Who Has Done More to Advance Race Relations in the US?

Or, who has done the most to advance black citizens in America?

a. Barack Obama
b. Eric Holder
c. Al Sharpton
d. Jesse Jackson
e. Black Panthers
f. Protesters
g. Louis Farrakhan
h. None of the above have helped (name someone who has, and why/how)


Since I'm white, is it racist for me to ask these questions if I'm concerned about how a divided population will be bad for our future?

Please don't go off into the weeds about history, I'm looking for a living modern leader who is helping with the advancement of African-Americans who remain less wealthy, less employed, and have less two parent families.

That's a tough question. Certainly I would say 'None of the Above', but in terms of naming a nationally recognized leader I come up blank.

I hope and believe that there are community folks out there at the local level who toil largely unrecognized. There are also (IMO) some good folks out there at the national level on blogs and such; Kenn Blanchard and Alan Keyes come to mind, but I don't know that they have a lot of influence.

Seems to me that that may be part of the problem in some small way.

Rick wrote: Or, who has done the most to advance black citizens in America?

a. Barack Obama
b. Eric Holder
c. Al Sharpton
d. Jesse Jackson
e. Black Panthers
f. Protesters
g. Louis Farrakhan
h. None of the above have helped (name someone who has, and why/how)


Since I'm white, is it racist for me to ask these questions if I'm concerned about how a divided population will be bad for our future?

Please don't go off into the weeds about history, I'm looking for a living modern leader who is helping with the advancement of African-Americans who remain less wealthy, less employed, and have less two parent families.

On this one, I agree with cydl, but perhaps not for the same reasons. I saw a recent quote that I need to paraphrase because I can't find it again. It kind of goes like this: We keep looking for leaders such as Martin Luther King, Jr. and Ghandi to emerge. That won't happen because we are those leaders.

In today's day and age, looking for someone who does more than others in this, and other arenas, is arguably going to be problematic, especially since we tend to look at people like those listed in your post with a level of skepticism, disdain, or downright disgust at what they do. We also have a tendency, if we are white, to look through our own filters at each and every individual and incident involving race relations. No, I don't think you are being racist in posting what you did and asking what you did. I just think it kind of goes in the wrong direction if you're looking for someone from a minority community to "step up" and lead the way in this.

I'd also like to point out that "race" isn't just black and white. I grew up near a reservation and witnessed some of the most vile racist injustice I've ever seen in my own back yard. I also had the honor and privilege in my professional capacity to work with Native American sovereign nations and the people therein. We also worked with people from the Pine Ridge Reservation and both gave and received what we consider to be a life-changing cultural experience.

Race relations are multi-cultural in nature. Unless we all strive to look for and practice "empathy" for each other, I don't believe for one second that race "relations" will improve for any particular "race".

While the people in this article (video interviews with each) probably do not rise to the standard you are trying to set, I'd offer they have a lot of good stuff to say (Mandela, of course, is deceased, but it would appear from my research the rest are still living).

billmoyers.com/content/civil-disobedienc...and-overcoming-hate/

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iyanla_Vanzant

When Ferguson's fiery fight STARTED, she was there as a spiritual force to facilitate a PEACEFUL,but
meaningful protest. She reminded "the elders" of the community of integrity,INTENT and initiative...what
it meant to be "in back of the bus" and hold your power to become EQUAL....she apologized to the younger generation for HER generations lack of involvement,laid down a challenge to the elders to TEACH what integrity and INTENT meant...she IS a leader in HUMAN DIGNITY....

Of course, Oprah W. is a force beyond compare and teaches the SAME.

Arguably the person who has done the most to improve "race relations" would have to be white, not black, wouldn't they? I mean, after all, the race that had to do the improving was the white folk, not the black folk, right? Isn't that more consistent with the meme that the whites horribly mistreated the other races and thus would have to be the ones who had to improve the most?