Racial issues expose generation gap

WASHINGTON, March 30 (UPI) -- The racial question riding the back of Barack Obama's presidential bid suggests a generation gap among African-Americans, analysts say.

The Democratic senator from Illinois delivered a widely praised speech on race relations in the United States March 18 in response to revelations his pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, made racially tinged comments to his congregation.

A survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & The Press from last week suggested Wright's comments did not have an impact on voters' opinion of Obama. But while the majority of white voters said they found Wright's statements offensive, barely one-third of black voters shared that view, The Washington Times reported Sunday.

Niger Innis with the Congress of Racial Equality said the opinions of black voters, however, are split across generations.

Innis noted "the degree of paranoia" among civil-rights era blacks is to the point where they shy away from voting for a black president, but the younger generation of black Americans are "getting closer to that colorblind society that (the Rev. Martin Luther) King preached about."

Innis warned that blacks should be more wary of Wright's comments than whites, calling the comments a "clear and present danger to African-Americans and our progress."