The New York Times listens in on WVON:

Throughout Wednesday the telephone lines were burning in the studios of WVON, a black talk radio station in Chicago, where scores of callers voiced their outrage at what they described as the racist efforts to block Mr. Burris from taking his seat.

“We’ve come out of this presidential election so steeped in change, but the game still remains the same,” said Michael L. Peery, a producer at the station, describing the sentiments of the callers. “When you’re African-American, you always have to leap a little higher. It’s never really a level playing field here.”

The Rev. Marshall Hatcher, a black pastor at New Mount Pilgrim Church on Chicago’s West Side, said white politicians who reject Mr. Burris would suffer among black voters.

Meanwhile, some black lawmakers tell the AP that the Burris appointment does nothing to change their opinion of Gov. Blagojevich:

Long before his Dec. 9 arrest, the Chicago Democrat had made a habit of courting the black community, both with broad policies and small gestures. [...]

State Sen. Kwame Raoul said black lawmakers won't be swayed by Burris' appointment. "We're just not cheap," said Raoul, a Democrat.

And the Atlantic's Ta-Nehisi Coates keeps slamming Rep. Bobby Rush -- and rightfully so -- for his 2004 support of Blair Hull in the U.S. Senate Democratic primary:

As I said yesterday, it is amazing to me that just four years ago Rush wouldn't support either black candidate running for the Senate. But now in '08, it's a national embarrassment that we don't have a black person in the senate.

UPDATE (2:40 p.m.): From the Tribune:

[T]oday, about two dozen African-American community leaders and ministers gathered outside the James R. Thompson Center in Chicago to demand Burris be seated in the U.S. Senate.

Led by William "Dock" Walls, the group called on Secretary of State Jesse White to sign Blagojevich's proclamation making Burris senator and asked U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin to escort Burris onto the Senate floor next week. Burris is suing White to get him to sign the document.

If they don't, Walls, who got trounced in 2007 in a bid for Chicago mayor, promised political retribution.