KEVIN GRAY
A contributing editor for Black News in Columbia, S.C., Gray is author of the forthcoming book The Death of Black Politics. He said today: “Recent events — the response to Hurricane Katrina, Bill Bennett’s comments, the tenth anniversary of the Million Man March, the video of New Orleans police bloodying a retired teacher — have created a rare opportunity to discuss race relations in this country. However, this isn’t just about race. It’s also about class and poverty. And it’s not just about Republicans and George W. Bush. It’s about the Democrats not offering an alternative vision and the dark side of Bill Clinton’s legacy. It’s not about any single problem — such as the gap between the rich and the poor, the number of black men in jail, the number of black students not graduating from high school, the number of black and brown kids being recruited into the military. It’s about all of these but fundamentally something more. There’s a structural change that has been going on in this country, partly stemming from the structural changes in the global economy, that is changing many things, all at once. We must have a national discussion of all that and more, if we are to counter the current malaise, the current negative slide and the feeling by many in our country that we are moving in the wrong direction.”

ROBERT JENSEN
Jensen is author of the new book The Heart of Whiteness: Confronting Race, Racism, and White Privilege. He is a professor of journalism at the University of Texas. He said today: “Bill Bennett’s comment illustrated how common it is for white people automatically to associate black and criminal. What is unfortunate is that, instead of recognizing this and adding to the public conversation about the deep ways in which most white people have internalized racism, Bennett chose to avoid and deny. Until we can talk honestly about the effects of white supremacy on white people, it’s hard to imagine much progress.”
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NISA ISLAM MOHAMMAD
Mohammad is a senior staff writer with The Final Call newspaper. She said today: “The ‘Millions More Movement’ this weekend, held at the tenth anniversary of the Million Man March, is an opportunity for us to strengthen our communities and our families.”

For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy:
Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020; or David Zupan, (541) 484-9167