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The Race Card and Uncle Tom Card; Sick and Tired of the Double Standard
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Topic Started: Mar 13 2008, 07:42 PM (1,561 Views)
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Sgt. Jaggs
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Mar 23 2008, 05:58 PM
Post #46
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How about a Voyager Movie
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- ImpulseEngine
- Mar 23 2008, 02:11 PM
Wichita, I was just looking at a transcript of the speech and can't even find the word "typical" in it anywhere. Am I missing it? Other than his reference at the beginning to being a descendant of a white grandmother, this is the only thing that he said about his grandmother: - Quote:
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I can no more disown him than I can disown the black community. I can no more disown him than I can 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 by her on the street, and who on more than one occasion has uttered racial or ethnic stereotypes that made me cringe.
Am I missing something? I don't see what you're referring to at all.  - Quote:
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If he focuses on all the various potential divisions, how he does he plan to "unite" the country as he claims he wants to do?
He was deliberately NOT focusing on any of this until other people decided to make it something he HAD to speak about...
Its there in the Audio. I have heard it.
I do not find anything wrong with him saying "that is a Typical white response." That is a true and accurate statement in its context. The problem is that even Obama himself did not grant the same grace to Don Imus, it was too easy to castigate him. There is a double standard.
I know I sound like a Don Imus Apologist and nobody agrees with me but what the heck, Imus was an Irrelevant clown. Its not like he was dropping "N" bombs, he was saying the street urban equivalent of "Thats a rough looking crowd" IE Nappy headded Hoe's.
But he is not allowed to say that because his skin is white.
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Wichita
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Mar 23 2008, 08:08 PM
Post #47
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The Adminstrator wRench
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- Jag
- Mar 23 2008, 10:58 PM
Its there in the Audio. I have heard it.
A lot of people heard it.
There is already a line of t-shirts with the phrase.
- Jag
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I do not find anything wrong with him saying "that is a Typical white response." That is a true and accurate statement in its context. The problem is that even Obama himself did not grant the same grace to Don Imus, it was too easy to castigate him. There is a double standard.
I know I sound like a Don Imus Apologist and nobody agrees with me but what the heck, Imus was an Irrelevant clown. Its not like he was dropping "N" bombs, he was saying the street urban equivalent of "Thats a rough looking crowd" IE Nappy headded Hoe's.
But he is not allowed to say that because his skin is white.
I have to disagree with you there.
I dislike Obama's use of the term because he is trying to use it to excuse some pretty hateful and bigotted comments spouted by his minister and (at one point) advisor.
I have to confess that I dislike Imus in general, but I found his comments offensive because they dragged some women, who have worked extremely hard to succeed, into the public spotlight negatively based solely on race.
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Intrepid2002
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Mar 23 2008, 08:38 PM
Post #48
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UNGH!
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An opinion piece
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Obama's poorly chosen words, the bigger picture.
by Mark Silva
Three poorly chosen words.
In the sound-bite world of political campaigning which is our world today, three words have the power to overpower a broader and deeper message.
So, as Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois attempts to climb out of two weeks of trench-warfare over the most critical social division in America – race – the leading Democratic candidate for president, by delegate count, will attempt to regain the traction of a campaign talking about matters that matter.
The endorsement of Obama today by Bill Richardson, the governor of New Mexico and a Democratic super-delegate, should help steer the senator’s campaign onto a higher plain – indeed the appearance of an African-American and Hispanic-American in Portland today will present another powerful image in this simplistic, photo-driven political world, a snapshot of ethnic harmony.
In two tortuous weeks, Obama has trudged through the valleys and over the peak of the great American divide.
He reached the nadir last week in Geraldine Ferraro’s claim that he would not be where he is today "if he was a white man.’’ He reached the apex this week with his speech about unity in Philadephia, a richly reasoned and artful appeal for the quest for “a more perfect union.’’ He condemned the “incendiary’’ words of his own longtime and now retired pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright of Chicago, but said he could no sooner “disown’’ his friend and mentor than he could abandon his own white grandmother, who had often voiced her own fears about black men.
And then, off message in a way that only endless hours of campaigning can do to any man’s discipline, Obama said this Thursday in an early-morning call to a sports radio station in Philadelphia when asked about that remark about his grandmother and how she feels about him possibly becoming president of the United States:
“She is extremely proud, and the point I was making was not that my grandmother harbors any racial animosity. She doesn’t. But she is a typical white person who, you know, if she sees somebody on the street that she doesn’t know, there is a reaction that has been bred into our experiences that don’t go away and sometimes come out in the wrong way…
“That’s the nature of race in our society,’’ Obama added in the call to the radio station, “and we have to break through it. And what makes me optimistic is you see each generation feeling a little less like that, and that’s pretty powerful stuff.’’
Yet the three words linger on the short loop that is cable television news and reverberate on the Internet like some bad political equivalent of the film, Groundhog Day: “Typical white person.’’ And, suddenly, the candidate who delivered in the heart of the City of Brotherly Love what widely has been called the most powerful speech about racial harmony since the late Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. addressed the issue is lambasted online as racist.
The truth is, virtually every white person and every black person knows precisely what Obama meant. After generations of racial segregation either de jure (Southern) or de facto (Northern), the inbred, impulsive reactions of people who either mistrust, fear or resent members of another race are no secret in America. Even those of the youngest generation, in whom Obama sees hope for progress, can probably recall a parent or grandparent who has given voice to precisely what Obama meant: “Typical.’’
Obama also was asked in the radio interview with WIP 610 in that same city of Philadelphia if he bears any “added responsibility’’ as an African-American in becoming president.
“I think that, if I’m in the Oval Office, I’ve got all kinds of things to worry about,’’ Obama told his radio hosts. “You know, that comes with the job. But I wouldn’t be running If I wasn’t confident that I can help the country work through some of these issues, at the same time as we’re taking care of the business at hand, which is making sure that the economy is working for ordinary people, that we’ve got health care, that they can afford to send their kids to college, that we can end this war in Iraq that has cost us so dearly in blood and treasure.’’
And toward the end of another long campaign day that started with sports radio at dawn, Obama was asked on cable TV last night by Larry King what he meant with that remark about his grandmother: “You called her today a "typical white person," meaning what, senator?’’
“Well,’’ Obama replied, on CNN’s Larry King Live, “what I meant really was that some of the fears of street crime and some of the stereotypes that go along with that, you know, were responses that I think many people feel. She's not extraordinary in that regard. She's somebody who I love as much as anybody. I mean, she has literally helped to raise me.
“But those are fears that are embedded in our culture and embedded in our society,’’ he said. “And, you know, even within our own families, even within a family like mine that is diverse, you know, there are those gaps in understanding or the stereotypes that are fed by the news media and fed by what we see around us and, you know, in our popular culture.
“And so the point I made is that good people, people who are not in any way racist, are still subject to some of these images and stereotypes and that it's very hard to escape from them,’’ Obama said. . King asked him if he thought this might hurt his campaign.
“Well, you know,’’ Obama replied, “I think that my campaign has always been built on a confidence in the American people, that we can talk honestly about issues, that we can acknowledge that they're complicated, that we can disagree without being disagreeable, that we can understand each other's point of view, and that if we take the time to listen to each other, if we're honest with each other, if we're not trying to demonize each other, then we can solve problems, that we can, in very practical ways, start investing in infrastructure to put people back to work in this country….
“So I think that this is a good example of the kinds of tough, sometimes uncomfortable issues that are going to come up in our politics,’’ he said. “But I have confidence in the American people's fairness, that they're going to judge me based on who I am, what I've talked about, the kind of campaign we've run, and the track record of 20 years of service. And if they believe that I can help them in their lives and make their lives and their children's lives and grandkids' lives a little bit better, then I have confidence that they're going to support me and we have a chance to really change this country.’’
There are a few hundred well-chosen words that should help put the political debate of 2008 back on the track where it belongs
Posted by Mark Silva on March 21, 2008 9:15 AM
Listen to Angelo Cataldi's interview with Barack Obama on WIP610 AM
The three words "Typical White Person" was from an interview with Senator Obama with a Philidelphia sports radio station. It was not mentioned anywhere in the actual text of the speech.
Did he eventually start saying "Typical White Woman" afterwards in the course of defending what he originally said?
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Sgt. Jaggs
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Mar 23 2008, 08:52 PM
Post #49
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How about a Voyager Movie
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- Wichita
- Mar 23 2008, 08:08 PM
I have to disagree with you there.
I have to confess that I dislike Imus in general, but I found his comments offensive because they dragged some women, who have worked extremely hard to succeed, into the public spotlight negatively based solely on race.
Witchita I respectfully disagree with that in depth description of the rutgers ball team. Imus was a jackass making a quick comment without forethought. That description: they dragged some women, who have worked extremely hard to succeed, into the public spotlight negatively based solely on race. Nearly reaches a pantload from my perspective.
Imus was a jackass making a comment mixing urban Lingo with his lame Take. Clumsy. But if you believe it may be the fault of the media and the PC double standard in our Country then I agree with you.
The Guy actor from Seinfeld who blew up and dropped N bombs and hatred in his stand up act is an example in contrast to Imus for me.
What were we originally talking about?
I have forgotten.......
P.S. I used the term Pantload against Wichita. Please do not too much!
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rowskid86
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Mar 23 2008, 08:58 PM
Post #50
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Suck my Spock
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The Guy actor from Seinfeld who blew up and dropped N bombs and hatred in his stand up act is an example in contrast to Imus for me.
you forget the peopel where heckeling Micheal Richards calling him a Cracker, and White boy, before he dropped the "Evil" N word. That double standard again.
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Intrepid2002
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Mar 23 2008, 09:03 PM
Post #51
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UNGH!
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- Jag
- Mar 23 2008, 06:58 PM
I know I sound like a Don Imus Apologist and nobody agrees with me but what the heck, Imus was an Irrelevant clown. Its not like he was dropping "N" bombs, he was saying the street urban equivalent of "Thats a rough looking crowd" IE Nappy headded Hoe's.
But Obama didn't say "Nappy Headed Ho" did he?
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From the April 4 edition of MSNBC's Imus in the Morning: IMUS: So, I watched the basketball game last night between -- a little bit of Rutgers and Tennessee, the women's final. ROSENBERG: Yeah, Tennessee won last night -- seventh championship for [Tennessee coach] Pat Summitt, I-Man. They beat Rutgers by 13 points. IMUS: That's some rough girls from Rutgers. Man, they got tattoos and -- McGUIRK: Some hard-core hos. IMUS: That's some nappy-headed hos there. I'm gonna tell you that now, man, that's some -- woo. And the girls from Tennessee, they all look cute, you know, so, like -- kinda like -- I don't know. McGUIRK: A Spike Lee thing. IMUS: Yeah. McGUIRK: The Jigaboos vs. the Wannabes -- that movie that he had. IMUS: Yeah, it was a tough -- McCORD: Do The Right Thing. McGUIRK: Yeah, yeah, yeah. IMUS: I don't know if I'd have wanted to beat Rutgers or not, but they did, right? ROSENBERG: It was a tough watch. The more I look at Rutgers, they look exactly like the Toronto Raptors. IMUS: Well, I guess, yeah. RUFFINO: Only tougher. McGUIRK: The [Memphis] Grizzlies would be more appropriate. Source
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CATALDI: Senator, you gave an amazing speech on Tuesday. We were actually at the Constitution center but not giving as eloquent a speech as you were believe me and you talked about your white grandmother and how there was a time when even she feared black men and that she even occacionally would use an ethnic or racial stereotype. What does she say now about you being so close to the presidency? OBAMA: “She is extremely proud, and the point I was making was not that my grandmother harbors any racial animosity. She doesn’t. But she is a typical white person who, you know, if she sees somebody on the street that she doesn’t know, there is a reaction that has been bred into our experiences that don’t go away and sometimes come out in the wrong way… Source
Is one three word phrase more offensive than another here?
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rowskid86
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Mar 23 2008, 09:06 PM
Post #52
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Suck my Spock
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you'd think they'd be both as offensive, but they arn't. many black people find it ok to say what they will about white peple and it's considered ok. but as soon as a white guy calls a black man anything but african american the shit hits the fan.
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Intrepid2002
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Mar 23 2008, 09:38 PM
Post #53
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UNGH!
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^^^
There's a lot of stuff said about race but never in polite company. The hypocricy here, in my opinion, is that a lot of us deny it. Honestly, we've come to the point of defensiveness that we can't even use the word "typical" anymore. Is there a typical black man? Is there a typical white woman? And what about those of us who are of mixed races? Typical?
I see Obama trying to get past these stereotypical labels but he can't because no one will let him. I think it is a good thing that his feet are put to the fire. I think that it is a good thing that he is made to explain his imperfect comments. I think it is a good thing that he is made to explain his association and relationship with the Rev. Wright and if he supports his commentary or not.
How he responds to this heat helps me measure the man. What people are saying might be hard to hear but it opens the door to dialogue which we so badly need.
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Wichita
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Mar 23 2008, 09:47 PM
Post #54
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The Adminstrator wRench
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My apologies for thinking that they were in the speech. I can't say that I was told that they were in the speech itself - I may have just made that assumption based on the conversations I had.
I still think that the words are contrary to everything Obama claims to be about, however.
"Typical white person"??????
Is he telling us that ONLY white women fear black men on the street? Was his grandma's reaction truly a "white" person's reaction" or a "female reaction"?
Has anyone among us ever feared white men that you have seen on the street? I know that I have.
Or, is that people fear other people who they don't know and who may look strange to them on the street?
What makes him believe the word "typical" is appropriate?
I have stated before that I think that Obama is too inexperinced for the job. I have concerns - post the NAFTA dustup - that he may also be taking pandering to the public to new heights even for a politician.
However, I generally find him to be a decent man.
He's no Martin Luther King, Jr., however, and I find the comparisons to be annoying.
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Wichita
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Mar 23 2008, 09:53 PM
Post #55
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The Adminstrator wRench
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- Intrepid2002
- Mar 24 2008, 02:38 AM
I see Obama trying to get past these stereotypical labels but he can't because no one will let him.
We cross-posted.
I am just highlighting this because I agree with everything else.
I don't know that Obama is trying to get past racial stereortypes at all. He may - in his heart of hearts - want to, but I don't see him doing that.
I think he is balancing some racial stereotypes against one another in order to gain from both. It's a cynical game and one not illegal to play. Some would even call it strategic and wise .... but it doesn't make him some type of authority on race.
In many ways I feel badly for the man. This country fought to get rid of the "one drop of blood" test for whether someone is a minority or not and now he is being judged by that very test.
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Intrepid2002
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Mar 23 2008, 10:05 PM
Post #56
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UNGH!
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^^^
Noted. I see your point. As for me, I see Obama as more of an inspirational figure. Shameful as I am to admit it, I sometimes see him as hopeful to the point of naivete. And that only because I am cynical. Can the man really pull it off?
- Wichita
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He's no Martin Luther King, Jr., however, and I find the comparisons to be annoying.
Senator Obama's speech on race was easier to break down in text for me. Listening to his speech, I allowed myself to get carried away emotionally by the cadence of his word. The speech was good but not emotionally orgasmic as Chris Matthews would have me think it was. :lol:
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STC
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Mar 24 2008, 08:23 AM
Post #57
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Commodore
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- Intrepid2002
- Mar 24 2008, 03:05 AM
^^^ Noted. I see your point. As for me, I see Obama as more of an inspirational figure. Shameful as I am to admit it, I sometimes see him as hopeful to the point of naivete. And that only because I am cynical. Can the man really pull it off? - Wichita
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He's no Martin Luther King, Jr., however, and I find the comparisons to be annoying.
Senator Obama's speech on race was easier to break down in text for me. Listening to his speech, I allowed myself to get carried away emotionally by the cadence of his word. The speech was good but not emotionally orgasmic as Chris Matthews would have me think it was. :lol:
Which speech is this? Do you, or anyone else, have a link? I'd just like to see it out of interest as this has passed me by on this side of the pond! :lol:
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ImpulseEngine
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Mar 24 2008, 09:23 AM
Post #58
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Admiral
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You know, there's a serious issue about race in this country. That's what Obama's speech was about. But suddenly the whole discussion is about the word "typical".
If there's anything "typical", it's exactly THAT...
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ImpulseEngine
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Mar 24 2008, 09:27 AM
Post #59
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Admiral
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- Wichita
- Mar 23 2008, 10:53 PM
I think he is balancing some racial stereotypes against one another in order to gain from both. It's a cynical game and one not illegal to play. Some would even call it strategic and wise .... but it doesn't make him some type of authority on race.
"Game"? Is that what this is? You call this whole matter a "game"? That's rather racially insensitive.
No, I'm not serious.
But I did want to point out how easy it is for something to be misconstrued into something that it's not when we speak off the cuff.
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Intrepid2002
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Mar 24 2008, 10:24 AM
Post #60
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UNGH!
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For STC, my friend over the pond.
Source
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Remarks of Senator Barack Obama: A More Perfect Union Tuesday, March 18, 2008
We the people, in order to form a more perfect union.
Two hundred and twenty one years ago, in a hall that still stands across the street, a group of men gathered and, with these simple words, launched Americas improbable experiment in democracy. Farmers and scholars; statesmen and patriots who had traveled across an ocean to escape tyranny and persecution finally made real their declaration of independence at a Philadelphia convention that lasted through the spring of 1787.
The document they produced was eventually signed but ultimately unfinished. It was stained by this nations original sin of slavery, a question that divided the colonies and brought the convention to a stalemate until the founders chose to allow the slave trade to continue for at least twenty more years, and to leave any final resolution to future generations.
Of course, the answer to the slavery question was already embedded within our Constitution - a Constitution that had at is very core the ideal of equal citizenship under the law; a Constitution that promised its people liberty, and justice, and a union that could be and should be perfected over time.
And yet words on a parchment would not be enough to deliver slaves from bondage, or provide men and women of every color and creed their full rights and obligations as citizens of the United States. What would be needed were Americans in successive generations who were willing to do their part - through protests and struggle, on the streets and in the courts, through a civil war and civil disobedience and always at great risk - to narrow that gap between the promise of our ideals and the reality of their time.
This was one of the tasks we set forth at the beginning of this campaign - to continue the long march of those who came before us, a march for a more just, more equal, more free, more caring and more prosperous America. I chose to run for the presidency at this moment in history because I believe deeply that we cannot solve the challenges of our time unless we solve them together - unless we perfect our union by understanding that we may have different stories, but we hold common hopes; that we may not look the same and we may not have come from the same place, but we all want to move in the same direction - towards a better future for of children and our grandchildren.
This belief comes from my unyielding faith in the decency and generosity of the American people. But it also comes from my own American story.
I am the son of a black man from Kenya and a white woman from Kansas. I was raised with the help of a white grandfather who survived a Depression to serve in Pattons Army during World War II and a white grandmother who worked on a bomber assembly line at Fort Leavenworth while he was overseas. Ive gone to some of the best schools in America and lived in one of the worlds poorest nations. I am married to a black American who carries within her the blood of slaves and slaveowners - an inheritance we pass on to our two precious daughters. I have brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, uncles and cousins, of every race and every hue, scattered across three continents, and for as long as I live, I will never forget that in no other country on Earth is my story even possible.
Its a story that hasnt made me the most conventional candidate. But it is a story that has seared into my genetic makeup the idea that this nation is more than the sum of its parts - that out of many, we are truly one.
Throughout the first year of this campaign, against all predictions to the contrary, we saw how hungry the American people were for this message of unity. Despite the temptation to view my candidacy through a purely racial lens, we won commanding victories in states with some of the whitest populations in the country. In South Carolina, where the Confederate Flag still flies, we built a powerful coalition of African Americans and white Americans.
This is not to say that race has not been an issue in the campaign. At various stages in the campaign, some commentators have deemed me either too black or not black enough. We saw racial tensions bubble to the surface during the week before the South Carolina primary. The press has scoured every exit poll for the latest evidence of racial polarization, not just in terms of white and black, but black and brown as well.
And yet, it has only been in the last couple of weeks that the discussion of race in this campaign has taken a particularly divisive turn.
On one end of the spectrum, weve heard the implication that my candidacy is somehow an exercise in affirmative action; that its based solely on the desire of wide-eyed liberals to purchase racial reconciliation on the cheap. On the other end, weve heard my former pastor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright, use incendiary language to express views that have the potential not only to widen the racial divide, but views that denigrate both the greatness and the goodness of our nation; that rightly offend white and black alike.
I have already condemned, in unequivocal terms, the statements of Reverend Wright that have caused such controversy. For some, nagging questions remain. Did I know him to be an occasionally fierce critic of American domestic and foreign policy? Of course. Did I ever hear him make remarks that could be considered controversial while I sat in church? Yes. Did I strongly disagree with many of his political views? Absolutely - just as Im sure many of you have heard remarks from your pastors, priests, or rabbis with which you strongly disagreed.
But the remarks that have caused this recent firestorm werent simply controversial. They werent simply a religious leaders effort to speak out against perceived injustice. Instead, they expressed a profoundly distorted view of this country - a view that sees white racism as endemic, and that elevates what is wrong with America above all that we know is right with America; a view that sees the conflicts in the Middle East as rooted primarily in the actions of stalwart allies like Israel, instead of emanating from the perverse and hateful ideologies of radical Islam.
As such, Reverend Wrights 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 - two wars, a terrorist threat, a falling economy, a chronic health care crisis and potentially devastating climate change; problems that are neither black or white or Latino or Asian, but rather problems that confront us all.
Given my background, my politics, and my professed values and ideals, there will no doubt be those for whom my statements of condemnation are not enough. Why associate myself with Reverend Wright in the first place, they may ask? Why not join another church? And I confess that if all that I knew of Reverend Wright were the snippets of those sermons that have run in an endless loop on the television and You Tube, or if Trinity United Church of Christ conformed to the caricatures being peddled by some commentators, there is no doubt that I would react in much the same way
But the truth is, that isnt all that I know of the man. The man I met more than twenty years ago is a man who helped introduce me to my Christian faith, a man who spoke to me about our obligations to love one another; to care for the sick and lift up the poor. He is a man who served his country as a U.S. Marine; who has studied and lectured at some of the finest universities and seminaries in the country, and who for over thirty years led a church that serves the community by doing Gods work here on Earth - by housing the homeless, ministering to the needy, providing day care services and scholarships and prison ministries, and reaching out to those suffering from HIV/AIDS.
In my first book, Dreams From My Father, I described the experience of my first service at Trinity:
People began to shout, to rise from their seats and clap and cry out, a forceful wind carrying the reverends voice up into the rafters….And in that single note - hope! - I heard something else; at the foot of that cross, inside the thousands of churches across the city, I imagined the stories of ordinary black people merging with the stories of David and Goliath, Moses and Pharaoh, the Christians in the lions den, Ezekiels field of dry bones. Those stories - of survival, and freedom, and hope - became our story, my story; the blood that had spilled was our blood, the tears our tears; until this black church, on this bright day, seemed once more a vessel carrying the story of a people into future generations and into a larger world. Our trials and triumphs became at once unique and universal, black and more than black; in chronicling our journey, the stories and songs gave us a means to reclaim memories that we didnt need to feel shame about…memories that all people might study and cherish - and with which we could start to rebuild.
That has been my experience at Trinity. Like other predominantly black churches across the country, Trinity embodies the black community in its entirety - the doctor and the welfare mom, the model student and the former gang-banger. Like other black churches, Trinitys services are full of raucous laughter and sometimes bawdy humor. They are full of dancing, clapping, 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 bias that make up the black experience in America.
And this helps explain, perhaps, my relationship with Reverend Wright. As imperfect as he may be, he has been like family to me. 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.
I can no more disown him than I can disown the black community. I can no more disown him than I can 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 by her 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.
Some will see this as an attempt to justify or excuse comments that are simply inexcusable. I can assure you it is not. I suppose the politically safe thing would be to move on from this episode and just hope that it fades into the woodwork. We can dismiss Reverend Wright as a crank or a demagogue, just as some have dismissed Geraldine Ferraro, in the aftermath of her recent statements, as harboring some deep-seated racial bias.
But race is an issue that I believe this nation cannot afford to ignore right now. 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 fact is that the comments that have been made and the issues that have surfaced over the last few weeks reflect the complexities of race in this country that weve never really worked through - a part of our union that we have yet to perfect. And if we walk away now, if we simply retreat into our respective corners, we will never be able to come together and solve challenges like health care, or education, or the need to find good jobs for every American.
Understanding this reality requires a reminder of how we arrived at this point. As William Faulkner once wrote, The past isnt dead and buried. In fact, it isnt even past. We do not need to recite here the history of racial injustice in this country. But we do need to remind ourselves that so many of the disparities that exist in the African-American community today can be directly traced to inequalities passed on from an earlier generation that suffered under the brutal legacy of slavery and Jim Crow.
Segregated schools were, and are, inferior schools; we still havent fixed them, fifty years after Brown v. Board of Education, and the inferior education they provided, then and now, helps explain the pervasive achievement gap between todays black and white students.
Legalized discrimination - where blacks were prevented, often through violence, from owning property, or loans were not granted to African-American business owners, or black homeowners could not access FHA mortgages, or blacks were excluded from unions, or the police force, or fire departments - meant that black families could not amass any meaningful wealth to bequeath to future generations. That history helps explain the wealth and income gap between black and white, and the concentrated pockets of poverty that persists in so many of todays urban and rural communities.
A lack of economic opportunity among black men, and the shame and frustration that came from not being able to provide for ones family, contributed to the erosion of black families - a problem that welfare policies for many years may have worsened. And the lack of basic services in so many urban black neighborhoods - parks for kids to play in, police walking the beat, regular garbage pick-up and building code enforcement - all helped create a cycle of violence, blight and neglect that continue to haunt us.
This is the reality in which Reverend Wright and other African-Americans of his generation grew up. They came of age in the late fifties and early sixties, a time when segregation was still the law of the land and opportunity was systematically constricted. Whats remarkable is not how many failed in the face of discrimination, but rather how many men and women overcame the odds; how many were able to make a way out of no way for those like me who would come after them.
But for all those who scratched and clawed their way to get a piece of the American Dream, there were many who didnt make it - those who were ultimately defeated, in one way or another, by discrimination. That legacy of defeat was passed on to future generations - those young men and increasingly young women who we see standing on street corners or languishing in our prisons, without hope or prospects for the future. Even for those blacks who did make it, questions of race, and racism, continue to define their worldview in fundamental ways. For the men and women of Reverend Wrights generation, the memories of humiliation and doubt and fear have not gone away; nor has the anger and the bitterness of those years. That anger may not get expressed in public, in front of white co-workers or white friends. But it does find voice in the barbershop or around the kitchen table. At times, that anger is exploited by politicians, to gin up votes along racial lines, or to make up for a politicians own failings.
And occasionally it finds voice in the church on Sunday morning, in the pulpit and in the pews. The fact that so many people are surprised to hear that anger in some of Reverend Wrights sermons simply reminds us of the old truism that the most segregated hour in American life occurs on Sunday morning. That anger is not always productive; indeed, all too often it distracts attention from solving real problems; it keeps us from squarely facing our own complicity in our condition, and prevents the African-American community from forging the alliances it needs to bring about real change. 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.
In fact, a similar anger exists within segments of the white community. Most working- and middle-class white Americans dont feel that they have been particularly privileged by their race. Their experience is the immigrant experience - as far as theyre concerned, no ones handed them anything, theyve built it from scratch. Theyve worked hard all their lives, many times only to see their jobs shipped overseas or their pension dumped after a lifetime of labor. They are anxious about their futures, and feel their dreams slipping away; in an era of stagnant wages and global competition, opportunity comes to be seen as a zero sum game, in which your dreams come at my expense. So when they are told to bus their children to a school across town; when they hear that an African American is getting an advantage in landing a good job or a spot in a good college because of an injustice that they themselves never committed; when theyre told that their fears about crime in urban neighborhoods are somehow prejudiced, resentment builds over time.
Like the anger within the black community, these resentments arent always expressed in polite company. But they have helped shape the political landscape for at least a generation. Anger over welfare and affirmative action helped forge the Reagan Coalition. Politicians routinely exploited fears of crime for their own electoral ends. Talk show hosts and conservative commentators built entire careers unmasking bogus claims of racism while dismissing legitimate discussions of racial injustice and inequality as mere political correctness or reverse racism.
Just as black anger often proved counterproductive, so have these white resentments distracted attention from the real culprits of the middle class squeeze - a corporate culture rife with inside dealing, questionable accounting practices, and short-term greed; a Washington dominated by lobbyists and special interests; economic policies that favor the few over the many. And yet, to wish away the resentments of white Americans, to label them as misguided or even racist, without recognizing they are grounded in legitimate concerns - this too widens the racial divide, and blocks the path to understanding.
This is where we are right now. Its a racial stalemate weve been stuck in for years. Contrary to the claims of some of my critics, black and white, I have never been so naïve as to believe that we can get beyond our racial divisions in a single election cycle, or with a single candidacy - particularly a candidacy as imperfect as my own.
But I have asserted a firm conviction - a conviction rooted in my faith in God and my faith in the American people - that working together we can move beyond some of our old racial wounds, and that in fact we have no choice is we are to continue on the path of a more perfect union.
For the African-American community, that path means embracing the burdens of our past without becoming victims of our past. It means continuing to insist on a full measure of justice in every aspect of American life. But it also means binding our particular grievances - for better health care, and better schools, and better jobs - to the larger aspirations of all Americans -- the white woman struggling to break the glass ceiling, the white man whose been laid off, the immigrant trying to feed his family. And it means taking full responsibility for own lives - by demanding more from our fathers, and spending more time with our children, and reading to them, and teaching them that while they may face challenges and discrimination in their own lives, they must never succumb to despair or cynicism; they must always believe that they can write their own destiny.
Ironically, this quintessentially American - and yes, conservative - notion of self-help found frequent expression in Reverend Wrights sermons. But what my former pastor too often failed to understand is that embarking on a program of self-help also requires a belief that society can change.
The profound mistake of Reverend Wrights sermons is not that he spoke about racism in our society. Its 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. But what we know -- what we have seen - is that America can change. That is true genius of this nation. What we have already achieved gives us hope - the audacity to hope - for what we can and must achieve tomorrow.
In the white community, the path to a more perfect union means acknowledging that what ails the African-American community does not just exist in the minds of black people; that the legacy of discrimination - and current incidents of discrimination, while less overt than in the past - are real and must be addressed. Not just with words, but with deeds - by investing in our schools and our communities; by enforcing our civil rights laws and ensuring fairness in our criminal justice system; by providing this generation with ladders of opportunity that were unavailable for previous generations. It requires all Americans to realize that your dreams do not have to come at the expense of my dreams; that investing in the health, welfare, and education of black and brown and white children will ultimately help all of America prosper.
In the end, then, what is called for is nothing more, and nothing less, than what all the worlds great religions demand - that we do unto others as we would have them do unto us. Let us be our brothers keeper, Scripture tells us. Let us be our sisters keeper. Let us find that common stake we all have in one another, and let our politics reflect that spirit as well.
For we have a choice in this country. We can accept a politics that breeds division, and conflict, and cynicism. We can tackle race only as spectacle - as we did in the OJ trial - or in the wake of tragedy, as we did in the aftermath of Katrina - or as fodder for the nightly news. We can play Reverend Wrights sermons on every channel, every day and talk about them from now until the election, and make the only question in this campaign whether or not the American people think that I somehow believe or sympathize with his most offensive words. We can pounce on some gaffe by a Hillary supporter as evidence that shes playing the race card, or we can speculate on whether white men will all flock to John McCain in the general election regardless of his policies.
We can do that.
But if we do, I can tell you that in the next election, well be talking about some other distraction. And then another one. And then another one. And nothing will change.
That is one option. Or, at this moment, in this election, we can come together and say, Not this time. This time we want to talk about the crumbling schools that are stealing the future of black children and white children and Asian children and Hispanic children and Native American children. This time we want to reject the cynicism that tells us that these kids cant learn; that those kids who dont look like us are somebody elses problem. The children of America are not those kids, they are our kids, and we will not let them fall behind in a 21st century economy. Not this time.
This time we want to talk about how the lines in the Emergency Room are filled with whites and blacks and Hispanics who do not have health care; who dont have the power on their own to overcome the special interests in Washington, but who can take them on if we do it together.
This time we want to talk about the shuttered mills that once provided a decent life for men and women of every race, and the homes for sale that once belonged to Americans from every religion, every region, every walk of life. This time we want to talk about the fact that the real problem is not that someone who doesnt look like you might take your job; its that the corporation you work for will ship it overseas for nothing more than a profit.
This time we want to talk about the men and women of every color and creed who serve together, and fight together, and bleed together under the same proud flag. We want to talk about how to bring them home from a war that never shouldve been authorized and never shouldve been waged, and we want to talk about how well show our patriotism by caring for them, and their families, and giving them the benefits they have earned.
I would not be running for President if I didnt believe with all my heart that this is what the vast majority of Americans want for this country. This union may never be perfect, but generation after generation has shown that it can always be perfected. And today, whenever I find myself feeling doubtful or cynical about this possibility, what gives me the most hope is the next generation - the young people whose attitudes and beliefs and openness to change have already made history in this election.
There is one story in particularly that Id like to leave you with today - a story I told when I had the great honor of speaking on Dr. Kings birthday at his home church, Ebenezer Baptist, in Atlanta.
There is a young, twenty-three year old white woman named Ashley Baia who organized for our campaign in Florence, South Carolina. She had been working to organize a mostly African-American community since the beginning of this campaign, and one day she was at a roundtable discussion where everyone went around telling their story and why they were there.
And Ashley said that when she was nine years old, her mother got cancer. And because she had to miss days of work, she was let go and lost her health care. They had to file for bankruptcy, and thats when Ashley decided that she had to do something to help her mom.
She knew that food was one of their most expensive costs, and so Ashley convinced her mother that what she really liked and really wanted to eat more than anything else was mustard and relish sandwiches. Because that was the cheapest way to eat.
She did this for a year until her mom got better, and she told everyone at the roundtable that the reason she joined our campaign was so that she could help the millions of other children in the country who want and need to help their parents too.
Now Ashley might have made a different choice. Perhaps somebody told her along the way that the source of her mothers problems were blacks who were on welfare and too lazy to work, or Hispanics who were coming into the country illegally. But she didnt. She sought out allies in her fight against injustice.
Anyway, Ashley finishes her story and then goes around the room and asks everyone else why theyre supporting the campaign. They all have different stories and reasons. Many bring up a specific issue. And finally they come to this elderly black man whos been sitting there quietly the entire time. And Ashley asks him why hes there. And he does not bring up a specific issue. He does not say health care or the economy. He does not say education or the war. He does not say that he was there because of Barack Obama. He simply says to everyone in the room, I am here because of Ashley.
Im here because of Ashley. By itself, that single moment of recognition between that young white girl and that old black man is not enough. It is not enough to give health care to the sick, or jobs to the jobless, or education to our children.
But it is where we start. It is where our union grows stronger. And as so many generations have come to realize over the course of the two-hundred and twenty one years since a band of patriots signed that document in Philadelphia, that is where the perfection begins.
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