Bravo, Mr. Crouch! As Jackie Robinson, Bill Russell, Malcolm X, and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. all demonstrated... by the force and power of their own lives...a one single truth known to all mankind, from the beginning of time...the single fact that good people are always in short supply and greatly needed in society...regardless of race. The question that is in doubt should never be the flavor of the person, but the content of their character and their ability to contribute in Society. Those are questions common to all Americans.

Mr. Crouch states, "fake and pretentious versions of American reality... are some of the things that we have to deal and do away with to the best of our abilities".

This is a great idea, and as obvious as it may seem, it is also a very difficult proposition to actually implement. Consider for just a moment, the recent "American reality" of WMD. WMD, remember that term? The initials stood for "Weapons of Mass Destruction".

Now, however, WMD better connotes the "Big Lie", the unmasking of government manipulation, the Phantom of the Iraq Opera. Most Americans actually believed in the existence of those phantom weapons, just as we believed that Iraq was connected to the destruction of the World Trade Center.

So, now we have a black American author removing another veil of illusion, the "black experience". This veil is one that could only be lifted by another who has shared that black experience. To recognize that every person's experience is unique, yet at the same time universally human in nature, is to begin to understand that each of us needs to look at the world with fresh perspective.

Barak Obama is perhaps the only person in the world right now, who can reinvigorate the hearts and minds of the "American". This American is the one who lives inside each of us, the same one who is appalled by the very idea of slavery, of torture. This American exists independant of his or her skin color, and desperately wants to believe in his/her country again. Belief in things like the dollar, the economy, the Church, the school system, the safety of the food supply, all have been tainted by lies and manipulations.

So, perhaps by now having a President who represents hope, one who is neither black nor white, but a kind of gentle amalgamation of the two, we can regain our collective belief in our system. But this collective belief can only manifest if it is built on truth. Or, in this case, built on many small truths.

So, as a white American, I wholeheartedly appreciate the courage of another American of a different hue, who stands up and states one small truth. Perhaps the article will inspire more of us to question the things we hear, to challenge dogmatic thought, and to speak our own small truths.

Who knows, perhaps a whole ton of small truths will actually add up to one Great Truth. At least it is a start!

That article was poorly written. I can't even tell what the main idea is here. The author is very popular, but this piece read like the rantings of a high school blogger.

The problem with America is perfectly reflected in pangloss comment. An accurate number on these assholes will not show up in polls or voter records.

Thanks for speaking the truth. I feel your sentiments especially ring true with the demographic that supported Barack the most, boomers and younger. I'm a year younger than Barack. I'm an Italian and Hispanic female. When I was in middle school I wore a hat just like JJ Walker's that was embroided with DYNOMITE!! I had every recording the Jackson Five had ever done. And living in Texas I idolized Barbara Jordan. The homecoming king of my class, and this is in Texas, was a handsome, talented, smart, black young man. Barack is smart, in touch and enthusiastic about getting us back on track. That's why I support him. For me, its always been about the person not the color.

Mr. Crouch,
Thanks so much for an interesting piece.
The more that any affiliation of people--be they affiliated by skin color, country of birth, and/or system of beliefs--romanticizes its particular history, the less likely it becomes that those people will take any meaningful lessons from that history. What evolves then becomes not history, but a parade of myths and caricatures which, like over-indulged children, can grow up loud, ham-fisted and sometimes even dangerous.
I am a person with a wide-awake conscience and a long memory. I also happen to be white. If Mr. Steele believes that my admiration of accomplished people like Barack Obama or Oprah somehow assuages or blinds that conscience with respect to America's often vile legacy regarding black people, he's certainly underestimating me.(And insulting me.)--It suggests that Barack Obama is nothing but the old "token black." Don't relegate him to such a place. I admire him because he's a man worthy of admiration. Period. I believe that Mr. Crouch "gets" this. And for that I am grateful.
And I laughed out loud at "Negro, please!" because I've had many "Honkey, please!" moments.

Great piece, Stanley. The knee jerk desire to label someone as "special" or perhaps "the second coming..." is a common one.

I believe that many of us never realize our potential, for a variety of reasons. Sometimes we regret it. Thusly, referring to someone who appears to be maximizing their potential as "truly unique" eases the pain of that regret.

magicman... I must disagree on one thing. I think that good people are in abundant supply, all they require is a little encouragement.

Pangloss' recipe for analysis:
One pinch Freud added to one vat of ignorance. Bring to a boil then toss in a generous dash of stereotypes.
Yummmm....(I need an emesis basin.)

In response to "...he knew a good number of black people who said of Obama that he was not like any of the black people whom they knew or who resided in their neighborhoods."

I urge you to look into the influence of Hawaiian culture on Barack Obama. He is not a typical Westerner, he is Hawaiian. Hawaii is a multicultural community where people of American, Japanese, Irish, Chinese, Filipino, Samoan, British, Portuguese, Korean and other ancestry all live together in relative harmony. Compared to other communities, Hawaii maintains remarkably good (not perfect) race relations. It's only been since 1893 that the Hawaiian monarchy was overthrown by "American" business interests. This is a place where at one time "wealth" meant well-being (not money) and land was a communal resource. In fact land was considered the mythical mother and therefor un-ownable. Hawaiians felt they were stewards of the land and they must malama the 'aina (care for and honor the land).

Read the Hawaiian Code of Conduct, which says, in part, "We shall try to avoid conflict and cooperate with those who do not understand us and whom we do not understand; yet, we shall speak our truth openly and stand firm in our own beliefs and right to assert our Hawaiian identity."

The complex mix of cultures in Indonesia also influences Barack's life view. The national motto of Indonesia is "Unity in Diversity".

You might think of Obama as black man from Chicago but there's a whole lot more to the picture.

Great essay for beginning a rational discussion on "Growing up in the BLACK EXPERIENCE" However I doubt that B.Obama ever thought of him self as black until much later in life; having grown up in diverse multicultural areas raised by his middle class grandparents and mother. Was Spike Lee more influenced by the "BLACK EXPERIENCE" of BedStuy or by the fact that he grew up short and scrawney and looked 14 when he was 18 so that he couldn't get a date or get layed and was left to read books and his own inner thoughts.

Good for you, Mr. Crouch. I recently attended an African American Education conference, where I listened to the keynote spekaer tell us that black children learn differently because they are black. I spoke with collegues afterwards, who were certain that he 'meant' something entirely different, but I read all of his books and published writing. There is no doubt in my mind that this African American gentleman actually believes that African American children learn differently solely because they are black. What nonsense! As you said, "the outright lies or well-intended distortions about the nature of black American life" need to be confronted and decimated by the simple facts of human commonality and human distinction. I refuse to believe that the color of one's skin determines anything about one's potentials. It is time that Americans stepped into the twenty-first century and stopped buying racist claptrap hundred of years old, regardless of their color. Yes, DNA does determine a great deal of what we are and what we can become, but as far as I can tell, it isn't linked to skin color. Intelligence, sensibility, compassion and integrity don't appear to me to be linked to color. Neither does stupidity, selfishness, callousness or indifference. Anyone who thinks otherwise falls into two categories: the perpetually hoodwinked, or the self-serving with a hidden agenda,

Nationalists? Today? This seems a strawman, as that ship sailed some time ago. Yes, there are those who are playing at it, but I don't think anyone takes them seriously today. Nationalism is right there with Scientific Socialism and five percenters.

I'm surprised Mr. Crouch didn't mention the asinine kerfuffle manufactured by the embarrassingly conventional black journalist Debra Dickerson, who went around early in the campaign peddling the nonsense that Obama wasn't 'black enough.' 'Black enough' for what, Ms. Dickerson wasn't very well prepared to say. It's likely she expected Obama would fall into the black-candidate trap, which neither his sensibility nor his strategy would have allowed. In any case, her several-day media storm fizzled soon after Stephen Colbert exposed her sorry misreading of Obama on his Comedy Central show. A fitting end to a lot of nonsense parading as analysis.

Stanley, you and I do not often agree. But, on this one we are in total harmony.

When I was a teenager I use to tell my mother that I thought I'd been born in the wrong time. I wanted to be one of those mythical freedom fighters; a revolutionary with a passionate purpose who lived during the era when blackfolks cared about something.

It was my mothers, she herself a former 60s revolutionary, who told me no such time ever existed. It broke my heart! But, then you read and you learn. Sister Harriet had to tell slaves they would be free or die! Malcolm was gunned down by his own people. Martin was betrayed by jealous southern preachers.

There has never been a time when the vocal minority did not have to fight both the majority of their own folks and the greater majority to make process. There is no golden time in history for any man of any color. The idiots have always outnumbered us. That does undercut the arguement of both nationalists and the Steele-ites. Anything that exposes the truth of our individuality and autonomy is a threat to extremist group think on both sides.

We really are just people. "My people" these days are likeminded individuals of any color with some g*td*mn sense.