Have blacks traded their iron chains for cultural ones?(Originated from)

By Leonard Pitts Jr.

Knight Ridder Newspapers

I know you'll find this hard to believe, but I once wrote a column that sparked a controversy, a racially charged confrontation, with readers making daily demands for my severed head on a stick.

One day, at the height of the heat, I got a call from a black woman I had never met. She said she had put a group together, and they were prepared to march in front of the newspaper in a show of support.

I thanked her and told her it wasn't necessary, but the gesture has always meant a lot to me. I take it as evidence of the unspoken covenant that exists among black people. Call it an embrace of …