One of our presidential hopefuls continues to say that we have to have a conversation about race in America. Yes, that hopeful is Barack Obama. I tend to agree with him about that -- we do need to have a conversation about race in America.

Of course, Obama says the conversation must begin with what he labels the "white community" in his words, "acknowledging that what ails the African-American community does not just exist in the minds of black people; that the legacy of discrimination -- and current incidents of discrimination, while less overt than in the past -- are real and must be addressed. Not just with words, but with deeds… ."

I am curious why he refers to the population of white people in America as the "white community" and the population of black people in America as the "African-American community?"

I think our discussion about race in America ought to start right there -- let's agree on terms. We can call the white population the white community and we can call the black population the black community.

White people should have no more problem addressing black people as that, black, than black people do addressing white people as white.

I think the conversation should then move on to the failed policies of the United States government that have obviously not eradicated poverty and the lack of education within the black community.

The fact is that trillions of dollars have been spent since the 1960s on poverty programs designed to bring ALL poor [black and white and others] into the realization of the "American Dream." There is the food stamp program, rent supplements, Section 8 housing, Pell grants, student loans, legal services, Medicaid, etc. just to name a few.

There is affirmative action, contract set-asides and quotas. These apparently have not and are not working!

Then I think the conversation should move to consider what Bill Cosby has said about the situation within the black community. He said, "We cannot blame white people." He said, "In the neighborhood that most of us grew up in, parenting is not going on. In the old days, you couldn't hooky school because every drawn shade was an eye. And before your mother got off the bus and to the house, she knew exactly where you had gone, who had gone into the house, and where you got on whatever you had on and where you got it from. Parents don't know that today."

Perhaps one of the topics of our conversation might be why black preachers like Jeremiah Wright can stand behind pulpits and preach "God - - - m America," and not be condemned for doing so, and why he can preach all kinds of derogatory things about the white community and be permitted that freedom of speech, but if a white preacher said similar things about the black community he'd be condemned in a heartbeat?

The fact is we do need to have a long conversation in America about race. Given his ties to extremists like Wright and others like him, Barack Obama is not the one who should lead that conversation.

Jack Rollins is the managing editor of the Daily Dunklin Democrat.