In a speech today at Atlanta's Ebenezer Baptist Church, where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.served as pastor, Barack Obama talked about the existence of institutional racism, the sensationalizing of race "by the media" and the creeping of race as an issue into the presidential campaign.

But Obama's speech will likely be remembered for his calling on the black community to do its part to fight homophobia, anti-Semitism and xenophobia.  read more »

Reverend Dr. Calvin Butts announced his long-assumed endorsement of Hillary Clinton in front of Harlem’s Abyssinian Baptist Church, where Clinton had honored Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. earlier this afternoon.

In endorsing Clinton, Butts read a long statement emphasizing his strong relationship with Clinton and his high regard for her experience. ("I, too, join countless Americans in a collective desire for change, and I do so with a vital recognition that change and experience are not mutually exclusive," Butts said.)

Clinton stood nodding beside Butts as he read his remarks. Across the hanging rope in front of them, the assembled reporters hopped up and down, shivering after an hour-long wait in the aching cold. They sipped from paper cups filled with hot coffee, brought out on trays from the church by Clinton aides, and struggled to hear Butts' remarks over the din of competing Clinton and Barack Obama supporters gathered in the street.  read more »

At a panel discussion last night on development in the city, multiple community organizers and the Reverend Calvin Butts, pastor of Harlem’s Abyssinian Baptist Church, criticized the process of forming community benefits agreements (CBAs) in order to bolster public and governmental support for large development projects.

The tool seems to be a technique increasingly favored by developers of controversial projects, who negotiate with members of the community, agreeing to include in the CBAs provisions for things such as affordable housing and local jobs.  read more »

"She is no stranger here," said Calvin Butts, the Pastor of the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem, where a "homecoming" rally was held for Hillary Clinton on Saturday.

In a very specific way, at least, the origins of Clinton's Senate career can be traced back to the 125th Street offices of Charlie Rangel, who, Clinton lore has it, was the first person to suggest she run for office. Rangel is also credited with finding Bill Clinton his uptown headquarters.

On the rainy Saturday afternoon, Rangel sat on one side of the church's marble altar and Bill and Hillary sat on the other.

"He loves being home," Clinton said of Rangel when it was her turn to talk.

"It's great getting off that plane and being able to come back to Harlem. Isn't it, Charlie?"

The audience was thrilled to have Rangel and Hillary on the same stage.  read more »

Tomorrow, on the day Sean Bell's daughter turns four years old, Rev. Al Sharpton and others will silently march down Fifth Avenue to protest police misconduct in minority communities and press City Hall to implement changes they say were supposed to be in place after the killing of Amadou Diallo.

Butts referred to some officers as "ignorant savages" who are "culturally ignorant" and "racially insensitive."

UPDATE: In response to the Butts comments, mayoral spokesman Stu Loeser said, "We don't dignifiy remarks like that with a response."

Big L keeps it real

Panel discussions aren't always our kind of thing, but tomorrow night the estimable Leonard Lopate (WNYC, y'all!) hosts a very promising symposium on "The Role of the Arts in the Future of Harlem."

Then there's Mr. Max Bond, an architect who spends his time these days worrying about the the World Trade Center Site Memorial. And for some bureaucratic zest he'll be joined by Kate Levin, the Commissioner of the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.  read more »

The Post reports that Republicans have abandoned hope that Tom Suozzi will help them in defeating Eliot Spitzer.

Which thought-based group, exactly, was the target of a widely mailed flyer, colored in the green, yellow, and red associated with Africa, that was headed by the words "Join African-Americans for Bloomberg Today"?

The back features testimonials from Calvin Butts, Floyd Flake, and A.R. Bernard.