You and Field Negro have ridiculed Al Sharpton for providing counsel to a man who has used the N-word. I believe that using the N-word in public is a symptom of Extreme Color-Aroused Disorder (ECA), a mental disorder in which sufferers have extreme ideation, emotion and behavior associated with skin color, wherein the ideation, emotion and behavior impair them in one or more areas of life, including their intimate relationships, their work relationships, their professional standing, their social relationships, their finances, their physical health, their relationships with their children, their spirituality, etc.

One of the many symptoms of Extreme Color-Aroused Disorder is the compulsion to insult others using color-associated epithets in public. Although this is just one of many symptoms, it is the perhaps the symptom that most often brings the mentally ill person to public attention, because they engage in behavior that is both notorious and outrageous. Yet, this is no more the only symptoms of ECA than drunken driving would be the ONLY symptom of alcoholism. It is one of many destructive manifestations of very destructive illness.

You may ask, "Does this disease really exist?" I ask you, in turn, are there really people who have extreme ideation, emotion and behavior associated with skin color? If you say that calling someone the N-word in public is an "extreme" behavior, then you have already answered one third of your own question. Now, ask yourself whether it is possible to have an extreme behavior that is NOT based in extreme ideation and emotion? Either the behavior is based in extreme ideation or emotion or it is autonomous (happens mostly independent of thought and emotion, like breathing, heart beat).

To me, it's obvious that this disease exists. How many famous people have ruined their careers and lost significant contracts lately because they felt compelled to use the N-word in public, even though the negative consequences and social penalties for doing so were clear?

So, now who will treat the millions of people who have this illness? Shall we just acknowledge that they are sick and then leave them to their own devices, to continue victimizing people? That's like acknowledging the problem of drunk driving but refusing to open any detox centers and ignoring the necessity for Alcoholics Anonymous meetings! And then we're surprised that drunk driving continues to occur?

No, we need to treat the problem of Extreme Color-Aroused Disorder exactly as we treat alcoholism that lead to drunk driving: with prevention programs, alcoholism screening, diagnosis and treatment. The problem is that Black and white people are afraid to admit that ECA is a mental illness for fear of diminishing or removing the moral and legal responsibility for the ECA perpetrators' acts.

But, ask yourself this: Can an alcoholic appear in court and say that he is an alcoholic to avoid imprisonment for vehicular homicide or for drunk driving? Of course not! Having a mental illness does not diminish responsibility unless one is not aware of the wrongfulness of one's acts, and less than one percent of defendants meet that standard.

Is a person less morally responsible because his behavior is symptomatic of an illness? Well, in our society, publicly acknowledging that one is mentally is pretty difficult, isn't it, because it is so embarrassing to admit that one has a mental illness? The fear of being embarrassed by having to admit that one has a mental illness is at least as much of a deterrent as the fear of being called a "racist." Many people do not fear being called a "racist" at all, but many of those same people would have to be called "mentally ill," because being mentally ill still carries a strong social stigma.

Who will treat the people who suffer from ECA? If not Al Sharpton, then whom? Until Black social thinkers suggest a better program of treatment than the one Al Sharpton offers, they should simply be glad that ANYONE AT ALL is offering treatment for Extreme Color-Aroused Disorder, which is the most under-diagnosed and under-treated illness in America, I suspect, with Black people and other people paying the price for this denial.

Actually, I didn't mention a word about Sharpton... mainly because, at the time I wrote this article, he wasn't even on the horizon. Mind you, I should have known he's appear soon.

 As for the rest, from what I can see you are advocating that there be special "Spiritual Advisers to Bigots" training? Or to those afflicted with ECA, I guess.

 These days, it's certainly a growth industry so one may as well get in on the bottom floor.