... if black people receive equal economic, social and educational opportunity from birth, they will have virtually identical aptitude and achievement as white people with the same opportunities. I have been personally acquainted with enough black people to believe otherwise.

Carl Stokes, first black mayor of Cleveland (won 2 terms, first one in 1967, defeating Seth Taft, grandson of President Howard Taft), Ohio was incredibly intelligent, as was his brother, 15 term US Congressman Louis Stokes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Stokes



http://www.stokescleveland.org/

Louis retired from Congress, joined the prestigious Cleveland Law Firm of Squires, Sanders and Dempsey, and served as Professor of Law at Case Western Reserve University, my MBA Alma Mater, and was awarded a Congressional Distinguished Service Award in 2003.

Condoleeza Rice was born in Birmingham, Alabama in 1954 ... ... educated at University of Denver and Notre-Dame, Provost of Stanford University, one of the tops in the world, US Secretary of State, Professor of Political Science at Stanford, concert-quality pianist and violinist ... far more accomplished than 98% of the white population. Need I say more?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Condoleeza_Rice

Nashville is the home of Fisk University and Meharry Medical College, both of which have offered top-notch opportunity to black people long before anyone ever heard of Civil Rights. Today, these institutions are still predominately attended by black people, mainly because they want to maintain a tradition that is important to their ethnic identity. Most of the students at either of these institutions could easily get admitted to any other college in the US.

http://www.fisk.edu/

You haven't seen 'Pomp and Circumstance' until you witness the events associates with Fisk University Graduation Ceremonies. Beautifully-dressed, distinguished-looking parents in their Mercedes, BMWs and Cadillacs. Awesome!

Having grown up on a family farm in the south, I got to know black people personally on a day-to-day basis. I went to their homes, had Thanksgiving and Christmas Dimmers with them, played with their kids. While most of the farm workers back when I was growing up, black or white, were obviously not wealthy, they were extremely resourceful, sometimes working multiple jobs, and I watched their kids and grandkids (who went to school with my kids) grow up to become doctors and run their own businesses because they took advantage of opportunities instead of gummint handout programs.

Ya see, in the modern South, we actually get to know black people personally ... they are not just another demographic group for whom we feign interest just to get votes.

Let me end by saying this: I don't like Obama's politics and economic programs because they are too socialistic for me, but he would probably run circles around Abraham Lincoln intellectually.