Re: Obama Speech Confronts Racial DivisionsOn Mar 18, 3:47 pm, Huck Kennedy <tempeh...@gmail,com > wrote:
> On Mar 18, 3:44 pm, Kathy Bush <Barack...@gmail,com > wrote:
>
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> > By Shailagh Murray
> > PHILADELPHIA -- Sen. Barack Obama sought to quell the political
> > firestorm stirred by his former pastor Jeremiah Wright with a deeply
> > personal speech about black anger, white anger, and the gulf that race
> > continues to represent in U.S. society.
>
> > "Race is an issue that I believe this nation cannot afford to ignore
> > right now," Obama asserted. "We would be making the same mistake that
> > Reverend Wright made in his offending sermons about America -- to
> > simplify and stereotype and amplify the negative to the point that it
> > distorts reality."
>
> > The 37-minute speech had consumed Obama in recent days. For the first
> > time in a year, he was faced with a potentially lethal threat to his
> > candidacy that was only partly within his control. Wright's racially
> > charged rhetoric, a throwback the militant 1970s, threatened to
> > sabotage a campaign built around the ideas of unity and change. Obama
> > denounced Wright's comments when they surfaced on Friday, but he knew
> > interviews wouldn't be enough. And so he began crafting today's
> > speech, at once pained and unnerved by the task at hand.
>
> > Obama spoke with a serious voice, reading each word carefully from the
> > teleprompter. The audience sat silently until halfway through the text
> > -- an eternity for an Obama event, where casual one-liners are often
> > met with a standing ovation.
>
> > "I am the son of a black man from Kenya and a white woman from
> > Kansas," Obama declared to the hushed auditorium. "And for as long as
> > I live, I will never forget that in no other country on earth is my
> > story even possible," he said.
>
> > In his 20s, after years of struggling with his racial identity, Obama
> > began attending Wright's Trinity United Church of Christ on Chicago's
> > South Side. It provided him with a community and identity that was
> > missing in his itinerant upbringing. And after being raised by his
> > white grandparents, it also brought him deeper into the African
> > American fold.
>
> > "As imperfect as he may be, he has been like family to me," said Obama
> > of Wright. "He strengthened my faith, officiated my wedding, and
> > baptized my children. Not once in my conversations with him have I
> > heard him talk about any ethnic group in derogatory terms, or treat
> > whites with whom he interacted with anything but courtesy and respect.
> > He contains within him the contradictions -- the good and the bad --
> > of the community that he has served diligently for so many years."
>
> > Obama again denounced the inflammatory statements that have dominated
> > cable news and talk radio coverage in recent days. "Reverend Wright's
> > comments were not only wrong but divisive, divisive at a time when we
> > need unity; racially charged at a time when we need to come together
> > to solve a set of monumental problems."
>
> > But he added, "I can no more disown him than I can disown the black
> > community. I can no more disown him than I can disown my white
> > grandmother -- a woman who helped raise me, a woman who sacrificed
> > again and again for me, a woman who loves me as much as she loves
> > anything in this world, but a woman who once confessed her fear of
> > black men who passed her by on the street, and who on more than one
> > occasion has uttered racial or ethnic stereotypes that made me
> > cringe."
>
> > "These people are a part of me. And they are a part of America, this
> > country that I love."
>
> > He tackled the rich subculture of the African American church
> > experience. "Like other black churches, Trinity's services are full of
> > raucous laughter and sometimes bawdy humor. They are full of dancing,
> > and clapping, and screaming and shouting that may seem jarring to the
> > untrained ear. The church contains in full the kindness and cruelty,
> > the fierce intelligence and the shocking ignorance, the struggles and
> > successes, the love and, yes, the bitterness and biases that make up
> > the black experience in America."
>
> > There also is anger. And "that anger is not always productive," said
> > Obama. "But the anger is real; it is powerful; and to simply wish it
> > away, to condemn it without understanding its roots, only serves to
> > widen the chasm of misunderstanding that exists between the races."
>
> > He added, "In fact, a similar anger exists within segments of the
> > white community. Most working- and middle-class white Americans don't
> > feel that they have been particularly privileged by their race."
>
> > Wright's mistake, said Obama, "is not that he spoke about racism in
> > our society. It's that he spoke as if our society was static; as if no
> > progress has been made; as if this country -- a country that has made
> > it possible for one of his own members to run for the highest office
> > in the land and build a coalition of white and black; Latino and
> > Asian, rich and poor, young and old -- is still irrevocably bound to a
> > tragic past."
>
> > http :// blog.washingtonpost,com /the-trail/2008/03/18/obama speech conf...
>
> Wow. Nice speech.
>
> Ralph Kennedy
>
> "This is rsfc, not the Algonquin roundtable."
> -xyzzy, 2/16/07- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -
I'm an Obama fan. I campaign for him and will vote for him; however,
when you go on a very serious list that is geared ONLY to tea drinkers
and is only meant to have posts re:tea, you just hurt your cause and
will find noting but anamosity from the posters on this list.
PLEASE!! For the candidate's sake, do not do this again.
Thanks.