Jesse Jackson’s personal pain is America’s growing pain. With the very real possibility than an African-American will be the country’s next president, the nation is grappling for a new normal in race relations — one that doesn’t offer so prominent a place for the angry and confrontational approach of Jackson and other civil rights leaders who came of age in a different time.
The country may also simply be tiring of Jackson who, despite the strengths he brought to the cause of civil rights, has shown himself to be prejudiced, self-pitying and hypocritical. The man who urged the permanent retirement of the N-word used it, himself, last week in criticizing Obama’s focus on

By Amanda at 8:42 pm Today, CNN’s John Blake has an article titled, “Could an Obama presidency hurt black Americans?” In the piece, Blake notes that some

By John Blake For many, Sen. Barack Obama is an agent of change but some critics say he could make race relations worse. That's the slogan on a popular

BY WILLIAM T. HOSTON With all due respect, the Revs. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton need to step aside and allow a new generation of black politicians and

By SHELBY STEELE A few weeks ago, the Rev. Jesse Jackson made something of a fool of himself. There he was -- a historical figure in his own right

By Hazel Trice Edney, NNPA Editor-in-Chief WASHINGTON (NNPA) - The Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr., expressing sorrow for a vulgar remark that he made concerning presidential hopeful Barack Obama, says his only intent was to point out the need to balance campaign talk about self-responsibility and faith-based initiatives in the Black community with talk about the crisis that America's Black communities are now suffering.
"My heart is contrite. Barber shop, locker room trash talk should never be a part of public policy. For that I express painful regret," he said this week in an interview with the NNPA News Service. "That's not my intent, my motive, my message. And he knew it because

Last week, a New York Times/CBS News poll suggested that even though Sen. Barack Obama is poised to make history next month by becoming the country's first African-American presidential nominee, it is difficult to ignore the issue gap that persists between black and white America.
According to the poll, nearly 60 percent of African-American respondents said race relations were pretty sour. Thirty-four percent of whites felt similarly. Forty percent of blacks polled said there has been no progress in recent years in eliminating racial discrimination; less than 20 percent of whites felt similarly.
Only" model for leader of the free world.

The candidate downplays the possibilities, but an election victory would change the shape of a movement.
Gregory Rodriguez
um, audacity of hope, it's more than a little noteworthy that Obama and his supporters are suddenly pushing realism. Are they objectively wrong when they say an Obama victory won't end the struggle for racial equality? Certainly not. But downplaying the symbolism and real-life racial significance of an Obama presidency ignores the fact that it would ultimately challenge the nation's civil rights establishment, and its policies and rhetoric, which routinely question the fundamental fairness of American society.

By David Paulin The Associated Press just announced an important change in a high-profile news beat that's overseen by its national desk -- a beat called