by Derrick Elliston

Created on: January 06, 2007   Last Updated: April 30, 2007

The issue of race is one of the most explosive in America.It seems as if it has never gone away, and yet no one talks about it on a national level.Most of America's leaders since the 1960s have failed to address the issue of race in a head on manner.Neither Ronald Reagan,George Bush or Richard Nixon gave the issue the prominence it deserved.The Presidents that were Southerners like Jimmy Carter or Bill Clinton, may have been sympathetic to Black Americans but they hardly made any speeches or introduced any bold new initiatives.Why?Most people I suspect think that all that needed to be done with regard to race was accomplished in the 1960s.

Civil rights was seen as done.

The landmark Civil Rights Act in 1964 and the Voting Rights Act in 1965 were seen as enough. Most white Americans probably think that this was enough, and if black Americans can't pull themselves up after all this, and the War on Poverty, then what more do they want?This is reflected in the fact that the NAACP does not have the voice that it once had. Civil Rights is way down the list of national priorities for a country bogged down in two wars( Iraq and Afghanistan).

It took Hurricane called Katrina to demonstrate that for all its posturing, the United States has pockets of poverty that can only be described as Third World.The images of poverty in Louisiana and Mississippi, illustrated that despite all its wealth and technological advances, America has failed to lift some people from poverty,and these people happen to be black.It's no surprise that Kanye West made outburst against George Bush during the TV fund raiser.The allegations could easily have been made against a Democratic President.The inner cities have been neglected, funds for social services have been cut and public education is poor.Who cares about this, as long as the middle classes get their tax cuts?

This probably has never gone away.It's the elephant that sits in the lounge that everyone notices, but no one wants to deal with.

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