The past week has seen the Obama campaign come across its greatest challenge yet in confronting the public uproar over statements made by Obama's spiritual guide and pastor, Jeremiah Wright. However, the core of the problem here is not the quality of Wright's statements, but the racist implications that surround these condemnations. The vast majority of Wright's assertions are not wrong, they are simply being delivered by an "Angry Black Man" which makes them appear threatening to the American (read White) public. Let's examine some of the arguments Wright has made.

-911 occurred because of resentment over US foreign policies.

True. America's long standing and biased support of Israel over the basic human rights of the Palestinians, and imperialist meddling in the Middle East has created the well of resentment that exists in the region today. Before the 50's, the US was actually quite popular in the region and seen in a favorable light to the primary imperialists Britain and France. However, since then, American policies have engendered a great deal of ill will and anger. The tactics of terrorism are an offshoot of that anger.

 -The US supported Apartheid and the jailing of Nelson Mandela.

True. Until the very end, the United States supported the White South African Apartheid system. They were considered a "democratic" bulwark against Communism or "Black Liberation". It did not matter that this was a system that denigrated individuals on the basis of their race.

-The US introduced Aids into the Black community.

Untrue. Ok, I think Wright came way out of left field with this one. But rarely mentioned in the public discourse was another contention made by Wright concerning the Tuskegee experiment in which poor, illiterate Black males were given syphillis and were not treated in a series of experiments spanning from 1932 to 1972.

-The US is biased towards Israel against the Palestinians.

True. I don't believe I need to elaborate any further on this particular piece of discourse, however, this ingrained bias has reached the social depth that any perception of a balanced attitude towards the conflict is met with immense hostility.

Therefore, little of what Wright has said was truly controversial. What was controversial was that he fit the mold of the Black militant. The fact that this man had a close relationship with Obama now makes Obama ever more threatening. In the eyes of America (read White), regardless of how clean cut and articulate Obama is, there is now the threat that he is a violent, lawless Black panther beneath that veneer. Was not Malcolm X clean cut and articulate? Is not Farrakhan well spoken and well mannered?

The core problem here is that White Americans are still lacking in the ability to accept Blacks for who they are, rather than expecting them to play the role of the good House Negro. Herein, I believe lies the great opportunity in this moment, an opportunity that could rise from the shambles of disaster. This is the opportunity to address the age old question of race head on, and really determine where this dialogue is headed. Enough with the Political Correctness, which have only placed a glossed facade in front of deep misunderstandings and mistrust. This is a grand opportunity for White America to realize that Black America truly comes from a different experience than their own.

When Blacks criticize the policies of America, they are not unpatriotic, they just want to see this country do better. They want to see America truly living up to its highest ideals. White Americans cannot understand this, because in their eyes, America has always been the perfect country, the land of liberty. It is easy for White Americans to unquestionably love this country because this country and government has always worked for them. However, for Blacks, who were brought to this land as slaves, then experiencing four centuries of dehumanization, violence, oppression and denigration, the experience is very different. The American Dream was an American Nightmare. It was not only denial of rights and opportunity that Blacks had suffered, it was the very denial of their right to be true human beings. It was the denigration and rejection of everything they were, from their physical features to their culture, that truly created the pain of the Black experience in this country. For anyone who has studied and researched the history of Black America in-depth, it is not hard to grasp and understand why there would continue to exist some residual anger and distrust towards our government and the White establishment.

Yesterday, I heard Obama's speech that had addressed this issue. This is an eloquent and highly intelligent man. He took a difficult situation and turned it around to match a higher ideal. Obama invoked Bobby Kennedy's address to a large group of Blacks to announce MLK's death and his urging of using that dark incident to become a motivator of positive change, instead of returning to angry hatred. Obama called for using this incident as a catalyst for an honest discussion on race. In a situation where more unsophisticated politicians such as Hillary Clinton or Bill Clinton would've gone on the defensive and retreat to their bunkers, Obama reaches out and offers a new opportunity. Normally, I am skeptical of mainstream politicians, but I have to admit that in this case, the tactic was no less than ingenius.

As diversity in America continues to grow. It is time for an honest discussion of race. It is time to face the skeletons in our closet and begin to wipe out this unease we have with each other. Obama's campaign has inadvertently put that issue on the table, this discussion is long overdue.