republicans hate black people" and offer no change and no productive answers. It is my firm belief that the advancement of equality of black people is not being held back by Whitey, but rather by folks like Jesse and Al and by the actions and collective mindset of Blacks that think they are still living in the 1950's and fighting Brown v Board of Education or in the 1850's fighting slavery.

D.L. Hughley was right. He did not blame Bush for Hurricane Katrina hitting the Gulf Coast. However, Bush is responsible for Katrina's aftermath. He did not take the iniative. Regardless of what he says his actions speak louder than his words. He left his ranch on vacation to sign Shialvo into law. But he was to lazy to help with the hurricane recovery. And instead of learning a valuable lesson, the federal government was slow to react to Hurricane Rita. Bush said the buck stops him.

How did this quote go from being ashame of how Hurricane Katrina was treated by Bush to accepting abortion. From a 25-year-old African American female, I proudly say I disagree with everything you written here. No one condones the act of abortion. However, I don't believe someone who don't know me or cares if I live or die should tell me what I should or should not do with my own body. Especially when they don't know how to take of the children we have in foster care and juvenile detention right now.

Racism exists and will continue to exist as long as we can't see beyond the color exterior. Genetically speaking we are 99.9% similar. It do not take a rocket scientist to see that Republicans love money and Democrats love to give money away. Truthfully I cannot stand either party. I will never support the Republicans because they care more about themselves and big business than anyone else. When someone come along to change my mind, I will reconsider. Condeleeza Rice, Colin Powell, Clarence Thomas, Michael Steel, J.C. Watts, and etc. have not done anything to improve my life. All they have done was to increase my taxes, take away affirmative action, increase discrimination in housing, decrease my college loans, increase the interest on college loans, and stalling when it comes to renewing the Voting Rights Act. As African Americans in power, they should be the first ones making the act law not sitting around and letting it lapse.

The Democrats ignore us but the Republicans don't even know we exist until they need an extra precentage point to win an election. This is not coming from ignorance but reality. I have studied Bush's policies both domestically and foreign and they do not make sense. I listen to both sides of an issue.

Not one person can say this country is better because Bush is President. Clinton may have cheated on his wife but he cheated me out of a debt free future. Bush has and that cannot be forgiven. I will not have Social Security. My great grandchildren will be paying for Bush's mistakes. A 90,000 square foot area of this country is gone. Do I care about Iraqi freedom. Yes, but not before I see mine.

Wow.

Maybe myself and four others (Will, Ken, Rob B., ZZ, Justin, others) should each take a paragraph of Renee's hole-riddled talking points and demolish it.

Just wow...

I am weary just thinking of the task. Every line, every word, needs individual addressing.

It's borderline BDSpam.

Opinions I can deal with but that screed has baldfaced lies in it.

You are a joke.

It hurts just to look at it.

They make baby jebus cry

Not one person can say this country is better because Bush is President.

Observant. But here is the best part:

I will never support the Republicans because they care more about themselves and big business than anyone else. When someone come along to change my mind, I will reconsider. Condeleeza Rice, Colin Powell, Clarence Thomas, Michael Steel, J.C. Watts, and etc. have not done anything to improve my life. All they have done was to increase my taxes, take away affirmative action, increase discrimination in housing, decrease my college loans, increase the interest on college loans, and stalling when it comes to renewing the Voting Rights Act.

Damn JC Watts and the Republicans for not doing anything to improve your life like give you affirmative action and college loans at low interest rates... Damn them.

Government, despite what African Americans have been conditioned to think, is not there to "improve your life", but rather, is a construct that in itself requires you to give up your God given rights to ensure protection from foreign enemies and to protect your life, liberty and property.

Perhaps you are not familiar with guys like Madison, Jefferson, Locke, Hamilton, etc., but you may want to read about these folks. It happens that Republicans (not all and surely not enough given the ballooning size of government) view it as a personal responsibility to take care of ones self. I know it sounds harsh when they say, "Hey, there is a hurricane coming, you might want to leave" and then don't make the decision for you and hold your hand and walk you to safety, but golly, they just are bad folks and only care about big business.

Ray Nagin and Kathleen Blanco are also not to "blame". Individuals make choices and sometimes those choices are not good ones. It isn't like anyone didn't know a hurricane was coming. The only folks that truly suffered in this were those in nursing homes that were not moved and guess what, that falls on the LA government and the nursing home owners and guess what else--these folks were primarily white. Lots of white folks died too.

I hate it when I forget to end a blockquote. Will, can you fix that for me? =)