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.
Are we to expect more insistence of justice of the type that Al Sharpton insisted upon for Tawana Brawley? Are we to expect more insistence of justice of the type that the Duke Lacrosse players were threatened with in that case? Are we to expect more insistence of justice of the type recently promoted with the Jenna six? If Obama is going to insist on justice, how about justice for all those black unborn babies that are slaughtered every year in abortuaries throughout the nation? Nope… nothing but silence from Obama for justice for the black babies.
Also note here that Obama’s vision of America is one that sees America as oppressive. White women are oppressed by glass ceilings — blacks are oppressed with injustice, the immigrant oppressed by lack of food. The area that is the most clearly oppressive in America is abortion and Obama say’s nothing.
By the way … Why is it that Rev. Wright is upset about the US Government in the US of KKK A producing the AIDS virus in order to kill off the black population but says nothing about the US Government trying to kill off the black population by abortion? Why is it he complains about Tuskegee and doesn’t complain about White Margaret Sanger’s racism being embraced by the US government in abortion policy?
Ironically, this quintessentially American — and yes, conservative notion of self-help found frequent expression in Reverend Wright’s 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.
Yes, Rev.Wright should have believed that whitey could eventually be snuffed out.
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.
“Investing in our schools” means the government takes more money from the taxpayer and gives it to the teachers unions. Socialism.
“Current incidents of discrimination, while less overt than in the past – are real and must be addressed,” means more affirmative quota programs and possibly reparations.
“Investing in the health, welfare, and education of black and brown and white children,” means taking more money from the taxpayer and giving it to the government so it can pour it down the rat hole of a managed health care system. More Socialism.
In the end, then, what is called for is nothing more, and nothing less, than what all the world’s great religions demand — that we do unto others as we would have them do unto us. Let us be our brother’s keeper, Scripture tells us. Let us be our sister’s keeper. Let us find that common stake we all have in one another, and let our politics reflect that spirit as well.
We don’t need the State to force us to be our Brother’s keeper. Some of us would get more joy out of being our Brother’s keeper if we weren’t being told we had to be our Brother’s keeper while having a gun pointed at us.
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 Wright’s 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 she’s 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.
Moral equivalence.
Ferraro equals Wright.
White racist men will only vote for white McCain.
It’s not fair that Rev. Wright’s sermons are played nightly.
We can do that.
But if we do, I can tell you that in the next election, we’ll 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 can’t learn; that those kids who don’t look like us are somebody else’s 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.
My children do not belong to America, and as such I don’t want America taking care of my children. That is my job. That language reveals Obama’s socialistic mindset.
The best thing that could happen to the government schools is if they would all crumble to the ground.
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 should’ve been authorized and never should’ve been waged, and we want to talk about how we’ll show our patriotism by caring for them, and their families, and giving them the benefits they have earned.
If Obama is proud of the flag, then why does he refuse to wear the standard flag pin on his lapel? Could it be due to Rev.Wright’s influence? If Obama is proud of the flag then why is the Cuban flag flying in his Huston campaign office and not the American flag? And what gives with the Che Guevara picture Barack? If Obama is proud of the flag, then why has is wife only recently felt proud of this nation?
Overall, I think Obama’s speech is beautifully crafted. It will definitely be swooned over by those who only hear whats on the surface. However, if people begin to dig into this speech they will see the problems of the speech.
My opinion is that Obama will not be able to transcend Wright’s turning him into a uniquely black candidate. Before this gaffe I didn’t think America was ready to elect a black liberal and the Wright event and this speech only confirms that instinct. When people begin to see the moral equivalence argument that this speech represents they are not going to embrace Obama.