Obama tackles race anger in major speech
 

Obama tackles race anger in major speech

Senator confronts issue triggered by his pastor's inflammatory comments

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23687688/
http://www.reuters.com/article/topNe...edName=topNews
http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2008/03...on_race_i.html

A point he made just does not sit right with me:
He made a comparison between his pastor and his grandmother. He made a connection where I can not see one.

Both came up during the same time period in diiferent areas and that is what shaped them to who they are today.

I will be listening to the speech again for more clarity but that is what I gathered.

Hosanna superstar

The connection is that they are both people he loves, both shaped who he is, but on certain occasions both have made comments that offend him. Asking him to distance himself from his long-time pastor for a couple remarks that he disagrees with is like asking him to distance himself from his white grandmother who on occasion would make derogatory remarks about certain racial groups. I thought that it was a good illustration of why it would have been wrong for him to have to reject his pastor out of political pressure. I thought the comparison was helpful.

Here is the full 45-minute speech: http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/hisownwords

I highly recommend the speech in full, rather than the 5 minute clip that seems to be on most of the news sites.

Part of me sees and agrees with you both.
Part of me sees "family" vs a more public person.
One is talking one on one. The other to a congregation.

exactly Jon....and that is what he is doing...he is being forthright about what has happened and telling the public to do 2 things...discuss it and also let it not cloud the election....also find ways that we must move on from it

His preacher is a racist lunatic. I doubt that he shares these views but he needs to distance himself from this guy.

I actually like the speech, though I'm currently disgusted by the media lovefest. Chris Matthews said it was one of the best speeches in American history, and I nearly vomited. I'll try not to let my distaste for the pseudo-impartial Matthews taint my view of the speech, however.

I did find it interesting that Chuck Todd stated that a white person could not have made that speech. It hadn't really occurred to me, but it is ironic that Obama is getting some acclaim for admitting that white people have legitimate gripes on a lot of things, yet those things probably wouldn't be well received if uttered by a white candidate. I don't even mean accepted by the black community, I don't think the MSM would be falling all over themselves to celebrate this honesty.

MSNBC is the Obama network now.

It has gone off the deep end. I hate Fox News, but MSNBC is becoming just absurdly biased. I'd watch CNN, but I don't like having to listen to a 30 minute human interest piece about a grandmother and some health issue just so I can get to a 40 second rundown about newsworthy events in the middle east.

Shiner...I think that the problem is....no one white that i can think of in recent memory tried...the closest I can think any white person ever got will Bill Clinton's aplogy for slavery.


In my own brutally honest opinion, I think that the reason why no one white and in the high echelons of power has ever really stepped to the plate is either fear of looking like a fool or losing some kind of credibility among his or her own people.

Heck, this would have been even a good time for Bush to step up to the plate and address some of the issues.

This is the biggest problem today....no one wants to step up and ADMIT that there are still problems!

A couple of things:

I think you're right that it isn't attempted. However, I don't think that changes how it would be received. Hell, the entire GOP is labeled by even mainstream democrats as a racist party. I'll get to the lack of trying in a moment, but I just don't think you'd have big time media outlets getting starry eyed if McCain had made a speech that included some of the things Obama's did. Even worse, actually, I think they'd reject it and trump up the controversy, fueling the cries of racism and prejudice that would surely come. Look at the people who speak out about busing and affirmative action now, almost all are granted no credibility by the mainstream media, regardless of their motivations. So in that regard, I certainly think society rebukes white people who make statements like Obama did.

However, I do think you're right that white folks are afraid to try. I'm not particularly concerned about the issues Obama raised that bother whites, but I think our failure to speak openly about them is indicative of the racial fear that plagues white America. We're so focused on not looking racist that we'll not only avoid speaking our mind, we'll throw other white folks under the bus so that we can point to them and say "look, I took out one of my 'own,' surely I'm not prejudiced!"

I just don't think the environment is favorable for that kind of speech from a white person, unless it is completely safe and merely represents the white community taking responsibility for the problems encountered by black Americans. But, ultimately it is the white people who cower in the corner, they're the ones who make the final decision to stay silent and not engage in honest discourse.

Part of the reason why I hate hearing someone say, "I'm not racist...I have black friends..."

There will never be such a thing as a 'safe' environment...MLK and Malcolm spoke out in far more dangerous environs back in the 60s and ultimately sacrificed thier lives....40 years later if there are those who are still afraid to speak may only have themselves to blame for the environment to come out and speak on it.

Regardless, something must be done...we are at a point where there are more minorities here than there ever was...more people of differing beliefs and if it's not addressed now then someone else will set this country back.

Now and tomorrow is not the time to be afraid to take step

I agree, people should not be afraid.

However, I think we need all aspects of society to help. White people would be celebrated for admitting that people in their family were scared of black guys on the street, and that they thought such fear was irrational. The problem comes on the back end, are we ready to really get into part of that fear which isn't so irrational? Thats what I don't think would be well received by either the black community, the ivory-tower liberal community, or the MSM.

But you're right, opposition isn't an excuse. I just hope that we can at some point have an honest discussion, where people can speak their minds without being ostracized by society for controversial viewpoints, which obviously repels those ideas it finds uncomfortable.

I liked his speech because it wasn't just an explanation of his own relationship with race, his pastor, etc. (and jon he's not saying that his pastor was right to say those things, in fact quite the opposite, he's saying that his pastor is an important figure in his life despite the facets he disagrees with) but it was also a challenge to the general public to move forward with racial relations not be stuck in the past.