(This is such a lose/lose/lose post for me to make, I have no idea why I am doing it. According to academics teaching “race relations” in universities, the very fact that I am breathing air (i.e. alive) makes me a racist. Well, here I go anyway.)
I think Obama realized one day he wanted to be a politician. Being half white and half Kenyan made this goal a bit more difficult in South Chicago. So what do you do? Go to the biggest church in South Chicago. I think the fact that it presented itself as having “African Values”, made this even a better fit for Obama.
So there he sat for 20 years. The relationship served him well. Those on the cynical side would suggest that it was purely a political relationship. I honestly believe he derived a lot of spiritual help and guidance from it.
But here’s the deal: he was willing to overlook the negatives in his Pastor’s teachings because of all the positives.
To paraphrase Bill Clinton, He sat there and listened but did not “inhale”.
Unfortunately, this does not make him a “new” paradigm politician. It means same old same old. Whatever works you do it and when it becomes a liability, you disavow it.
As for his big “Race” speech, it was beautiful, as all of his speeches are. He knows how to talk and make you feel good when you are watching it. But the truth is, you will see whatever you want to “see”. It is the half-full/half-empty thing, which is emotional and impossible to “argue” with in any rational way.
So there it is, crucify me.
(P.S.: If you believe that Slavery is the “original sin” of the United States and it makes it nearly impossible for the entire nation of all races to get along with each other, then you need to make it Foreign Policy Number 1 to do away with slavery in this world. Slavery is not dead. It is alive and well. The first place to start is Darfur. Yes, that would mean confronting the Chinese.)
(Yeah, no one wants to piss off the Chinese, but they are supporting the government of Sudan in order to get their oil. Sudan utilizes slavery to control the opposition to their government. Sudan can paint all the happy faces they want in the Darfur providence, but that is where slavery is and that is where it needs to end.)
(If Obama started talking about ending modern day slavery, I would be all ears and supportive.)
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Great post Ree-C I agree he gave a great speech, but I wonder who wrote it? Great point about slavery today.
Very good points Ree-C.
The “real” sad thing about “his” speech was that it WASN’T his words. It was his speech writers and handlers words. It was pre-written, probably re-worded 10-20 times to get it “just right”. Rehearsed and the RE-rehearsed. And then practiced to be given “just right”. And the MSM drank the kool-aid an bowed humbly at his “wise words”.
Barbra Streisand to me.
So even after all this, what does he “really” believe?
dave, of course it was written by a speech writer, what does that have to do with anything? Do you really think anyone in the public eye is not writing their speeches ahead of time, getting input from other people, and editing it later?
I also drank the kool-aid. I read this morning that he personally wrote his speech.
LST Commenter MAV posted this link last night. It’s put in a much different light now:
http://www.breitbart.tv/html/64554.html
A stupid shock jock should be ostracized but your spiritual mentor, whose rhetoric was much more incendiary, is cool.
As Obama began his campaign I really believed he was, as they say, a post-racial candidate. He has proven to be just as driven by the racial politics of division as Jesse Jackson or David Duke.
blackgirl, I know Kirbyjon has endorse Obama earlier this year. Have you come across any comments from him on this issue? I’ve always respected him as a decent man and I’d be interested to hear his take.
Good morning hamous, no I have not. I did not go to church this past Sunday, but I don’t think he would have said anything. His messages are usually geared toward saving the family, staying out of debt. Oh yea I forgot and he is most famous for “single people leave those marriaged people alone.”
Racism isn’t anywhere near being put to rest in America.
IMHO;
One of the biggest obstacles is the media.
Rev Wright, Jessy and Al offer nothing but a rancid salve constantly being rubbed into the wound.
For decades the white community has offered open arms to embrace the black community, but as usual, turned away.
The black American community needs to move on to bigger and better endeavors.
A good speech does not cover up the fact that two days ago he said he hadn’t heard any of the “controversial” things Wright said, while in the speech he says he did.
That’s what makes him not a “new paradigm” politician. Just a more polite version of Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton who knows what things not to say and when not to say them.
No matter what he says, that lie tell me he actually beleived waht was being said. It’s what the Left beleives. All of the Evils of the World can be laid at the feet of Rich White America.
fordf350, you may know what you are talking about,but for me personally, I can’t say I have ever been embraced by the white community, but I can very much say, I have been embraced by my white friends and I have more than one.
ford, I’d have to agree with blackgirl. I think that’s more than a bit overstated. I don’t think either community can be characterized as offering open arms to the other.
And staying in a racist church, no matter what race it is, won’t improve things. In fact, I’m of the opinion that “Black Activists” are today more the problem than they are the cure. White America is there, as evidenced by Barack Obama’s near certain candidacy, but Black America is not, held back by churches like Obama’s and othe “activists” that the Left depends on for votes, so won’t marginalize the way White America has marginalized thier race haters.
The KKK claims to be based in Christian Religion every bit as much as the church in whose pews Barack Obama sat for 20 years. White America won’t sit in the pews of churches supported by the KKK. White Americas has been walking out of churches like that for three decades now.
There’s a “Christian” Church out there right now that espouses hateful views with whom we are all familiar. They do good works in the community and get involved in “controversial” issues that they think represent injustice. They picket the funerals of Soldiers and spout ateful rhetoric to protest the “Don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. The same kind of excuses can be made for that church and that pastor as Barack Obama is making for his, and done just as eloquently if rhetoric and delivery is going to be your only guide. But no matter how eleoquent the prose,it still wouldn’t make me vote for a candidate that sat in the pews of that church, either.
How can “BO” claim he had not heard any of those rantings by the Rev. Wright over the 20 years of going to church? What did “BO” get advance notice of what Sunday’s sermon was going to be about? He never did discuss what he missed on Sunday from any of the other church people?? Look, he heard, he knew but never said anything about it until it became politically important to say something against it. And to cherish his black roots when it was his “black” father that walked out on the family and he was raised with a white influence is being a hypocrite. “BO” is just a charmer, cult leader who will be revealed when it gets to the general election, if HELLary doesn’t do him in first.
hamous,
I find your comment somewhat astounding, if not flat out naive.
Show an example that proves my opinion lacking.
Please don’t use Denney’s as one.
ford, The “white community” is not reaching out to anyone with open arms. The government has tried forced equality of position, but that is not working real well. For the most part, the “white community” is not making a concerted effort to do anything. Mainly because the “white community” is too diverse of opinion on how to do anything.
I forget where exactly I saw it (blog comments in last day or two), but apparently someone asked Morgan Freeman how to get past all the racial “stuff”. His answer was simple: “Stop talking about it all the time.” In other words, stop giving the poverty pimps of all stripes a soapbox to stand on to spew their hateful rhetoric.
Go back and look at MLK. He spoke in very uplifting terms - “content of their character instead of color of their skin”. He wasn’t talking about what he and his cronies could scam from companies & the govt through thinly-veiled extortion. Obama could have been/done that, but accumulated too much baggage sitting in the pews listening to “Reverend” Wright spew his racist filth.
I’ve gotta hand it to Barak - he’s as talented with his speeches as the Clintons are with politics. While the Clintons are masters of triangulation and political manipulation, Barak’s specialty is being able to speak eloquently and look you right in the eye as he avoids answering your question; then you walk away feeling good about him because he has connected with your emotional side instead of your intellectual side. We’re all cheering for an intelligent black man to make good - but to be President we have to know what his views really are. Hillary’s views change according to the political winds, but Barak just doesn’t tell us much. He’s as much a manipulator as Hillary is, but because of his speaking skill, the desire of many to prove they are not racist, and Hillary’s baggage - people want to believe IN him rather than believe him, so they will hear what they want to hear.
I watched a brief news clip this morning, and the Americans with our attention span of a gnat are already making excuses: “He denounced the things his pastor said,and I think we need to take him at his word”, “I think enough has been made of this already, we need to move on”, and “we all have heard things from our pastors that we don’t like, and he’s not Obama”.
Frankly speaking - the only thing that any of my past pastors have said that I disagree with involved a very short intention in a prayer about the redistribution of the world’s wealth. I have never had a pastor talk about hate or distrust of any person or groups of persons. But then, if my pastor spoke politics from the pulpit, we’d lose our tax exempt status. My congregation is diverse, not black.
Racism will always exsist. For lack of anything i can say that will alter this fact, I offer the words of a great American, “why can’t we all just get along”.
#15 No, you show me examples of where the “white community has offered open arms to embrace the black community”.
I was so turned off by the incendary comments spewed from the pulpit, that every time Obama clips are shown on TV or played on the radio I change stations - only to be assaulted again by the hate mongering, rascist Wright. Obama may earn his party’s nomination, but he’ll never get elected to the presidency. He has no track record in congress, and Hillary is just scary! (’m no fan of McCain, either!)
IMHO we aren’t as racially divided as some want us to believe….I firmly believe this a Lib vs Conserv race.
Libs see everything as gender and race and want this elction to be about a female or a black.
So what will McCain push as issues, will he let the MSM set the agenda or seize the agenda like Reagan did?
Its all about leadership.
#22 - that’s what I think too.
I was raised in a small community in Houston County and as a child around 6 or 7 I witness a klan parade. We were standing up again a store front and I kept saying – Daddy Andy what is that, what is that, and he said “Gal be quiet!” because of the tone of his voice I knew to be quiet. No one moved until the last automobile passed. No words were exchanged it was like nothing ever happen. It was held around the county court house in Cockett and to this day my grandparents never explained to me what it was or the meaning. I had to learn on my own. There was a café in my community across the highway from the grocery store where we shopped and I would always beg for my grandfather to buy me a hamburger. They smelled son good. But the answer was no each time I asked. I realized now the reason, they choose not to go in the back door. Because they felt they had to protect me it hurt me later on. Moving to Houston and getting my first job as a clerk typist, I was on cloud nine and my performance showed it. I was promoted after a year to the front desk. My manager was a white man, who I think had mood swings. He would arrive in the morning and you could say morning and it was as if he did not even see you. He was the one who promoted me. One day he called me in his office and he started to tell me about what a good job I was doing and then he said the world is full of cruel people and that I had been given every dirty job there was and each time I did what I was asked to do with a smile. When I finally realized what he was trying to tell me I begin to cry. To sum this up, I didn’t know what was happening to me, I was asked to do something and I did it. They were paying me! Did my attitude change no it did not. I was taught when life gives you lemons find a way to make lemonade. But my manager reinforced in me that good people comes in all colors. When I decided to blogg on LST, I started to pick the name “happygoluckly”, I would have blended in then, I know the main audience but I wanted to know what you really thought of me. Not all black people are activist some just try to live their lives with the good, bad and the ugly.
Oh come on people! The “while community”? The “black community”??
I’m an American. I look around my office now and see AMERICANS, even though there some are from Asian “decent’, some are from Indian/Pakistani “decent”, others are from African “decent”, and some are actually even from WASP “decent” (GASP!!). I could care LESS what color their skin is (or even what their gender is).
Until more start showing THAT view, there will never be an end to this (and the MSM helps to keep it alive).
The only true racists out there, are the people that look at someone and the FIRST thing they see is “what color is their skin”. (KKK, “Rev” Wright, most of the Democrat Party, and most ALL of the MSM, etc.)
It’s too bad more people aren’t like myself and blackgirl from post #24.
My son has gone to schools all his life where is in the minority. Right now, he is one of a handful of white students among 3000-4000 black and Hispanic students. He has been warmly welcomed on the team as “one of the team”. I have sat next to parents who ask me which child is mine, and I answer “The only white boy on the team!” and we both laugh. I used to attend a Bible Study group at a black Episcopalian church (because the priest and I met elsewhere and really hit it off, and he invited me to come). I joked that I was the “token white” in the group, and there was nary a racial conflict among us Christians until the OJ trial came up. I was convinced he was guilty, they were convinced he was not, so I kept my mouth shut and we finally moved on. My daughter counts as her friends people from all races - her confirmation sponsor was from the Dominican Republic, one of her crazy friends whom I loved to see is black, her prom date’s family is from the Philippines, etc.,etc.
There are a few ignorant souls who are truly, outwardly, racist and full of distrust and hatred. But I believe the majority of humanity just wants to live our lives. I don’t have a lot of time or energy to spare in finding reasons to stress out. The government does enough of that for me. As a business person, I don’t care what race you are, as long as you can get the job done. Capitalism is a great equalizer, when practiced fully.
BTW - how are these black racists who continue to live in the past hurts plan to move forward? Every time I try to walk forward when looking backwards, I trip and fall.
And blackgirl, you’re OK in my book. Anyone who gets the job done is someone I don’t mind hanging out with.
I used to work with a black man, “Simon”, on one of my contract jobs who was counting down the hours - literally, he could tell you how many months, days, and hours - until he could retire. He felt that he had been held back because of his skin color and was very, very bitter. Every work session became his personal gripe session, and he would denigrate the other people that I had to work with on the project (he felt they had “stolen” his pet project from him).
I consulted with the manager about this, and finally had to tell him to focus on our work, that I couldn’t get involved in his past troubles because there wasn’t anything I could do about them. He seemed taken aback, but it helped our work environment. I found out later that the project had been moved to someone else so that “Simon” could work on other projects. Simon refused to see that he was being given an opportunity, and instead blamed it on racism. Where his fellow compatriots were being promoted, his bad-mouthing fellow colleagues and his acidic attitude prevented him from being promoted himself. Of course, Simon blamed his lack of promotions on racism. I guess, in one way, he was right. Unfortunately, the racism was on his end, and he was his own worst enemy.
#24 blackgirl
I hear you. I’m white and growing up in the 50’s and 60’s in Port Arthur, TX was not a bowl of cherries for me. I had lost my father when I was young and life was a daily struggle for us. I use to listen to my mother as she struggled to make a living for us saying,”we don’t have a pot to p!ss in or a window to throw it out of”. Of course I did have the right to go into Big-A-Burger and eat if I had the money to do so. I was limited in my friendships since I was poor and the parents of kids that had more did not want me dating their daughters. It stung when girls at school referred to our family car as a “clap”.
I had never been around black people as we were segregated till I went into the U.S. Army. It was there that I developed my self esteem and began to see blacks as soldiers just like me. In boot camp we learned from each other. Everyone had a special talent. I rose above it all and did well in the service.
I have a good education, a MPA, I think that good. I’ve taught college as a adjunct faculty member and have a job that I use to love, but now just like. It sounds to me that you have done well also, you see it’s important what we make of ourselves and not what life says we should be.
Yes, that clerk typist position started my profession, I received another promotion, from someone else before I left the company. And I can proudly say, I never burnt any bridges as I moved around, never been unemployed and can call so many white people and say “I am looking for a job can you help me”.
#24 - Big KUDOS and a heart ^5 to you Ma’am!
In this day & age there’s never NEAR enough basic work ethic left in existence regardless of a worker’s ethnicity…….I do pray this sad circumstance changes sooner than later!
Hearty* even (danged curved keyboard!)
I hear that hope is an audacious thing to have.
I also hear that bull$hit is very cheap.
When I hear Obamarama-ding-dong speak (or most politicians for that matter, but Obama is especially bad) I find the second item is repeatedly affirmed. Yesterday’s “race” speech was no different.
#30 - Great post. I experienced the same type scenario as you - yes, I am a minority and proud of it, but more proud to be an American where I know for a fact there is and always will be racial discrimination for I have experienced it myself personally. However, I have always been a strong person in believing that no one owes me anything and that I can and will overcome and more forward on my own in spite of what others think or say because I don’t want to remain ignorant. I can then help other minorities see what they need to do and put aside race as an excuse.
I encountered true white friends at a low paying who recognized that I wanted to learn and get better and fit in and they went to bat for me (back in 1984)to get promoted although I could have done it myself even if it would have required more effort on my part since I was not white. They put their own jobs on the line (although I discouraged them from doing so) and brought it to the attention of higher-ups that I was more than capable of doing the job and deserved every bit of success. To them I will be forever grateful.
I am married to a white man and he has always been so supportive of my energy and initiative to become better and just get along. No one could be more sincere about his belief that we should be fair to anyone and everyone who wants to do what is right in spite of what group they belong to.
I’m an Air Force brat. I never really saw racism growing up. Everyone’s dad was blue. From what I’ve seen it’s the same in the other branches. The military was and is always ahead of society in general when it comes to results vs. skin color.
#35 NativeAmerican
I believe that people with a common goal to improve themselves or achieve something tend to focus on skills, abilities, and attitudes above all.
Those who have other goals tend to focus on non-relevant things like skin color.
36, not to mention being required to trust those around you with your life makes things like race less important than things like, can you do your job.
#20
OK! I’ll take your bait, since you can’t/won’t offer an example.
Well! Let start with white Christian churches.
Look at the congregation. What a mixture of people.
How many do you see pushing a total white agenda?
listen! I grew up in the fifties and sixties as well. I saw segregation. I experienced segregation.
I’ve seen and experienced racism from both sides.
I’m a voting member of the Cherokee nation based in Oklahoma and know the history of the American Indian. My Father was Irish and we all know the many titles handed to the Irish.
So don’t try to give me any of your crap about this subject.
Read what’s being posted on this page.
ford, The “white Christian churches” are not the entirety of the “white community.” And there are still “white Christian churches” that are not desegregated, just like there are many “black Christian Churches” that are not desegregated.
fordf350, you are correct with this example. My church shared Easter Sunday with Second Baptist a couple of years ago at Minute Maid. It was a wonderful sight to see.
moose;
I agree!
It seems that
people want to congregate where they choose, rather than the establishments desire to openly endorse segregation and steer it’s membership as such.
White Christian churches would have the entire weight of the Federal Gov. on their backs if they practiced segregation.
How can the Rev. Wrights church be the exception?
blackgirl,
It must have been a truly uplifting experience.
we need more of the same.
An example of what??? You’re the one proclaiming that the “white community” has opened their arms to the “black community” and been “turned away”. I merely ask for examples of this happening. Christian churches not pushing a total white agenda is not an example of black people turning away the overture of white people.
What crap am I giving you? I’m telling you that neither “community” has what I would consider “opened their arms” to the other. There have been vast improvements since the ’50s and ’60s but to say all white people (the white community) have opened their arms and been slapped down by black people seems incorrect.
Also, I don’t need a lecture on how tough Indians have had it.
Racism is the symptom of the underling problem of everyone thinking, because of their race, they are special in some unique way; and should be treated different from everyone else when it comes to public policy or any accountability.
• If I was a college student and spoke as Rev Wright did from a white context I would be expelled for “HATE SPEECH” and then would be arrested.
• If I were a Teacher and spoke as Rev Wright did from a white context to my students I would be fired for “HATE SPEECH” and arrested.
• If I spoke as Rev Wright did from a white context in public and someone went off and did violence or I cause a riot , I would be arrested on numerous charges for promoting violence with “HATE SPEECH”
• If I would have said those things as a child my mother would have washed my mouth out with soap, and lectured me the evils of judging all for the actions of a few.
The racism here is the Rev Wright expecting a pass for what he said, just because he is black, while others would be admonished and punished for doing the same thing. The more unique we insist we are the more racist we become.
I will fight for the Rev Wright to have his opinions, but Obama’s creditability is not what he heard or when he heard it, to me if he can not disavow the Rev Wright then he is just as much a racist as his so called mentor.
The Dems are stuck. They have to go with Obama now, even though they know Hillary is now more electable. If they don’t pick Obama, they seem racist and they know there would be riots and blacks now wouldn’t vote if Hillary is the choice. They’d rather lose now than give the appearance of being divided along racial lines. They also know that Obama’s own mouth will be his self destruction. They know Obama has lost any moral authority of any kind. Add to that Obama’s upcoming campaign stop in Plainfield, IN at the ISNA, and Obama is toast. At least as of today. But the convention is still slightly more than FIVE months away. That’s an eternity in politics.
#45 BigIron thats why I think this is such an interesting year in politics, there are much more to come. Many things are to be revealed to the world as we go through this process. The question is “what will we learn from this process?”
Only in America could this process happen.
Hamous,
offering an opinion is a far cry from “proclaming”; wouldn’t you agree?
you ask for an example, I gave one.
You wouldn’t give one opposing.
No more from me on religion and race.
I’ve has enough for one day.
I think I was very lucky. Madison HS opened in 1965. The school was extremely diverse. We were at the edge of the suburban/farming community, with every race under the sun. For some reason, we were also very tight knit - and for some reason remained that way. 20 years after HS, I ran into one of my friends who was black that graduated a year ahead of me. We got to discussing why we didn’t have the problems other schools and places had along racial lines. The consensus was we were just TOO busy having fun to even think about it.
In 1968 some students from Westbury and Bellaire who were members of the SDS came to Madison handing out anti war literature. The Madison student body was a very patriotic bunch of kids, and many had brothers in Vietnam at the time.
This group of 10 kids was quickly surrounded by several hundred very angry Madison students. One of our running backs, a great black guy whose name I don’t recall, got the crowd calmed down and I remember him telling those SDS kids that they better leave - they were in the wrong place. That is leadership. Something we were lucky to have at Madison in all races and classes. I was indeed fortunate to be educated in such a school.
Funny side note at Madison - We had a Herring for the principal and a fish for our mascot.
Ford - the thing is we pretty much agree on this subject. Racism is far from dead in America. We’ve made great strides but it will never go away completely. My only disagreement with you was your opinion that seemed to indicate that the benevolent white community offered a hand to the black community and pulled back a bloody nub.
As far as giving you an example, I’m not sure how I can give an example of a negative. Actually blackgirl pretty much refuted that claim with the story of her church and 2nd Baptist holding a church service together. Obviously those white people weren’t “as usual, turned away”.
But I agree. Enough talk on race.
Then how about a discussion about gender? Many companies have now shifted their focus to promoting women of all races over equally or better qualified men of all races as a way to “right past wrongs”. Is this any less unfair than affirmative action based on race?
If you ever want to visit a great black Baptist church, try this one right between Houston and Missiour City.
http://www.bethelsfamily.org/
The Senior Pastor is Rev. Walter August, formerly USMC, and DEFINITELY not a Jeremiah Wright kind of guy. Just be ready to go for 3 hours and be exhausted when you leave.
#52 absolutely. Being female, I can say yes. I don’t need a helping hand because I am female, and you shouldn’t be punished because I am female. The best person should get the job. Frankly, getting a job as a token, steals the pride of getting the job.
52 and 54 I would ABSOLUTELY never want a job, promotion, etc. because I am a woman…I am, however, waiting for benefits for being left-handed, since lefties die, on average 7 years younger because this is a right-handed world–now THAT’S discrimination.
As for voting for Hillary because she’s a woman or Barak because he’s black, who cares? They are both socialists, through and through. Doesn’t matter that they’re the “first” anything. All that we’ll get is the honor of paying taxes according to what we make to hand out to the non-workers according to their “needs”.
Regarding signing statemtents, I don’t have too much problem with them based on what I read here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Signing_statement
This is the checks and balances in action. The President of the United States is the Chief Law Enforcement officer in the land. If congress writes a bill that is so vague as to be open for interpretation, that is their fault. If congress writes a bill that is clearly unconstitutional, I expect the President to instruct the executive branch to disregard it without a hearing before the SCOTUS. The President is elected by the whole body of the people to defend our rights. If he fails to do that, let congress impeach him. Maybe if Congress passed better laws, there wouldn’t have been so many signing statements since 1981.
All of you blogging about “race troubles” maybe if you feel so strongly about you should stop blogging about it and start doing something about it this way we’d have a better shot at getting rid of racism in America. But you will all find it is useless because of capitalism. Only under socialism/marxism can true equality be attained because racial conflict not only lies in what ignorant people say but it also lies in the economic seperation between the races. If we all had similar economic statuses we would all live in the same neighbourhoods, shop in the same malls, and pay the same taxes. Also in referral to the church segregation subject let me ask you this white people : If you believe in it as strongly as you say you do WHY DON’T Y’All go to a “BLACK CHURCH”. That would solve at least one of the problems you’ve discussed.
Yeah, Socialism/Marxism really worked out for the people of the Soviet Union, Cuba, China and North Korea. As a matter of fact, talk to the people of Tibet right now that the Chinese millitary are killing wholesale to keep them under control of the “Revolution”. I’m sure there won’t be any more racism toward the people of Tibet once they are all dead.