and the author of the new book, "more than just race: being black and poor in the inner city," warren valentine, attorney, author and nationally syndicated radio host, and finally, terrence samuel, deputy editor for "the root," a subsidiary of the "washington post." >> the state of black america is that these are the best of times and the worst of times. i put it that way because we do have this incredible, historical event with the election of barack obama as president, but on the other hand, the recession, the big "r," recession, as i like to call it, has plunged many african-americans deeper into economic misery. >> warren valentine, interestingly enough, the best of times, the worst of times. what do you think about what marc morial just said? >> i agree with marc. i think it is the best of times when you look at it from a political landscape, but it is the worst of times, you know. when america gets a cold, african-americans have pneumonia. and right now, we have pneumonia, swine flu and everything else that's going on, because when you look at what's happening in our communities, we're lo

warren valentine is the host of "the warren valentine show," and he's also a former prosecutor. he's joining us live. he's in atlanta. thank you very much. you're usually by satellite. good to see you. >> good to see you, don. >> we have been discussing one of the comments i have been hearing from african americans that african-americans are too sensitive on racial matters but it's not always matters of race. >> it's not. with this situation in boston with sergeant crowley, i was one of the main people saying look, this is not racial profiling taking place. i said it on my national show and my local show in chicago. however, one of the things that's not being discussed here is what happened, and this is what is going on in black america. you have 2 million people incarcerated in this country. 1 million are black. when you look at officer crowley falsifying a police report, which if you and i had done that, we would have been arrested. >> let me explain what you're saying. you're saying and many people have heard it on talk radio and the african-american community saying why aren