Obama Speech Tuesday morning 3/18/08

[Guest]

Did you hear his speech?
If yes, what do you think?
If no please don't try to offer an opinion by only listening to the media's digestion and thinking for you.......seek it out and sit still for 30 minutes and listen.....ONLY then will you be able to offer a credible opinion.

After the speech two questions were hypothetically posed:

Do you think YOU could make that speech? The most likely answer ....yes.

If you are a politician could you make that speech? Most likely answer....no!!!

He decided to make the speech and wrote and edited it himself against the wishes of many of his campaign advisers.

What do I think? I learned a lot more about who he is....hence in my opinion....mission accomplished.

Search it out on the internet I am sure it will be there soon....reading the text of the speech will not come close to the same impact as listening.

BTK

[Guest]

Thanks for the heads up, billethekid. :bigthumbsup:

[Guest]

BTK,

I found the video of his speech on http://www.MSNBC.msn.com/ . This gives me an idea of the character of the man. I can see how he has gotten as far as he has today. I would recommend anybody who is interested in the political process to look at this speech. I have not engaged myself in the process till this point. I am not committed to any one candidate at this time and usually wait till after the conventions to pay attention to the candidates. I will adhere to that process this election also. If Obama is the Democratic nominee it will be interesting to see how the character of both candidates plays out leading to the general election.

[Guest]

pure, unadulterated crap

[Guest]

Sorry, Muncle, don't think that speech was crap -- not of the horse nor any other variety.

There's no question the speech was made to repudiate Rev. White's sermons. I wasn't impressed with the comments about health care, etc. -- they just seemed to be throwaways to remind people this was his platform.

Obama made some very valid points on racism. I've been privileged to have a dear friend who was black and be invited into her home for holidays. He's right, the talk was of racism the family had been forced to participate in and in perceived racism. There was anger in those discussions. Some things were said that would have made Rev. White's statements seem to be devoid of any anger.

As he said, America is not stagnant. It grows and changes with the times. I do remember Rev. King's marches and speeches. I have seen black men hung by the side of the road as a warning to other black men to not get "uppity" and date white women. I have also seen young white men and women risk their lives to help blacks vote. While I have never served in a war, I have seen where the role of the African-American has grown from being cooks and drivers and human cannon fodder to respected members of the military -- people who have fought side by side and become the brothers and sisters of their comrades in arms.

I was impressed with his honesty in discussing these issues. Personally, I think he said some things that needed to be said. I hope most Americans listen to them -- whatever their race, whatever their political persuasion, whatever their beliefs. So, to me, call them crap is an insult to this great nation and its willingness to change.

His speech still hasn't convinced me he's the man to do the job but it has made me respect him a little more.

[Guest]

The entire purpose of this specious twaddle was to stop the uproar about Wright's rantings. First, lets deal with one subject. Last weekend, in a couple venues, Obama claimed that he never heard Wright spout any of his BS previously, in private or in the church, that had he done so, he'd have walked out. Today we find out that yeah, he had been in church and heard him. Oh, he disagreed with them, though.

Later Obama explains that he cannot disown Wright any more than he can the black community or his white grandmother. Does the black community need disowning? Is he attributing Wright's ignorant comments and thought(?) behind them to the black community? Does he think that poorly of an entire community? And then he pulls out the old chestnut about his "white grandmother" who helped raise him. This isn't the first we've heard of her fear of blacks or occasional racial/ethnic stereotyping. And of course, let's liken Geraldine Farraro's non PC comment to all this (oh, he wouldn't do that, but some have attributed deep-seated racial bias to her.

The political speech was just that, yet another talk by yet another politician. He bemoans the idea that some have brought race into the campaign, yet he takes pains in stressing age-old grievances, some valid, some not. And again, he offers no solutions. His claim throughout the campaign is to be this seasons's "Uniter", that he'll bring us all together. Yet his only attempt at bringing anyone together is to bring together the poor against the rich (white) power.

Let's all do it for Ashley. Then we can have change and hope. Bull crap

[Guest]

Just a couple of questions before I tell a story.

One, who's Ashley :dontknow: And, again I ask this, when did hope and change become dirty words?

Now my story. I had a best friend, not just a good friend, my BEST friend, disappear in the middle of the night about 4 years ago and I haven't seen or heard from her since. Now keep in mind, I saw her every week, sometimes 2 or 3 times a week, for almost 20 years. She saw me through hard times, during my father's stroke, through my father's death, she came out in the middle of the night to help me, she was my shoulder to cry on, she was my confidant, she bought me inspirational books and cards when I needed them, she was every inch a Best Friend. She was my Vanessa. Nessie. And she just happened to be black. She is one of the dearest souls that God has ever put on this earth. She put herself through college in New Orleans and held a great job as Asst. Mgr. to one of our suburban villages in Illinois. I watched her raise her two sons without the financial help or the physical presence of their father. I went to their graduations, and to one wedding. And in 20 years, there was never talk of race or race issues between us. Not once. Until her youngest son went for his driver's license. Her oldest son spent lots of time with his Grandfather in Tennessee, so this issue never came up. But when her youngest son was going for his driver's license, she was scared to death and I didn't know why. "Why?" she said, "I'll tell you why. A young black boy driving a car is a target, not talkin' about gangs, but of the police. It's never touched you, so you wouldn't know," she said. And to look at this good woman with tears in her eyes, broke my heart. Well, her worst fears came to be. Her youngest son was picked up by the police, beaten within an inch of his life, and she was called to jail to pick him up. He was doing NOTHING WRONG! Just driving through a predominately white neighborhood around midnight on his way home from a concert. "Mistaken identity," the police mumbled. After that day, I felt a subtle tension between us. We still loved each other. But I could feel her anger and I think she felt my overwhelming shame. It just never was the same. Soon after, her oldest son, came and took them away in the middle of the night because wanted his brother and his mother safe. They had become targets because she had the audacity to start to sue that police department. We never said goodbye. She just disappeared. And I miss her everyday and pray she's safe. And this was only 4 years ago folks! This isn't a movie -- this is the here and now! There is an anger that this country just won't face. I applaud Barak Obama for his speech. Bravo! He was telling you like it is and you don't want to believe it. Do I agree with his pastor? NO! Of course not! Do I know there's an anger? YOU BETCHA! I don't believe Obama spoke like a politician, I believe he spoke from his heart. I'm still in the Hillary camp, but Obama has always had my respect, now even more, and if he wins the nomination, I'll vote for him. If you want to talk about angry white men, (a despicable term) you don't have to look very far. Just turn around and look at McCain. His temper tantrums are on record. That's one short fuse too near the button for me.

[Guest]

Just a couple of questions before I tell a story.

One, who's Ashley :dontknow:


You might want to listen to or read his speech.

[Guest]

Yes, I know who Ashley is in the speech, I just didn't get your last sentence. It didn't make sense to me. I also didn't get the part in your post where you thought he could magically and immediately come up with a solution to the race problem. I'll say it again, he spoke from his heart and I applaud him. :clap2: and one of my favorite quotes:

"Never take a person's hope away, it might be all they have."

[Guest]

I expect people will view Obama's speech along partisan lines. If you're a Democrat you'll be wowed by it; vice versa if you're a Republican. I do agree it probably was a speech he would have preferred not to have to give. He's wanted to stay above the fray and not let race come into the equation, but the reverand thing forced his hand. Ultimately I think he would have had to give it though. I just heard a poll that gave numbers for the percentage of people in America who won't vote for him or any other candidate simply because they're black. There is a racial divide out there, and and he's been forced to acknowledge it. Frankly I'm suprised the reverand thing has become so big. Haven't we all at some point been in church where a political stance was taken that is not in keeping with our views? Obama is runnng here, not his former pastor.

[Guest]

Chelsea and Red - :bigthumbsup:
I expected no less from you than a willingness to assume that what a person says is rooted in their honest feelings.
I, too, have not decided on whom I will vote for, but to dismiss this speech as political rhetoric is part of what is keeping us divided on this and other issues. I also elect to learn something from this.
Maybe we are naive, but let's 'hope' not.

[Guest]

I do believe that some of what Obama said was nothing but political rhetoric. I also believe much of what he said was the absolute truth. There is still racism in America. Chels' story is but one example. This racism causes anger and a chasm that needs to be filled. That chasm must be filled by everyone, not just one side or the other.

I had the pleasure of experiencing racism in TV on Monday night. A friend called to say he was in the area and could visit for a few hours. I picked him up in the Miata and we drove to Applebees so he could say hi to Jess. I took him back to his vehicle by I-75 in Wildwood around 10:30 that evening. I was pulled over on Buena Vista. I wasn't speeding, had run no lights or stop signs, made no illegal maneuvers, my car was legally tagged and, so far as I know, the Miata was not on any "hit list." I can only assume I was pulled over because I had a rather well-muscled black male in the passenger seat. While it was not confirmed this was the case when I specifically asked, I was told that it was policy to pull over cars that were "questionable." Gee, never been pulled over before in TV in my car. "Just doing my duty, ma'am. And what's your business in The Villages? Isn't it kinda late to be driving around?" EXCUSE ME???? Ken is holding my arm, trying to calm me down. I'm ready to get out of my car and read the cop the riot act. As it was, I'm sitting in my car muttering quite a few deprecations under my breath. Had Ken not been in the car, I would have not been saying things under my breath. I would have been blasting this cop with every ounce of my being. Of course, I wouldn't have been pulled over had Ken not been in my vehicle.

After I was given "permission" to leave, Ken and I talked about what happened. He was used to it. I'd had it happen before in California about 20 years ago but not since. My friends are my friends -- their color, sexual persuasion, sex, size, etc. are irrelevant. To think that someone I care about is used to being subjected to police harassment simply because he is a man of color makes me sick to my stomach and brings tears to my eyes.

While Obama may not have wanted to say what he did and while there is no question it was politically motivated, it was needed. People need to understand there is a lot of anger in this nation. The riots of the 70s may never occur again but the anger that fueled them is certainly very much alive. Until the day comes when the color of someone's skin truly doesn't matter; when we all say we are first and foremost American rather than German, Irish or whatever even though our families are at least one generation removed from the proclaimed "homeland;" when women actually make the same wage for the same work; when equality is more than just a word but a true way of life, the words of Obama and others like him are needed. I just hope that those who think all is well and that equality is here hear what was said and take it to heart.

So, I will stand by my comments that Obama's words were not crap. I just wish we could all get past the politics that caused the words and feel shame that they were needed.

[Guest]

The only reason there is a racial problem is the few who want notoriety in the race in question continuously and constantly harp and hype it.

Special interest, interest groups (like people running for office) tend to polarize for their advantage.

And of course the ever present media there continuously and constantly making a banquet out of a ham sandwich.....on any subject they can flare into higher viewer/listener numbers.

This thread was originated BECAUSE a speech was heard that was extremely well done objective wise, content wise and delivery wise. The concept of anticipating a person's purpose because they are Democrat, Republican, Pinko, black, brown, democrat, Italian, Jewish, rich or poor or etc, etc never even came into play. It isn't necessary for those who still know how to think for themselves and reach a conclusion without any polarizing external influencing and have no obligation to be bent one way or another by the minority (not race) chiding. No agenda required to think, evaluate and reach a conclusion.

BTK

[Guest]

Chelsea, I read the story you posted about your friend and the alleged police misconduct. Let me share a couple of my stories for balance. I remember a complaint that was made charging the police in an alleged beating. Lawyers pursuing a suit eagerly showed pictures that were taken of nasty bruises all over the alleged minority victim. It looked bad for the police until investigators interviewed one of the children who blurted out that mommy put shoe polish on daddy and took pictures. Case dismissed. While I am not saying there was fraud committed in your case, I certainly would like to hear the other side before rushing to judgement.

Three other cases immediately come to mind involving policemen I knew. I will be brief. One was beaten to death with a shopping cart while trying to control an angry black mob. Another was working traffic at a church bingo a week before his well earned retirement. He was approached by two black youths in a the parking lot. One was the son of a local preacher. They walked up behind him and shot him to death. The third was young patrolman who thought he was responding to a call for help in an ethnic neighborhood. When he arrived a sniper shot him dead as he stepped out of his cruiser. I don't believe he was twenty-five.

There is anger on both sides of the equation. In my opinion, Obama's background suggests he is militant and he certainly does not deny his relationship with a man who uses his ministry to preach hatred of whites and America. I am not optimistic about Obama being a healer.

My point is that we all have stories but some of us just listen to and pass on the ones that satisfy our predisposition regardless of what side of the race issue the opinion holder is on. The anti-cop venom is spewed with equal disdain from both sides of the race equation. He is frequently caught in the crossfire.

Redwitch, it would really be cool if all the bad guys wore signs identifying them as such. However, that is not the case and when a police officer makes a routine stop (there is no such thing as a routine stop for him/her) he has no way of knowing what he is going to confront. Frequently he does not know the age, sex, race or number of occupants until he approaches the driver's window. Cut him some slack, he would like to go home to his family at the end of his shift.

Time magazine last September reported that 54 officers were shot and killed in the line of duty up until the published edition hit the street. They expected it to go over a hundred for the year. They also noted a large number of Florida police officers made that tragic list.

[Guest]

I am not sure if "driving while black" stories are that good a ground to discuss the racial problems in many communities still.

I posted and still post on Findlaw's message boards a lot and there were various active police and or correctional officers on there for years. One story comes to mind of a scantilly clad very attractive African American-Asian American 21 year old woman with severe mental problems who was stopped by police but let go not too soon afterwards even though she had a long history of suicide attempts and the like. The police should have done more with this black-asian woman but she did not seem to be any kind of threat so they let her go. She drove her car over the median into oncoming traffic a few weeks after according to a TN or KY newspaper article of around New Year's Day 2004. She died not to soon after this collision.

[Guest]

Cabo & Tal: I know there are stories on both sides. I simply told my story that touched my heart and broke my heart. And the reason I did this was to inform people, that were never touched by any of this, that this is not just a speech, this in not a movie. This is an issue that hurts people and kills people of both races. So many are so secure sitting on their lanai's, sipping coffee, reading or listening to the words and haven't experienced it. Yet they are either very quick to make judgements, saying even more demeaning things or they just hide their heads in the sand. It's a personal experience that I shared from my heart -- and I believe Barack Obama did the same. He's literally caught between a rock and a hard place. He's damned if he does or damned if he doesn't. I think it took a lot of courage to meet this problem head on. And again, I will say, I applaud him for that. :clap2: Walk a mile in his shoes before condemning him.

[Guest]

Cabo & Tal: I know there are stories on both sides. I simply told my story that touched my heart and broke my heart. And the reason I did this was to inform people, that were never touched by any of this, that this is not just a speech, this in not a movie. This is an issue that hurts people and kills people of both races. So many are so secure sitting on their lanai's, sipping coffee, reading or listening to the words and haven't experienced it. Yet they are either very quick to make judgements, saying even more demeaning things or they just hide their heads in the sand. It's a personal experience that I shared from my heart -- and I believe Barack Obama did the same. He's literally caught between a rock and a hard place. He's damned if he does or damned if he doesn't. I think it took a lot of courage to meet this problem head on. And again, I will say, I applaud him for that. :clap2: Walk a mile in his shoes before condemning him.


Think some movies can have a huge amount of impact on how we view things. They can show others how it was like to walk in someone else's shoes like the opening 30 minutes of Saving Private Ryan; Schindler's List; The Unforgiven; Crash and Gone, Baby, Gone.

Crash seems to be about racial tensions in LA and is quite realistic in its portrayal.

I would like to see a black man as the President of the US. Would also like to see a woman though. I had hoped that Colin Powell would run for US President at some time. Not sure whom I will vote for this November but which religious mentor some candidate had seems to be not all that important in the grand scheme of things.

[Guest]

I'm with Chels ... I believe Obama wrote a speech that was needed. I was responding to someone calling the speech crap because there's no question that some of it was political rhetoric. However, to me, the majority of what he said were things that needed to be said, that should have been said many years ago.

There is no question that some people scream police brutality for no reason other than to make some money. There is no question that police officers get killed in the line of duty -- sometimes by young, white men; sometimes (more often, actually) by young, black men. Maybe if people would be more willing to accept others for how they act rather than their religion, the color of their skin, their political beliefs, etc. there would be less incidents on either side. I'm hoping that by the time any future great-grandchildren of mine come around, that there will be more acceptance, less anger, hate and fear. I truly don't believe it will happen in my daughter's time or in the time of her children.

As to when I was stopped, sorry, don't buy it. This was not a "routine" stop. There was absolutely no reason to stop me other than the fact that I was a white female with a rather large black man sitting in the passenger side. Had I been speeding or doing anything even remotely illegal, I would have no objection to being pulled over with or without my friend in the car. The fact remains I was doing nothing wrong and even the officer admitted this when he pulled me over. He admitted that he pulled me over because my car was "questionable." I don't care how you look at it, it sounds like racial profiling to me and it stinks.

[Guest]

Let me share two brief personal stories about what you termed racial profiling.

I worked in an area where auto theft was a major problem to the tune of close to 30,000 thefts a year. It was in the New York metropolitan region and primarily involved three abutting counties. Statistics showed that the vast majority of these thefts, I believe about 90% but give me a couple of points either way, were committed by young black teenage males out of urban areas. Racial tensions arose in a certain community. I met with a group of police executives, clergy from several African-American churches and hundreds of angry residents who felt profiling young black males was becoming a problem. After several heated exchanges charging racism and profiling, two factors were put on the table. Many of the theft victims were from the same neighborhoods represented at the meeting and the above mentioned statistic about the perpetrators.

A young, educated, respected, minister stood up, quieted the audience and said, "If our community has been victimized and thieves have been statistically identified as young black males from urban areas, why wouldn't the police be checking them out. If my car was stolen, I would expect them to be checking those who fit the profile."

To a large extent the audience agreed. The meeting ended and the host church put out a buffet of homemade desserts, coffee, beverages and good will as the police and congregation broke bread together. This fairy tale ending did not stop the problem but the dialogue helped both sides to understand each others perspectives. This was only a microcosm of the effected communities, but it was a small victory for both sides. Ultimately, a joint auto theft task force that was covered on, I believe, 60 Minutes, was able to lower the number of thefts to a fraction of numbers at the peak of the problem and became a model for agencies across the country.

My second racial profiling experience. The New Jersey State Police had established special task forces that worked the southern end of the NJ Turnpike. They did target gun and drug runners coming up from southern states. This was the main pipeline for moving drugs and guns into the metropolitan area and points north up into New England. They were highly successful in interdicting this dangerous and deadly contraband. The traffickers complained about the inconvenience and tactics used by the State Police. Al Sharpton and others protested the use of profiling and that ultimately led to the disbanding of the task forces, an investigation into the State Police and the early retirement of an effective and honest State Police Superintendant who didn't deny profiling but instead showed the statistics that validated it. This occurred during the Whitman administration for those looking for a time frame. I concede that the Superintendant's position was and still is a politically incorrect position and could be debated on its merits from both sides of the issue. That debate never took place because spineless politicians and the media railroaded a good man who did his job.

Interestingly, because of my close professional interest in this issue, I recall the same Al Sharpton, several years later, protesting the increased and rampant shootings and drug abuse in Newark, N.J. and the surrounding areas. He further criticized the New Jersey State Police for not interdicting the flow of guns and drugs into this area.

Folks, you can't make this stuff up.

Redwitch, one of the problems with profiling has been the lack of a standard definition. People use it in a context that the media has largely portrayed as negative and something it really isn't. The F.B.I. for years has used profilers to identify those who are likely to commit certain violent crimes. In recent years mountains of statistics have been collated and analyzed to project with some degree of probability who is going to commit a crime and where the most likely locations might be based on previous experience. Police frequently deploy to these areas with a degree of success. This type of profiling has also been used when trying to identify potential terrorists who intend to kill and maim innocent people.

Unfortunately, there is another definition that has been bred by overzealous police officers who will make a stop based solely on race and that has been the cross that the vast majority of dedicated, honest police officers have been stereotyped with. That is the one that is constantly interjected by career felons, defense lawyers and the media.

[Guest]

This will probably put me in a very huge minority here but I'd rather see 10 cars stolen than see one innocent young man stopped because he fit some "profile" of potential car thieves. I went to UCLA in the 60s. Chief Davis was very open that whenever he saw a group of older teens congregating in Los Angeles, he would have his officers break them up because those troublemakers might start portesting. I remember once being slammed against a wall along with four of my friends simply for standing and talking (we were discussing what movie to see). I loathe profiling. I hate the idea that a group of people are subjected to harassment simply because of the color of their skin or their age.

Yes, I understand that statistically more crimes are committed by young people and specifically young, black men than any other group. That doesn't justify harassing them just because someone "might" do or have done something wrong. Stop them if you see them doing something wrong or if they truly fit the description of someone who has committed a crime. Don't do it simply because you THINK they might have done something. There was no reason to slam me into a wall in 1967. There was no reason to pull me over in Orinda, California, in 1983. There was certainly no reason to pull me over on Monday night.

One thing that hurt on Monday was the simple fact that I felt I had the right to be indignant and angry. My friend simply tried to calm me down and had to swallow his anger. Why? Because he was fearful of what could happen to both of us because we were together. (BTW, he was asked for his identification although I had already given the officer my driver's license and vehicle registration.) It was wrong and it was humiliating.

If I'm this angry as a middle-class, middle-aged white woman for these actions by police officers (whom I do respect and admire for the most part), is there any wonder Americans of color are angry and say so behind their closed doors (whether those doors are their homes, their clubs or their churches)? I stand by the fact that Obama said many things in his speech that needed to be said. Who knows? Maybe it will bring people together to discuss these issues one day in the near future. I can but dream.

[Guest]

This will probably put me in a very huge minority here but I'd rather see 10 cars stolen than see one innocent young man stopped because he fit some "profile" of potential car thieves. I went to UCLA in the 60s. Chief Davis was very open that whenever he saw a group of older teens congregating in Los Angeles, he would have his officers break them up because those troublemakers might start portesting. I remember once being slammed against a wall along with four of my friends simply for standing and talking (we were discussing what movie to see). I loathe profiling. I hate the idea that a group of people are subjected to harassment simply because of the color of their skin or their age.

Yes, I understand that statistically more crimes are committed by young people and specifically young, black men than any other group. That doesn't justify harassing them just because someone "might" do or have done something wrong. Stop them if you see them doing something wrong or if they truly fit the description of someone who has committed a crime. Don't do it simply because you THINK they might have done something. There was no reason to slam me into a wall in 1967. There was no reason to pull me over in Orinda, California, in 1983. There was certainly no reason to pull me over on Monday night.

One thing that hurt on Monday was the simple fact that I felt I had the right to be indignant and angry. My friend simply tried to calm me down and had to swallow his anger. Why? Because he was fearful of what could happen to both of us because we were together. (BTW, he was asked for his identification although I had already given the officer my driver's license and vehicle registration.) It was wrong and it was humiliating.

If I'm this angry as a middle-class, middle-aged white woman for these actions by police officers (whom I do respect and admire for the most part), is there any wonder Americans of color are angry and say so behind their closed doors (whether those doors are their homes, their clubs or their churches)? I stand by the fact that Obama said many things in his speech that needed to be said. Who knows? Maybe it will bring people together to discuss these issues one day in the near future. I can but dream.


Redwitch? Think this has a lot to do with where they are as well. The context is very important with respect to those who are pulled over.

I wonder how many times Senator Barack Obama was pulled over during his youth??

I went to a very liberal law school in 1986 and we had a entering law school class of about 250. Think 2 of those people were of African American descent and they had very different views on what their color had meant to them growing up in US society. One seemed to be quite Republican in outlook the other quite Democratic.

There were a few more African-Americans in the next entering law school class at the U of MN and one person who had claimed to be African American on his application for admittance to the U of MN but did not seem to look black to anyone who knew him. Each of these individuals also seemed to have very different perspectives on what it is to be black in the US.

Just saying that one of those African Americans being pulled over by racial profiling could just as easily be a huge fan of George W. Bush, Ann Coulter, Colin Powell, and Condoleezza Rice.

[Guest]

Tal, the political persuasion of one being pulled over because of race is not the point. The point is that someone who people truly listen to finally came out and said the people of color in this nation are angry. Chels and I just gave examples of why they're angry and we've seen very little compared to what some of our friends, neighbors, acquaintances and even family have experienced in the course of their lives.

There is something inherently tragic that a nation that is premised with the concepts of justice for all, individual rights, freedom has over 10% of its population believing those concepts are for white men and not them or their children.

[Guest]

While the issue of racial profiling is not the point of this thread, I cannot pass up commenting. It is just too simple to have a cogent discussion about racial profiling in this case, using hypothetical rhetoric. Until and unless you have a personal involvement or risk one cannot truly understand the need. If blue stick men were stealing babies and oh by the one of your grand children was stolen what would the sentiment be then???

Why can't we be realistic? Profiling is a method whereby many serious crimes have been solved. And just because the person(s) being profiled are non white....what's the deal with crying foul?

How about 56years ago when I was personally visited by the FBI for one very simple reason....me and my surroundings matched who they were looking for....WHITE male.....blond crew cut...dark rimmed glasses....blue Volkswagen...working in the shopping center where the incident in question took place. I did not feel violated because back in those days people didn't talk or think like that (I call them the good ol' days!!!).
I will tell you I was scared as hell...know your innocent and then be put in a position to prove it!!! By the way as a result of the WHITE profiling they caught the guy.

Permissive pacifism and too much playing the race card is the problem....if blue stick men were doing the deed who else would you look for???????

BTK

[Guest]

Tal, the political persuasion of one being pulled over because of race is not the point. The point is that someone who people truly listen to finally came out and said the people of color in this nation are angry. Chels and I just gave examples of why they're angry and we've seen very little compared to what some of our friends, neighbors, acquaintances and even family have experienced in the course of their lives.

There is something inherently tragic that a nation that is premised with the concepts of justice for all, individual rights, freedom has over 10% of its population believing those concepts are for white men and not them or their children.


They have been angry for a very long time as have many other groups who have faced discrimination from those with power in the United States. Not sure if electing a man just because he can empathize with this group is a valid criterion for evaluation of that candidate's merits.

Still would like to see more on the actual positions taken by Senator Barack Obama on various issues.

From Project Vote Smart's issue area--


"Senator Barack H. Obama Jr. repeatedly refused to provide any responses to citizens on the issues through the 2008 Political Courage Test when asked to do so by national leaders of the political parties, prominent members of the media, Project Vote Smart President Richard Kimball, and Project Vote Smart staff." http://www.votesmart.org/npat.php?can_id=9490

[Guest]

BTK, there's a HUGE difference between being stopped because you fit the bill so to speak and being stopped because you might fit the bill. I would have had no objection if I'd been pulled over because a redheaded female and a large black male had been seen committing a crime. I would have had no problem if a white Mazda Miata had been seen leaving the scene of a crime. I have a major problem with being pulled over simply because I was a redheaded female driving a white Mazda Miata with a large black male in the passenger. Sorry, that's just wrong.

As I said, the issue here isn't the racial profiling per se. The issue is that over 10% of America's population is in fact angry. They just don't speak of this anger in public very often. Obama did and I say good for him. It is time to open those doors, to share the stories why they are angry.

I also believe the other side of the story should be told -- why there is racial profiling, why there is genuine fear, etc. All sides should be listened to and respected. Maybe if there are enough open and honest discussions without name calling, without getting mired down in prejudices, without a lot of rhetoric but simply honest discussions of personal experiences some change might honestly take effect.

BTW -- Your comment that this my comments were based on hypothetical rhetoric is specious at its best. You have no idea what I have or have not experienced in the past. I have been the victim of violent crime -- once by a redheaded (carrot top, no less) male in his 30s and once by a black youth. I've witnessed my neighbor's home being broken into by two young black men. However, I have not demanded that every redheaded male be stopped to see if he was the one who attacked me. I did not go to the local high school and ask the police to pull every young man who was tall and slender out of class to see if one of them threw the dumbbell to enter my neighbor's home. I did not ask that any male who was a light-skinned African-American between 5'10" and 6' weighing approximately 180 lbs be stopped so I could see if he was the brat who mugged me. So, I'd say my sentiment would be that racial profiling stinks to the high heavens even if it were blue stickmen stealing babies, unless there was only one blue stickman in the entire world.

[Guest]

Redwitch, I profoundly and sincerely respect your position on the issue of profiling. I do take exception with certain points. Your dismissal of the stolen car issue as petty does not account for peripheral issues that emerge concurrent with the car theft problem. Pursuits, a closely related issue, have also become controversial. To qualify my position, I should tell you I was appointed by the Governor to an Attorney General's task force on pursuits that was charged with making recommendations to the Legislature.

We interviewed police officers, families of victims who had been killed in pursuits, crime victims advocacy groups (Tal, some people in government were actually paying attention to this constituency) and other related parties who held an interest in the problem.

It is hard to be brief, but I will try. Simply stated alarming facts that surfaced were the large number of ethnic victims and the significant number of deaths that were occurring by the reckless driving of car thieves NOT in pursuit situations. It is the latter that is omitted in your assessment trivializing the car theft problem.

A part of the problem became agencies that banned pursuits altogether. In Newark specifically, the Mayor banned all pursuits for a period of time. The unanticipated result were incredible increases in auto theft and other crimes using stolen cars. Finally, there was a number of tragic deaths on the streets of Newark by kids recklessly operating stolen vehicles. Several were stunning including one that involved a crash and death of a baby in carriage that was not pursuit related.

Our task force worked for almost a year. The net result was establishing a statewide conditional pursuit policy that spelled out in great detail when an officer could pursue, tactics he could and could not use and under what conditions he had to terminate the pursuit. The policy went to great lengths balancing the right of the public to be secure from irresponsible police pursuits and the need to let miscreants know they did not have a license to conduct criminal and reckless conduct in motor vehicles with immunity. Harsh penalties were also recommended for those who attempted to elude police. It is now mandatory for every police officer in New Jersey to receive pursuit policy training as well as hands on training behind the wheel. It is a requirement at every police academy and followup via in-service training. Based on New Jersey's success, other states have adopted similar policies.

I got more than a little long of wind as I also am long of tooth. Forgive me please. My point is there are more consequences to auto theft than the net effect on the victims.

Red, I'm not looking for a conversion just balance. I learn more from people who don't categorically share my views. Tal and Chelsea, thanks for responding.

Big treat today...breakfast with friends at Bob Evans.

[Guest]

Redwitch, I profoundly and sincerely respect your position on the issue of profiling. I do take exception with certain points. Your dismissal of the stolen car issue as petty does not account for peripheral issues that emerge concurrent with the car theft problem. Pursuits, a closely related issue, have also become a controversial. To qualify my position, I should tell you I was appointed by the Governor to an Attorney General's task force on pursuits that was charged with making recommendations to the Legislature.

We interviewed police officers, families of victims who had been killed in pursuits, crime victims advocacy groups (Tal, some people in government were actually paying attention to this constituency) and other related parties who held an interest in the problem.

It is hard to be brief, but I will try. Simply stated alarming facts that surfaced were the large number of ethnic victims and the significant number of deaths that were occurring by the reckless driving of car thieves NOT in pursuit situations. It is the latter that is omitted in your assessment trivializing the car theft problem.

A part of the problem became agencies that banned pursuits altogether. In Newark specifically, the Mayor banned all pursuits for a period of time. The unanticipated result were incredible increases in auto theft and other crimes using stolen cars. Finally, there was a number of tragic deaths on the streets of Newark by kids recklessly operating stolen vehicles. Several were stunning including one that involved a crash and death of a baby in carriage that was not pursuit related.

Our task force worked for almost a year. The net result was establishing a statewide conditional pursuit policy that spelled out in great detail when an officer could pursue, tactics he could and could not use and under what conditions he had to terminate the pursuit. The policy went to great lengths balancing the right of the public to be secure from irresponsible police pursuits and the need to let miscreants know they did not have a license to conduct criminal and reckless conduct in motor vehicles with immunity. Harsh penalties were also recommended for those who attempted to elude police. It is now mandatory for every police officer in New Jersey to receive pursuit policy training as well as hands on training behind the wheel. It is a requirement at every police academy and followup via in-service training. Based on New Jersey's success, other states have adopted similar policies.

I got more than a little long of wind as I also am long of tooth. Forgive me please. My point is there are more consequences to auto theft than the net effect on the victims.

Red, I'm not looking for a conversion just balance. I learn more from people who don't categorically share my views. Tal and Chelsea, thanks for responding.

Big treat today...breakfast with friends at Bob Evans.


During the 18 years of so I have bugged various agencies, politicians, librarians, lawyers and celebrities-- as well as CEOs of major companies-- to pay attention to the needs of various victims and the groups that represent them, I have found NJ agencies, Governors, and the like to be particularly responsive to my various communications.

Cabo35. Good to hear about the victims' groups role in your state's processing of these policies with respect to car theft.

Have not checked NJ libraries http://www.publiclibraries.com/newjersey.htm recently for what kind of resources they have for victims-- like a link to the NJ version of the FL Victim Services Directory http://www.state.nj.us/lps/nj_crisis_hotlines.htmhttp://www.njcbw.org/guide.htm -- but I will probably get around to doing that soon.

I do hope that whomever gets elected as US President in 2008 will do quite a bit more in this area of strengthening the victims' role than President George W. Bush has done in the eight years he has been in office.

[Guest]

Never any attempt to target my comments toward any one person's beliefs/background/etc.
Only my opinion about the SUBJECT at hand...using generalities (sometimes unsuccessfully!).
It is easy to tell when I am being personal, my commentary is preceded by the name toward which it is aimed!

Regarding profiling....I just don't grasp the concept espoused by too many these days, not just this forum and including family members, that if it is repetitive non WHITE it must be racial.

When Obama cited his Grandmother's fear of black males she in her own way for good reason or not was in fact profiling. We all do it every day in one way or another.

Profiling is profiling. It becomes racial when special interests become the subject....not the actual crime/event/profile.

My humble opinion and 2 cents worth.

BTK

[Guest]

I don't think I trivilialized car theft at all. I simply stated that I'd rather see 10 cars stolen than one innocent person stopped because he "might" steal a car based simply on his being a young black male. To not allow pursuits is just plain stupid. So is not training officers in how to conduct a pursuit. I'm not advocating not pulling someone over with reason (a teen driving a Ferrari would be suspicious no matter what the skin color), but let's not say it is okay because statistics say ........

Crime is not trivial -- whether it occurs to you, your neighbor, your family or a stranger down the street; whether it is petty theft, car theft, drug trafficking or murder -- all cost taxpayers money at the very least and loss of life at the highest level.

Being humiliated and made to feel powerless simply because of your race is not trivial, either. Being afraid to speak up when you're treated unfairly because of your race is not trivial. Being demeaned by strangers because they feel they have a right to do so simply because you are a person of color is not trivial.

America has come a long way from the days of slavery, from the Jim Crow laws, from the separate but equal garbage, from MLK's speeches and marches, but, baby, it has a long way to go! I'm still up in the air as to whom I want to see as president, but I certainly would love to hear Obama speak up a few more times on the issue of race, the anger on both sides, the resentments and fears. In between the rhetoric, the man can pack a potent message.

And have fun with your friends at Bob Evans. I hear they do a good breakfast and I'm sure the company will be wonderful!

[Guest]

Never any attempt to target my comments toward any one person's beliefs/background/etc.
Only my opinion about the SUBJECT at hand...using generalities (sometimes unsuccessfully!).
It is easy to tell when I am being personal, my commentary is preceded by the name toward which it is aimed!

Regarding profiling....I just don't grasp the concept espoused by too many these days, not just this forum and including family members, that if it is repetitive non WHITE it must be racial.

When Obama cited his Grandmother's fear of black males she in her own way for good reason or not was in fact profiling. We all do it every day in one way or another.

Profiling is profiling. It becomes racial when special interests become the subject....not the actual crime/event/profile.

My humble opinion and 2 cents worth.

BTK


Last week, we took a wrong turn while in Mt. Dora and ended up in a predominately African American neighborhood. I still have a little fear when I drive white in an area that has a very large number of African Americans.

This was a little different fear though than when I travelled to North Carolina Central University Law School to interview for a reference librarian position back in 1994. I had not known this was a primarily African American school when I applied for the position. I also discovered how many different shades people of color can have.

[Guest]

Guys:

I just have to say how incredibly impressed I have been with the polite, carefully-stated and thought out rhetoric in all these posts. A wee small bit of, shall I call it, "testiness," perhaps, but reasoned and reasonable.

Keep up the good work - and remember to avoid the subject at tomorrow's TOTV lunch!

:joke: :joke:

SWR

[Guest]

Here's the full text of Obama's speech about his pastor.



OBAMA SPEECH IN FULL: A MORE PERFECT UNION
Tuesday, March 18th, 2008/ 10:17:53 ET
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania




"'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 America’s 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 nation’s 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 Patton’s Army during World War II and a white grandmother who worked on a bomber assembly line at Fort Leavenworth while he was overseas. I’ve gone to some of the best schools in America and lived in one of the world’s 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.

It’s a story that hasn’t 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, we’ve heard the implication that my candidacy is somehow an exercise in affirmative action; that it’s based solely on the desire of wide-eyed liberals to purchase racial reconciliation on the cheap. On the other end, we’ve 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 I’m 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 weren’t simply controversial. They weren’t simply a religious leader’s 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 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 – 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

[Guest]

But the truth is, that isn’t 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 God’s 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 reverend’s 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 lion’s den, Ezekiel’s 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 didn’t 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, Trinity’s 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.

[Guest]

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 we’ve 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 isn’t dead and buried. In fact, it isn’t 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 haven’t 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 today’s 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 today’s 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 one’s 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. What’s 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 didn’t 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 Wright’s 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 politician’s 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 Wright’s 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 don’t feel that they have been particularly privileged by their race. Their experience is the immigrant experience – as far as they’re concerned, no one’s handed them anything, they’ve built it from scratch. They’ve 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 they’re 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 aren’t 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. It’s a racial stalemate we’ve 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 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.

The profound mistake of Reverend Wright’s sermons 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. 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 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.

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.

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.

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 don’t 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 doesn’t look like you might take your job; it’s 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 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.

I would not be running for President if I didn’t 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 I’d like to leave you with today – a story I told when I had the great honor of speaking on Dr. King’s 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 that’s 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 mother’s problems were blacks who were on welfare and too lazy to work, or Hispanics who were coming into the country illegally. But she didn’t. 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 they’re 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 who’s been sitting there quietly the entire time. And Ashley asks him why he’s 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.'

'I’m 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."