Charles Ogletree - advisor and part of Barack Obama's "inner circle" - supports massive reparations; "interesting" comments

Harvard law professor Charles Ogletree is an advisor to the Barack Obama campaign and part of his "inner circle" (National Journal, March 31, 2008, link). Perhaps I should have said "was an advisor", because Ogletree seems to have some quite interesting thoughts.

See the video collection here.

See the Oct. 25, 2008 audio here; summary:

Top Obama adviser Prof. Charles Ogletree says 21st-century white America, as a general rule, remains racist towards Blacks, Latinos, and Asians, and racism is likely to persist for decades -- Barack Obama is an exception only because "he happens to be biracial," so that his election will not be proof that whites have moved beyond racism.

And, see the many other links here.

UPDATE: See also this. In 2002 - also at that time supporting reparations - Ogletree was a co-chair of the presidential exploration committee for... wait for it... Al Sharpton (link). And, the ABA Journal speculates here:

Ogletree was an adviser to the Black Law Students Association when Obama arrived at Harvard Law, and Obama has long cited him as a mentor. Ogletree’s in­terest in civil rights and racial disparities in the criminal justice system made him a natural choice as Obama's adviser on black issues in the campaign... When the NAACP believed it was obligated to support Clarence Thomas in his confirmation battle for the Supreme Court, Ogletree wrote a 30-page report that changed its mind. The 55-year-old professor could be Obama’s choice to head the Justice Department’s civil rights division, perhaps with a close eye on its voting section, which some Democrats believe has been used to suppress minority voting in recent years.

Politics · Fri, 10/31/2008 - 16:11 · · Importance: 1