When Barack Obama gave his speech on "A More Perfect Union", the public was treated to something different and almost hypnotic; a Politician who didn't duck the issue, "disown" his pastor for remarks that shocked many Americans, but instead - Senator Obama faced the controversy head-on and attempted to bridge the gap of racial divisiveness that often muddies the waters whenever someone plays the "race card" and responded with a message that resonated with truth and power! Mr. Obama uttered words that are often whispered about or spoke of in the privacy of our homes, black and white; for once, the 600 Lb Gorilla that co-exists in millions of families across this country was acknowledged and for all practical purposes, was laid bare for all of us who have open minds to examine and analyze.
His speech has received a mixed reaction, and as I'm writing this Op-Ed, CNN is droning on in the background and I've heard the criticism of Obama for "throwing his Grandmother under the bus" by revealing her racism, and even that of his now retired Pastor - even though she was white and Barack Obama appears to be black. If we all look back, which I'll examine later, many of us have experienced similar events in our lives - and it certainly isn't limited to the black community! The rabid right is attempting to use Obama's refusal to disown his past as a rationale to disqualify him from being Presidential material because of past associations, and this began before he delivered his speech of historical magnitude:
Obama's Racist and Extremist Associations
Posted on 03/12/2008 7:16:20 AM PDT by Imperial Warrior
Were Barack Obama a Republican, especially a conservative white male Republican, his political career would have been over before it started were his friends and close associates members of vile, violence espousing racist, race separatist, extremist groups that Barack Obama, liberal Democrat actually has demonstrable ties with. The biased and degenerate liberal media despite their Herculean efforts to shield their empty suit candidate, failed to squelch the long and disturbing record of Obama's associations with overt racists and domestic terrorists revealed only when the new media, ie: internet and talk radio did the journalistic footwork and heavy lifting the lapdog liberal media intentionally avoided and refused to do even though they would have gladly and eagerly done this and more had Obama been either white, conservative, or Republican.
Instead, in typical communistic fashion the mainstream media has provided cover, body armor, and a safe haven for a politician with very disturbing personal associations up to and including his own wife who has referred to whites as oppressors and suggested blacks need to join together to fight white oppression to preserve black culture and blackness whatever the hell that means. It is little wonder that the Obama's belong to a racist, race separatist church whose spiritual leader and Obama's personal mentor parrot this "whitey is the devil" garbage and warmly embrace the "contributions" of the most vile and racist thug, Louis Farrakhan, and his violent anti-Semitic, anti-American, anti-white, genocidal, race separatist, pro-Islamist screed.
Yet the worthless and despicable liberal media and press in the bag for Obama, choose to descend on John McCain like ravenous wolves for an unproven and unsubstantiated claim of an inappropriate political insider relationship revealed later to have no substance in whatsoever reality. Yet Obama gets the pass for an unspeakable relationship with both racists and anarchist domestic terrorists for a nation at war in a time of war. Ridiculous and intolerable. Obama and his political operatives as well as the scumbags in the degenerate willing lapdog media conveniently use Obama's race as a shield to cover and counteract justifiable criticism of this phony bigot who trucks ands travels with the worst of racist scum. The standard attempted to be set by the dirtbag liberal media and Democrap Party is to declare any criticism of Obama's racist associations or his political record or lack thereof as an attack on his race and thus racism itself. MUCH MORE
Although the majority of the commentary after his landmark speech is positive in nature, there are those who still hold-on to the belief that our associations - even though publicly condemning much of their message, somehow is a decisive factor in deciding "who" is qualified to be our next President. Yes, there are many positive articles written about Obama's speech, but for the purpose of insight and analysis, I'm concentrating on the negatives and attempting to post an opposing, rational opinion that forces us to look back on ourselves, and what is revealed many will not admit:
The Black Theology of "God Damn America!"
by Jacob Freeze
In his nationally televised speech tonight, Barack Obama tried to convince American voters that when Jeremiah Wright screams "God damn America!" in Trinity United Church of Christ, and the congregation cheers, it's just a holdover of bitterness from the days of Jim Crow, just an isolated outburst of justifiable indignation.
But "God damn America!" is a fundamental component of Pastor Wright's world-view, systematically developed in the black power theology of his mentor, Professor James Cone of the Union Theological Seminary.
Pastor Wright insisted on his connection with James Cone in a weird interview with Sean Hannity:
Wright: How many of Cone's books have you read? How many of Cone's book have you read?
Sean Hannity: Reverend, Reverend?
(crosstalk)
Wright: How many books of Cone's have you read?Sean Hannity obviously hasn't read any of James Cone's books, and neither have most of the apologists for Pastor Wright.
Professor Cone preaches a very unusual version of the Gospels:
Black theology refuses to accept a God who is not identified totally with the goals of the black community. If God is not for us and against white people, then he is a murderer, and we had better kill him. The task of black theology is to kill Gods who do not belong to the black community ... Black theology will accept only the love of God which participates in the destruction of the white enemy.
I viewed Senator Obama's speech in a different light; it doesn't matter whether its Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, or John McBush who you favor for President - the honesty revealed by Barack Obama should be viewed as an opportunity for the nation as a whole to look deeper into the racial underpinnings that often rear their ugly head(s), and if we follow his lead, we can trace and understand how racism still survives in a country where racial divisions are beginning to heal.
Racism is not an inherent part of the human spirit, but is used as a tool for bigots that refuse to listen or comprehend what they don't understand - or, alternatively, to elicit a sense of fear in their attempts to grasp or hold-on to power. In most cases, I believe the roots of racism are passed-on in our own families from generation to generation, and as the country becomes more diversified - many of us out-grow what we were taught as children. When Senator Obama spoke in frank terms of his grandmother, it made me reflect upon my own past, and I'm a white male that's 57 years old. I believe that if more of us would do the same we could begin to understand that racism is a learned behavior - and to understand it, many of us must look deep into own past.
When I was eleven or twelve years old, I was sent to live with my grandmother on my mother's side of the family. I wasn't sent to the deep south, but to California, one of the most progressive states in the union. We lived in Laton, a sleepy farming community in California's Joaquin Valley. One day after making a friend at school, I invited him home to play. My Grandmother peeked out from behind the kitchen curtains and was furiously motioning for me to come into the house; I could see the was angry, in fact, mortified would be a better explanation! She told me to send my friend home immediately and that I was to come back in the house when he was gone. I had no idea what was wrong and hurriedly told my friend that he had to leave, that Grandma was mad at me and I had to stay inside the house. I could see the hurt in his eyes as he was leaving, but didn't understand why until I went back into the house.
As soon as she saw he was gone, I was told to go out to the apricot orchard and pick out a switch - my grandmother's favorite form of punishment; I didn't understand what I did wrong - and said so - a mistake I didn't make again. She went into a tirade of obscenities and asked me if I had learned a damn thing from my mother, and asked me how I had the nerve to bring a "niqqer" home to play, and even worse, to let other people in the town to see me playing with him. She drove that point home as she beat me unmercifully with the switch and I knew, from that moment on, that I could never associate with any of the blacks at school. An unintended consequence of my Grandmother's beating was that at school, instead of being a friend, I was beat-up and chased home on a regular basis by the kid's older brother and his friends, who took out their wrath on me.
Looking back at those days, I see a little boy that was terrified of his grandmother, and because of her actions, became the punching bag of kids that were hurt and angry at my family's obvious prejudice. That had its consequences too, and only being a kid, I began to form my own opinions based on the constant abuse I was getting at school - and thus the cycle of racism is passed on to another generation - on both sides! I didn't wake-up until I was in my twenties, and only so because of working conditions that placed me in close contact with black people, and I learned that everything I had been taught was based on prejudice and fear - not reality. I'll admit that extremes such as I went through are becoming a thing of the past, but as we witnessed in the The Jena 6 (Jena Six) incident, it's still alive and well in many of our homes - and will remain that way until parents wake-up and quit preaching hatred to their children.
I also see the Obama Presidential bid differently than others; everyone is holding their breath to see if the United States will elect its first black President, however, I'm curious to see if we will elect the first Presidential candidate that is representative of the melting-pot known as The United States and understand that it's not a black or a white man running for President, it's Barack Obama, the combination of both and a product of our society who is undoubtedly, first and last, just another American.
William Cormier
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"The whisper becomes louder, then a voice is heard, and then crowds of voices, and eventually the whisper becomes the roar of change!" wjc
