Yesterday's anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King has brought out a wonderful and sad collection of memories, stories, and lessons (some learned, some not). As someone who both cares about social justice and has spent many years teaching speech and rhetoric, I'm happy that King's entire Memphis speech of April 3 is getting more notice. The finale is well known, but the entire speech about doing good for others is as important now as it was then.

The other big speech I'm happy is getting play is the one Bobby Kennedy gave in Indianapolis (link includes incomplete video, full audio).  Not only is it a moving tribute, but how many people can get away with claiming, "my favorite poet is Aeschylus"?

The New Yorker is currently running an interesting articleabout Reverend Wright and Trinity United Church of Christ by Kelefa Sanneh.

For those who've done their own research about the topic or who have been following the issue closely, there is not a whole lot of new information, but it's a good general source of information to point to in case you know others who are still uninformed on these issues.

Sanneh does a fine job (in good New Yorker style) of interweaving several relevant topics: Wright's background; the history of Trinity; Black Liberation Theology within Christianity; Obama's role in the Church; and the reaction of the church and the parishioners to the recent flap.

Hi, I've been lurking for quite a while and registered a few weeks back, but this is my first diary entry. I don't think this is a double post, but please let me know if I'm stepping on anybody's toes.  Also, I welcome corrections of any of the information that I post below. Finally, I'll warn you that this diary is quite long: proceed with time on your hands.

So, I've been thinking a lot about 'race,' the 'race card,' and 'racism' in the past few weeks; I'm not the only one. With Reverend Wright's comments making big news, accusations from both Clinton's and Obama's camps flying around about who first played the 'race card,' and Obama's speech calling on us to take the next big step in facing this issue, it's been on everybody's mind.

Many of the claims flying around the blogs are fueled by the passion of one camp or the other's supporters. But much of it is fueled my misinformation, and a healthy dose is fired by misunderstanding. I thought I'd take this chance to weigh in on one aspect of the issue that I have yet to see discussed. If you follow me down, I'll try to be as clear and succinct as possible. (A disclaimer: I'm well aware that racial/ethnic issues in this country extend in many directions beyond the black/white divide. This diary, however, is concerned with that specific divide.)