Kublai Toure

“If Senator Obama becomes the president of the U.S.A. or is in the general election, I don’t feel like what his pastor said should be held against him. But because of racism, they will use that as an advantage because they control the news media. If people start to believe things they see day in and day out, even though they know it is wrong, they tend to break down and start believing what they hear.”

Patricia Hill

“No, I don’t think the remarks Pastor Wright made are going to hurt Senator Obama anymore than had he not made them. Those who are opposed to Obama were already opposed to him and just wanted an excuse not to support him. They didn’t have to wait for Pastor Wright. They would just make something up. I’m just discouraged to see that we’re spending so much time dealing with race from comments made by a pastor instead of dealing with public policy on race. We should be demanding that the candidates create some type of public policy on race.”

Larry Kennon

“Yes, I believe that the statements would hurt his chances based on the psychology of white people. Not that there was anything wrong with his statement, but the response frees those white people who were looking for a reason not to vote for him. They can’t say because he is black. So now they are saying it’s his association with someone else. But I believe the statements of this pastor were taken out of context. It was unfair because they went over a 20-year period, giving the inference that every time he gave a speech or sermon, that was what he was talking about, and of course, that is not true. I talked with a young black guy who has a conservative father, who said that they should not vote for Obama because his middle name is ‘Hussein’ and that would be helping the torturers because, if we have a president whose name has a Muslim sound that would be against the best interest of America. So, if a black man said that, you know that some white people will take every opportunity to use that as an excuse against electing a black president.”

Duane Savage

“Well, it might have a chance to hurt him in the general election, but I think that it is going to give him more strength. A lot of people who are going to be voting in the general election don’t want their own pastor to come under that kind of scrutiny. They like to have separation from what their pastor says. So I think that the good, spirited, common sense people will see this as a plus for him – that he didn’t back out of his support for his reverend. He denounced what his reverend said, but he didn’t disallow the fact that his reverend can speak freely. I think most Americans will appreciate that.”

Ezra McCann

“I honestly feel that Pastor Wright did not hurt him. He was hurt anyway. My opinion has always been that the Republic Party always wanted Senator Obama to be the Democratic nominee. I feel they know that if it’s Barack Obama against McCain, white folks are going to go into that booth and vote their interest. So when it comes to ‘D’ day and we to vote for president, whites are going to go to the polls in numbers and it won’t be for a black man. Number one, they are very scared of us. They know that they owe us some kind of a debt for slavery and the injustices since being out of slavery. They are very, very scared that if we ever get that front seat, there is going to be a whole lot of progress that may finally happen for us as black people. The majority of the racist white folks in this country are not going to stand for that.”

Menjwei Latham

“I don’t believe that the statements made by Rev. Jeremiah Wright will hurt his chances in the general election because I believe that Senator Obama’s candidacy is greater, much larger than any issue that is thrown at him. This, to me, is just something that they pulled out, which they will continue to do. Like they say, ‘Throw the kitchen sink at him.’ They are going to throw the kitchen sink, the house and everything else they can at him. But I think his candidacy is so much larger than these things. I have a feeling that it is so much bigger, if it’s time for him to be president he is going to be president, and nothing they can do will stop it.”