Organizing for America | Austin Voter: His speech worked and is working

Post from Austin Voter:

His speech worked and is working

By Philosophistry.com - Mar 20th, 2008 at 4:28 am EDT

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For the couple hours after watching Obama's speech, I became engrossed in web surfing. I tried to find everybody's take on it. I read TheRoot, and Slate, and FoxNews. And I re-watched the speech. I was mostly interested in how this whole thing was going to play out politically. Watching politics has largely been a game to me.

But after reading so many links, I started to get dissatisfied. I had a nagging feeling that I shouldn't be engaging in Obama's speech on a meta level. Somehow I felt I needed to do more.

So a few hours later, I went to the library and picked up a copy of The Autobiography of Malcolm X and Invisible Man. This would be the first time I've ever seriously engaged any black literature. And I'm 25. I graduated from High School and a four-year University, and while I may have been exposed to some documentaries about the mistreatment of blacks (ironically only in my 8th grade class with a black teacher), never I have I engaged the literary consciousness of the black experience.

And this is not out of any willful bias on my part. I just don't read much, and usually I only do so based on a specific recommendation from others. It's just nobody had mentioned it.

Obama's speech made it really clear to me that I didn't know what I didn't know. And I'm excited by that. I'm excited that he has in a way become a teacher to me. The fact that I made an effort to investigate a blind spot of knowledge on race gives me hope that other people are going to do the same. His speech worked and is working.

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His speach is working? | Report to Admin

By AlienatedVoter Mar 21st 2008 at 1:45 am EDT

Sadly I must question that assessment. The Senator is making more and more statements and justifications for the hate filled message of his "former" preacher yet ongoing friend. I've never heard my wife refer to anyone as a nigger until she referred to the Reverend as such precisely for his hate filled rhetoric towards the "rich whites". Trust me, she and I go to great lengths to not exhibit any form of racism because we do not want our family members to learn any racist attitudes. But the hate filled speech from the Reverend puts those efforts at risk in specific cases such as this. We are both at a loss as to why the Senator isn't being as forceful as possible in decrying the hate from the Reverend and the absurd accusations of ongoing government conspiracies against minorities. But I will let you be the judge for yourself.

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