Race still matters

In tomorrow's Chicago Tribune, Clarence Page has written an editorial entitled, Race still matters for poor blacks.

Mainstream black leaders tend to blame black poverty on external barriers like racism, discrimination and the disappearance of low-skill jobs.

Conservative critics tend to blame black poverty on black behavior, attitudes and other "cultural" conditioning.

Page suggests that Obama and other lawmakers should work on legislation that recognizes the power of both culture and racism. He writes, "Obama won the presidency by insisting that racism was no longer powerful enough to stop him. But is it still powerful enough to stop those whom the civil rights movement left behind in poverty?"