“The same racism that we had to deal with way back in the day—in the ’50s and ’60s—we have to deal with today,” she said bluntly.

“This election is one that is going to have a tell-tale sign on all of us,” she said.

Rev. Dr. Marshall E. Hatch, Jr., National Director of Religious Affairs of the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, emphasized the importance of keeping focus.

“We need to put our eyes back on the prize,” he said.

Gradations of class within the black community are dangerous divisions, he said, also pointing to still-existing racism as an obstacle.

“The enemies of our struggle are relentless,” he said.

The current scheme, Hatch said, is the disenfranchisement of blacks as a way for some to cement political power.

He also expressed his disapproval of the government’s current “disconnect from churches,” calling for the black community to “reclaim [their] sense of moral authority.”

Dr. Michael E. Dyson, an author and radio commentator for National Public Radio’s Tavis Smiley Show, displayed his skills as an ordained Baptist minister, drawing enthusiastic clapping and hearty laughter following his brief but explosive speech.

Describing the nation as a “pigmentocracy” where the “color of your skin is used as a guide to treat you,” Dyson cited racial profiling as indicative of current race relations.

And like several panelists before him, Dyson derided Cosby’s recent comments that have characterized blacks as uneducated and as unmotivated.

Cosby has a right to say what he likes, Dyson said, but he should know what he’s “talking about before [he opens his] mouth.”

Dyson also urged the audience to go “beyond class warfare.”

“You might be in first class, I might be in coach, but if the plane go down, we go down together,” he said.

Rep. Major Owens of New York focused on the importance of zeroing in on the minute and cautioned against premature celebration.