Fodder for the Masses: Race Relations & Politics

"Americans are sharply divided by race heading into the first election in which an African-American will be a major-party presidential nominee, with blacks and whites holding vastly different views of Senator Barack Obama, the state of race relations and how black Americans are treated by society, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll."

This morning The New York Times ran this article, "Poll Finds Obama's Run Isn't Closing Divide on Race." It cites some interesting statistics from the poll:

• More than 80% of black voters have a favorable opinion of Obama; the number is about 30% for white voters
• About 60% of black respondents to the poll say that race relations in America were generally bad, compared to about 34% of white respondents
• Over 40% of blacks believe they have been stopped by the police because of race; about 7% of whites say the same thing
• Nearly the only question on which black and white respondents agreed on was that America is ready to elect a black president
  

For those of us entrenched in the Covenant Church, race relations have been a constant topic of conversation for the last 10 years - and necessarily. I am curious as to what others think of this article, and what it might say about how we, as Americans and as Christians, need to adjust our thinking and discussion to reflect the reality of the current situation in our nation.

To read the entire article click here. And then let me know what you think!

(And for another political view from the day, check out what Rolling Stone Magazine is saying today.)