Thank you, Senator Obama for talking about the elephant in the room!
You can either ask "is this what any real leader would say?" or you can believe "this is what a real leader says!" Or you can disagree and think differently- and if you do, then at least ask yourself, what do I want a political leader to teach me about the election process?
AS far as Obama for President: this might be political suicide and it might be the unconventional innovative working out of couragous love.
I know it would be facile to expect that a presidential election be the only way for people to become reconciling and generous and imaginative Americans. But if the election process is not a practice toward these values, then our nation's leaders need to invent another way. 'Here's to trying!
Obama's Perspective
...[Reverend Wright] 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.
...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...
...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...
...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....
Obama's Objective
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...
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.
You do not become Senator, run a successful campaign of this sort, and graduate from Harvard Law School without being a leader. No, the real question is 'what kind of leader is he or will he be?' It not his leadership ability but Obama's perspectives and objectives that are on trial. Do they match? Can they be accomplished? Are they really what is needed for America and our world today?
Can we choose love over resignation? Who knows?
Can we choose reconciliation over condemnation? Who knows?
Can we choose expansive imagination over conserving rationalization? Who knows?
If not in the nation's presidential selection, then I hope, at least, that the election process becomes a generative practice that equips us to choose these things in our lives as citizens. Somebody who can lead us toward this way of living has my vote. I hope that he can keep it up, and that Obama's contenders will follow suit.
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