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Unfortunately I missed the first forum, which seems to be drawing the most commentary, but caught most of the second one.
One of the more interesting exchanges was between Carlton Pearson and Jamal Harrison Bryant. The conversation was about Condaleza (sp?) Rice and Colin Powell and the impending War in Iraq. Pearson believes that we should embrace them and not speak negatively of the im public (i.e. "air our dirty laundry") because they have access that have never been given to AA before. He was also quite critical of most of the "established" black leader's reaction to Kirbyjon Caldwell and his relationship to Bush. By the time Bryant and Rev Al got through with him he was spitting nails. He even got into a tit for tat with the audience saying "Who's on this forum, me or you? Shut up!" While I did not agree with most of his comments, I would like to see more diversity in the comments that come from us. We sometimes treat "conservative like it is a 4 letter word.
The group spent a lot of time discussing politics/the war, etc., but disappointed me when they did not address what I felt was a serious theological issues. The Rev. Johnnie (sp?) Coleman, a female pastor from Chicago, gave this rambling monolouge about her "prosperity" ministry and how we did not have to be poor or sick and that if you "work the principles" in the Bible you could be prosperous too. No one ministry on the podium spoke up against this. I think this "name it and claim it", health and wealth theology is one of the most damaging today and could not believe no one said anything to her.
Like someone else said, I'm looking for solutions as well. IF we all agree on the problem, what are we going to do to solve it?
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