On Mar 18, 3:47*pm, Huck Kennedy > wrote:
> On Mar 18, 3:44*pm, Kathy Bush > wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
> > 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-t...ma_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 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.