PHILADELPHIA (FinalCall.com)�The people started to line up at 7 a.m. and the event was neither sporting nor musical. Instead, thousands of people flocked to Sharon Baptist Church Feb. 23 to hear some of the best and brightest Black minds in America discuss the issues of the day.

Using the tragic events of September 11 as a backdrop, the daylong symposium was convened by author/political commentator Tavis Smiley, along with co-host, radio personality Tom Joyner.

The event�s theme was, "Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community? Black America�s Vision for Healing, Harmony, and Higher Ground." What the people heard was a compelling voice of reason that tackled diverse issues such as racial profiling, reparations, Islam, education, defense spending and the recently passed anti-terrorism bill, the Patriot Act.

"We want to talk about taking this defining moment and redefining America for Black folk," Mr. Smiley said as he laid the ground rules for the discussion.

The morning panel included Dr. Cornel West; Dr. Michael Eric Dyson; Hugh Price of the National Urban League; Elaine Jones; Lani Guinier; Nasid Ibn Ali, age 16; Rev. James Forbes; Kimberly Williams Crenshaw; Luqman Abdul Haqq (Kenny Gamble); Rev. Bernice King; William C. Thompson; and moderator Raymond Brown.

"America was niggerized on September 11," Dr. West said in opening remarks as the discussion began. "From 1619 to 2002 to be a nigger is to be unprotected, to be subject to random violence and hated. We have been able to look niggerization in the face and not come up with revenge, not demonizing other people. We talk about justice," the noted scholar said.

Law professor Kimberly Williams Crenshaw said that on 9/11 she was on a plane coming back from the World Conference on Racism held in Durban, South Africa. "There are people all over the world that are fighting White supremacy," she said. "The conference made it very difficult for me to see life in the form of a nation again. Instead, we saw human life, human need. We saw the way the United States government, time and time again, was in opposition and walked away from the table and we were embarrassed and humiliated by that. America must be taught global literacy, that is, not teaching the world to read but rather teaching America how to properly read the world."

Harvard law professor Lani Guinier brought a powerful metaphor into the discussion when she stated that Black people are "the canary in the mine," meaning Blacks have a special sensitivity. "The canary would pick up the toxicity in the mines before the miner," she explained. "It�s not about fixing the canary but rather fixing the atmosphere in the mines. [Blacks] need to bring our sensibility about freedom and justice to the table."

The highlight of the morning session occurred with comments by Luqman Abdul Haqq (a.k.a. Kenny Gamble), cofounder of Philadelphia International Records. In crystallizing the problem, he noted that it has always been about economics.

"My thought on how to solve these issues is to look at the root. The root of racism is economics. Integration, civil rights, racial profiling, slavery, so just remember as we go along today, let�s not get caught up in the rhetoric; let�s understand that this move on Afghanistan � has to do with economics. Once we as a people start to talk about economics, then we as a people will get to where we want to go."

Panel two, which occurred during the afternoon session, was composed of Stanley Crouch; Na�im Akbar; Iyanla Vanzant; Manning Marble; Chaka Fattah; Rev. Barbara Lewis King; Rev. Gardner Taylor; Sonia Sanchez; Kwame Kilpatrick; Rev. Al Sharpton; Derrick Blassingame, age 15; Barbara Lee, attorney Johnnie Cochran; and moderator Charles Ogletree.

Addressing the topic of racial profiling, Rev. Sharpton demonstrated America�s duplicity. "They are for racial profiling for some. They would not let you do that to others. After Oklahoma City, if a member of the Congressional Black Caucus said let�s profile young White males, they would have ran them out of this country. Look right now at all of the over-50 White males at Enron. Why don�t we profile over-50 White males going to the bank?" he asked.

In addressing the burning issue of patriotism in this country, both panels were clear that Black people in this country are super patriots. Mr. West characterized American patriotism as "adolescent nationalism." Rev. Forbes labeled it, "pornographic patriotism" because its emphasis is on "self-satisfaction."

Rev. Sharpton brought the crowd to its feet when he noted that, "We never fought for an America we knew. We fought and marched and prayed for an America that we believed that if we kept fighting, we could make it that way."

"There was a deliberate effort to quiet any kind of protest following 9/11," observed Dr. Na�im Akbar, a noted psychologist. "The challenge that we face is that we are not ordinary Americans. We are extraordinary. We have a way of assessing and critiquing America in a way America cannot critique herself. We don�t have the ego investment in trying to preserve some romanticized notion of superiority," he said.

On the minds of many in the audience was the question of where do we go from here. Sonia Sanchez said, "The only way you stay sane in America is that you become an activist. You pick up where you live, your job, wherever you may be, make it holy. When you make it holy that means you are doing the work, fighting for people."

Ms. Sanchez engaged the audience by having them say the word "resist."

"Remember that word resist. It is a mighty word. You must walk out of here and say, I will no longer be a fool or patsy for America," she said.

"The panel discussion was absolutely exquisite," Betty Young from Camden, N.J., told The Final Call.

"It was long overdue. The ideas of Blacks needs to be more ingested, particularly in our young people. The questions asked were answered with the passion that is needed to make people want to get up and do something."