[I swear there's a better update coming on Vanessa, Abigail and all of us. I just wanted to respond to something I read without littering on my friend's blog. :-) ]
Mark Veerman writes about Al Sharpton throwing his weight around and trying to stir the pot WRT Kelly Tilghman's ill-advised comments about Tiger Woods. Alan commented and I think I disagree quite a bit with his comments. This post intends to respond to those comments without sending the deluge to Mark's blog. :-)
Alan, while I respect your experience WRT race relations (which is first-hand and, presumably, more extensive than my own), I have to disagree with your statements, if only on principle. Namely, your assertion that "we are all recovering racists" and pointing to the "broken world" as a manner of justifying that statement is, curiously, prejudiced. You assume that the world's brokenness ensures that each individual is a racist. However, that's no more logical than assuming that the world's brokenness means everyone is a misogynist, or a thief, or disobedient to one's parents, or anything else. True, we are all guilty of breaking the whole of the Law in that we have broken any one part of it, but it's fallacious to insist that we have all broken that one part of it.
Frankly, that sort of attitude inevitably leads to — almost requires — interpreting various actions as racist when, in fact, they might not be. When everyone's a racist at heart, racism ends up driving everything.
I believe that racism still exists. I believe that saying something like "lynch" to or about a black person is probably never the right thing to say. I also believe that it's hardly an appropriate response to treat use of the word "lynch" in the same way you'd respond to an actual lynching. (Perhaps it wasn't quite that bad, but the reaction didn't seem to fit the "crime".) I believe that "the cause" has been largely harmed, especially for American blacks, by Al Sharpton and his ilk, hysterically screaming racism at every turn. When the wolf of racism really does come 'round, the townspeople are too tired of listening to the irresponsible shepherd's false complaints.
Since you mentioned Jesus as a model, let's look at who Jesus called out. The one and only group that Jesus put the screws to were the religious leaders: those who said one thing with their lips, but did another thing, oppressing the masses and living their lives far from God's heart. The funny thing about applying that to this story is that SHARPTON deserves to be called out by every Christian in the world for his shenanigans. Google '"al sharpton" racist' and see the myriad examples of his forked tongue. THAT is who Jesus would call out: a "leader" who does not protect the "flock" he is claiming to represent and care about. (Seriously, just read something like this and see where you think Jesus would come down on the topic.)
Am I just a crazy, ignorant white boy?