What is the State of the Black Union?

It is time to go back to talking about Culture and the craziness that currently passes for race relations. There really is no winning this one currently as there are too many people who benefit from promoting racial discord. I had an excellent post on this about Katrina a while back here (in my humble opinion at least). If Obama gets the nomination for the Democratic candidate for Presidency and doesn't win, the analysis from CNN, MSNBC and the Boston Globe will be that he lost because of his race (America wasn't ready for a black president, etc.) not that the American people rejected his extreme liberal positions on the issues facing America and his empty rhetoric (Change for change's sake and all that).

So I was reading CNN's website and saw the following story - "Obama takes heat for skipping State of the Black Union". So what is the State of the Black Union. Well thanks to Google I found out that the State of the Black Union is is an annual event which is held in a selected city in the United States (2008 found the conference in Post-Katrina New Orleans) and focuses on topics close to the African American community. The topic this year was "Reclaiming Our Democracy, Deciding Our Future", the website can be found here. The obvious question has to be - what would be the uproar if there was a state of the White Union (I checked Google and Wikipedia - no such event is planned).

The continued emphasis on defining some people by the color of their skin and allowing "issues" that are only of a concern for a segment of the population (Gay issues, Black issues, Hispanic issues, etc.) will continue the disunity and balkanization that apparently is still accepted as the norm by so many in this country (note the story I quoted from was CNN). The issue with Obama not going to this conference is small compared to the sad state of affairs that a conference like this reveals about the current climate of race relations in America. Read the Covenant with Black America (http://www.covenantwithblackamerica.com/) and replace many of the "covenants" with a different race - Education, Health Care, Economic Prosperity - aren't these issues of concern to all races?

The Covenant with Black America states on its website:

The Covenant with Black America is a national plan of action to address the primary concerns of African Americans today -- from health to housing, from crime to criminal justice, from education to economic parity. The frustration and angst felt by Black Americans post-Hurricane Katrina, from California to the Carolinas, is palpable. As we move toward the national elections of 2006 and 2008, Black Americans are entitled to have questions answered and visions shared of where our leaders want to take this country and a blueprint for how we get there.

I would add that any American is entitled to have questions answered and visions shared with the leaders of this country regardless of race. It is a shame that the supporters or members of this Covenant feel that the focus always come from a racial perspective. Why don't other ethnicities feel the need for a conference such as this (State of the Asian Union, State of the Hispanic Union?).

Until we can move away from issues that are "Black" or "White" or Purple, the original vision of the United States seems distant. Does this bother anyone else?

OS