Video Footage can be Found Here.
On "The Speech"
Coming from a multiracial background, I really felt a connection with the speech. Yes, I realize that the speech was a tool used to detract attention from the Rev. Wright issue (which is really a non-issue to me), and that Sen. Obama does not denounce the Reverend himself in the speech, but there's a bigger point the speech is making. Racism still exists in this country, and it's not just black and white.
People like Rev. Wright exist in this world, in all shapes, sizes, and colors. Do I think that his statements were justified? Do I agree with them? Can I understand where he's coming from? These are questions that we need to be asking ourselves.
People in the media and in politics keep calling for the presidential candidates to denounce some person or another. What does this accomplish? How foolish they want the candidates to look, running to and fro denouncing people. What century is this again? I have racist family members, and I'm not going to go around denouncing them. The notion is utterly ridiculous.
Sen. Obama has already said that he does not agree with all of Rev. Wright's speeches. Let it rest! What people are not doing is Googling speeches of Rev. Wright that preach Christian values. They also aren't discussing the fact that Reverend Wright was a guest in the Clinton White House . How about the fact that HE'S NOT EVEN HIS REVEREND ANYMORE?? One woman on the Michael Baisden show (that I thought I would never listen to again) made a pointed comment that the congregation often looked uncomfortable when he reached these controversial points in his sermon. But is anyone talking about that?
Have I gone on youtube and searched for the Rev. Wright videos? Of course not. I have no need to. Aside from the fact that I've heard the sermon on loop since the revelations first arose, I've heard plenty of statements like these before. This is one of the great things about our country. We can sit around, debating and questioning the government. I've heard dozens of older black men who lived through the Civil Rights Era speak negatively about the government's role in the black community and the international arena, as I'm sure countless Black Americans have experienced the same. Whooptydoo. Does it mean that I agree with everything they say? Of course not! I'm no idiot.
I found it rather comical, watching The McLaughlin Group on Sunday morning. I'm not going to go into detail about it, but I'll put it up once it's on their website (as long as I remember). (I must note that Pat Buchanan said that, if Jesus were alive today, he would be for the death penalty in the 3/22/08 episode. Definitely a must-see.) One of the pundits suggested that Obama not listen to Wright. Hmm... don't listen to people whose views you don't necessarily agree with. That's an interesting concept. Isn't it the duty of a thinking human being to take in all points of view? I guess we don't want presidential candidates to be ration, thinking human beings. Do we really need another Bush in the White House?
I've heard that Rev. Wright is destroying the church. I've heard the whole Rev. Wright situation compared with the pedophilia in the Catholic Church. It's quite disturbing.
One of the greatest problems I had with reactions to the speech was the fact that many people across the country did not understand that the speech was not given to END racial injustice, inequality, and racism in the states, but rather to open a dialogue on the subject matter. One reader commented on Eugene Robinson's "Obama's Road Map on Race" asserting that Obama set forth no policies in his speech. Asinine. That's all I can say. One person responded to that very comment saying that policies already exist, and asking whether it is really necessary to formulate a policy that says to be nice to one another. I concur.
I'm upset that people are calling Barack Obama a racist. If he's racist against White Americans, he's racist against himself and his family.
No one can deny that Senator Obama is a gifted speaker. He's one of the rare politicians out there whose speeches I can listen to, without pause, in their entirety. That 48 minute speech on race? I listened to the entire thing. One of the women I canvassed with on Saturday told me "I want to be able to listen to my president," and she's right. With Bush, I want to change the channel shortly after vomiting and choking on all the bull he's feeding the public. Clinton was a compelling speaker, and I liked listening to him sometimes (considering I was a child with the attention span of a gnat- now I've upgraded to that of a badger).
If this is just the beginning of a conversation Obama has started with the American public, I cannot wait to hear more.
Obama '08
1 comment:
BRAVO! I wrote a piece call Reverend Wright Was Right. But I'm old enough to remember the Jim Crow era. I have dated a black man and we were vilified, called all sorts of names, threatened. My mother's family in Texas was racist to it's core, but I had little trouble attacking the racism, while trying to understand the racist. All that was long ago and still, not that much has changed for old black/white Americans. You are a large part of the reason I am so passionate in my support for Obama. it is your generations entry into the political process that give me hope.
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