Organizing for America | Posts with the tag african-american

Posts with the tag african-american

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By Mike from Chicago, IL - Feb 28th, 2009 at 10:14 am EST

Greetings,

The Bob Edwards Show included coverage of a politician who criticized President Obama by saying, “For the first time, the American dream could vanish.”

For the first time . . . the American dream could vanish ?

During the term of the first African American president, this gentleman is saying that the American dream even existed for African Americans when the first American dream was forged into the home that will always cradle the dream . . . Always cradle the dream.

I believe the gentleman who made this statement was a senator.

His statement rings untrue on two counts. The American Dream still does not even exist for some people . . . AND it will NEVER vanish. That is the foundation of the American Dream...you will never defeat the American Spirit.

No matter how much your words or actions try to make the false seem true, the American Dream will never vanish because it is the people’s dream the of all the people in the world who choose to abide by the main truth in our foundation...ALL people are created equal.

If you understand that simple truth . . . If you understand the will of the people and help them manifest a spirit of union, of cooperation, a spirit of collaboration you don’t have to fear the American dream will vanish.

Is it harder right now? Look at what we have created. Of course it is harder.

But anyone who fears the vanishing American Dream doesn't understand the diverse American Spirit . . . protected by law.

Politicians who talk about the ongoing job of building and protecting the American Dream are who I want to hear from. I want to hear constructive criticism, but please bring something that moves the ball forward.

Although this was such a shockingly unthoughtful statement that it is newsworthy. Unfortunately, there are enough of these mistaken comments we could have a show called, “What Century is This?”

Best regards,

Mike

Michael Bordenaro
Co-Founder
BIM Education Co-op™
Chicago, Illinois
(773) 252 5888
www.BIMeducation.com

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The First Is A Bitch But You Are It. " And You Knew The Job Was Tough Before You Took It"

By Newsfreedom2004 - Nov 16th, 2008 at 10:14 pm EST

what should Obama do in the first 100 days or what should be the top 20 things that he should do?

1. end the dealth penity! it should be life without any patrol or 50 years with 20 years in solitary confindment with no early patrol
2. grant pardons, patrol, or retry political prisoners and either let them go or keep them behind bars
3. subspend all forecloser for 180 days and order all parties involed to redo the payments and terms of the contract
   those who can aford the home keeps it those who can be moved to loans, grants, and payment programs that will aloud them
   to keep their homes get to stay and those who can't keep their homes are moved to apartments or trailers that they can aford.
4. fix the credit and securities market get moneys flowing again to the people not the greedy enforce the regulations!
5. fully fond health and wellness programs mental & phyical health programs that work
6. create a national jobs and infrastructure building program now!
7. get rid of laws that prevent people from getting jobs if they commit a crime and have served their time, have low credit, or test positive for drugs or health disablities and vote
8. make all schools equal in every community train teachers so that they can and want to teach also why would you place a newbe in a classroom without
   an experience teacher in it. every classroom needs a manager and an assitance manage got it.
   in chicago il white kids in one public school have a spa high price gym & fitness center state of the arts computers and college level labs but the black school are getto roach infected
   is this support to be equal non racial schools
9. get ever member of the black caucus passports then send and take them around the world to meet world leaders, movers & shakers
10.rebuild the gulf coase line
11.fully fund the community redevelopment zones so that black businesses can develop
12.help black colleges come up to 21th standards if I can go to a majority white college and be educated to be prepared for the world then why can someone go to a majority black college and
   recieve the equal education?
13.send an army of social workers and students into the community to work with and help people help themselves
14.send an army of citizens into the world's community to help bring the world together
15.racism is terrorism to we need to find and bring those crimals to justise and protect people so that no one will even think of committing a terror crime if we can do it for the jews them what is the problem and we can too say, "never again on in this country and world"
16.increase the number of police, marshals, & sheriff of color now! Black Person Head of FBI
17.charter schools not prisons get the states and the federal government commitment to it
18.national public mass transit systems if your popluation is over 100,000 people you need buses, trains, shuttles, and taxi services and they can be green powered we need roads but more cars mean more problems if you build it they will come and create jobs
19.don't let the new green economy leave blacks and other non whites behind in innovation & protection, jobs, and business ownerships and wealth creation
20.immigration we need them for new blood, new ways, new workers, & new attitudes. they tipped the balance of power. they were not scared to bring about real change.

Also make all voting offices have uniformed protected ways to conduct and count the vote! when you are 18 you must register for selective service but you don't have to register to vote that's unequal! why is on punishable but the other is, "so what"? If ATM's can record every penny and knows whos penny it is then why can't the government record every vote?

why is it wrong to have African American ambassadors to Africa?

lastly your appointments don't forget this is a country of color and white is not the only one in the crayon box and black is also very quailfied to be there too. We want you there for eight years.

So,

Go Team Obama

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The National Republican Trust and the Politics of Hate

By Jedidiah Palosaari - Nov 3rd, 2008 at 5:31 pm EST

Also listed in: African Americans for Obama | Peace and Justice Voters for Obama | Waunakee for Obama

Depending on where you live, you're spared this. For this election cycle, and most, I've been on the West Coast. Washington and California are solidly blue, so we don't get a lot of election ads. In Washington, we were excited and surprised to even get visits from the Democratic candidates in the primaries, as usually our caucus is too late. But now I've moved to Wisconsin, and evidently everything has changed.

Wisconsin isn't really a swing state anymore either, but it was recently. That allows us to get the occasional campaign ad, and a lot of the 527 ads. And recently, about three times an hour, we get treated to a particular ad from the National Republican Trust.

Don't get me wrong. I might disagree with a political ad, but of course, I support the right to post them. It is when they lie, and get vicious, and attack other people's culture and race. And make no mistake, this is what the National Republican Trust has done.

The ad is a direct attack on the Reverend Wright, and Senator Obama. It is vicious and underhanded. As I've pointed out in the past, Wright is enmeshed deeply in the black tradition. His remarks weren't at all racist, but were deep in the prophetic tradition of Judaism and Christianity, as expressed in the Old Testament. Sure, he went overboard in claiming that the US government gave AIDS to blacks, but considering our history with syphilis, it wasn't that far off the mark. But in general, what the Reverend Wright said, and the way he said it, is no different from what you find in black churches across this nation.

Thus, at the very least, the continued recent attacks by the Republican Trust reveal that they know nothing of the Black Preaching Tradition. In truth, they reveal an attack on another culture, a "foreign" culture to the whites at Republican Trust. This attack is as despicable as overt racist attacks, and indeed, is difficult to distinguish from them. Blacks are okay, as long as they don't think differently from "us", or don't make us have to see their differences. They certainly have nothing to offer us in their manner of thinking, their preaching, or their style of Chrsitianity. Or so is the underlying thinking of these commercials from Republican Trust.

Well, I agree. I don't like being forced to listen to something I disagree with, that I find morally repugnant and racist. I don't expect the Republican Trust to be forced to sit in the church while Jeremiah Wright preaches. So why am I forced to watch these commercials every time they come on the air, three times an hour?

So this is what I've begun to do. Every time the commercial comes on, I contact National Republican Trust, at nationalrepublicantrust.com/contactus.html, and tell them just what I think of them. I tell them they are racist, and I want nothing to do with them. I suggest that they go somewhere else to peddle their racism, because it has no place in my home or my country, and is not something that real Americans believe.

And I invite you to do the same. Let's put a stop to this. I'm not speaking of positive commercials, or even negative ones. But the ones that are over the top, that are viscious slander or racist- start responding. Every time one of these comes on the air, contact the 527, and demand that they pull their commercial off the air. Maybe we'll begin to get through to them. At least we'll strike a blow for truth and justice, and maybe, one day, make that the American way.

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McCain: Off the Rails

By Jedidiah Palosaari - Oct 30th, 2008 at 12:30 pm EDT

Also listed in: 4 groups

In an amazing rally today, the McCain campaign showed that it was running off the rails completely. At one point he began to tell his audience something, and then decided, "Never mind." At a pivotal moment, he called for Michael - I mean "Joe the Plumber", to come on stage, and then learned that Joe wasn't actually at the rally. And then, in the middle of his speech, he said something that sounds a bit like, "abrgjik". I kid you not. Listen to the speech. I replayed it a few times, because it sounded so very odd. It sounded like suddenly, he was speaking the language of an outer space alien. Which frankly, raises far too many truly frightening scenarios for me to contemplate.

And yet, for all of these rhetorical errors, that was not the most glaring nor revolting mistake of the speech. In McCain's bid to try to make American tax law, McCain's past policies, and Obama all sound socialist, McCain is now bringing up an old radio interview of Obama's, where Obama also used the R-word- redistribution. But here's where McCain has entered truly dangerous waters.

In this interview, Obama very clearly is speaking of the legacy of slavery. He speaks of how the civil rights movement lead to freedom for blacks, and the right to vote, but didn't redistribute income- and this still remains to be done. He speaks of mistakes the founding fathers made- as everyone acknowledges who has any understanding of the ammendment process in the US constitution. This is of course particularly true with ammendments like the 14th.

I recognize that some conservatives feel that everything is now right with the world, between races, and in regards to civil rights. I suspect- I hope- that those conservatives are a minority even among conservatives. Most recognize that one of the horrible legacies of slavery has been lingering racism and a continued relegation of the majority of blacks to the lower economic classes. Beyond that, there is the slightly more controversial proposal of compensation for slavery. After all, not only was there the broken promise of "40 acers and a mule", but all the wealth in terms of human productivity that was stolen from African lands, and stolen from the Africans themselves, made into slaves. To date there has been no true payment to those defrauded by the American government and American people. But the proposal is not so controversial that is has not been considered by the American Congress at times.

Some combination of these issues is what Obama was obviously referring to in his radio interview. From the context, I suspect that it was more of the former- establishing economic parity between the races in America, to remove the blemish and stain of slavery that shackles us all- rather than the more touchy issue of compensation. He was trying to seek a more just society, and make up for the wrongs that America has perpetrated on her citizens of colour.

And this...this is what McCain was referring to today in his speech, when he said that Obama was being socialist.

Before McCain denigrates calls for racial equality, it might be helpful for him to remember the immortal words of Frederick Douglass.

No man can put a chain about the ankle of his fellow man without at last finding the other end fastened about his own neck.

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It's A New Day

By Patrice from Williamsburg, VA - Oct 25th, 2008 at 1:22 am EDT

Also listed in: Virginia Action Team

The dawning of a new day is here, both for America as a whole and for those who call ourselves "compassionate conservatives," a code name for politically active Christians.

It's a time when our nation has the opportunity to break from the tradition of the past--from racial and class division, from partisan politics, from us against them--and to ride into a bright, new future of unified effort for the good of all Americans, truly non-partisan policy making and cooperation in Washington.

The undeclared but clearly evident leader of this new effort is Barack Obama, an American of mixed racial background (half white, and half black), and of mixed socio-economic background, a recent graduate from the struggling middle class to the echelons of upper class America. He is the leader we need right now not just because of superior intellect, highly effective communication skills, and his high level of educational attainment, but also because of the character and the temperament with which he has been divinely blessed. Character he has demonstrated in this election in quite distinct contrast to his Republican contender, John McCain.

It is for this reason that I, a social activist at heart for the poor and for the good of all men, and a Christian conservative as it relates to the two most pivotal moral issues of our time--abortion and homosexuality--have decided to vote for Senator Barack Obama to become the next president of the United States.

Though the Republican party may attempt to portray it--God is not the God of one political party. He is not more concerned about small government than he is about helping those in need. He did not only send His Son to die for upper class and upper middle class whites. He does not want us to lock-up first time, young non-violent offenders for most of their young adult lives and throw away the keys. He does not want us to ignore the social causes of crime. He does want his people involved with both parties so that both parties ultimately represent His interests, which are the best interests of us all.

This is our opportunity. In this election, we have the ability to show the rest of America that "conservative Christians" can make a balanced, intellectual, and still spiritual choice for President. We can choose to vote for Barack Obama, not because we agree with him on every issue, but because we agree with him on many. And we can make our voices heard during his administration to affect the way he governs on issues with which we do disagree.

Make the change. Take the leap. Make a new choice, and encourage other like minded people to make this choice as well--praying all the way for Christ to grant Sen. Obama the wisdom to make the right decisions at the right time, not swayed by what's popular, but based on the right foundation--God's Word--at "such a time as this" in our nation's and the world's history.

--Pat Perry

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Of Obama and Baldwin and Race

By Leslye J Allen of Atlanta, GA - Oct 14th, 2008 at 3:29 pm EDT

Also listed in: 10 groups

I must confess that I am a James Baldwin fan. Baldwin was one of those rare writers who had the capacity of speaking about race and racism while making everyone culpable and vulnerable to the pathology of racism. Black folks and white folks alike, according to Baldwin, had distorted visions of themselves due to the poison of racism.

In too many cases, we all were/are guilty of protecting and promoting our self-definitions and group definitions with a zeal that borders on the pathological. Never mind what someone says they are or what someone says they believe in. Someone will swear that the person cannot be telling the truth simply because that person defies the definition that has been created for them. Barack Obama defies many folks’ definitions.

Obama is from all appearances a devoted husband and father. America, black and white, is not accustomed to seeing black men in the media spotlight in that capacity on a regular basis. Many of us have not only grown up adoring our fathers, but were recipients of support from a steady supply of male relatives and friends. Obama is obviously well educated. Yet the current statistics on black male dropouts in some parts of the United States is frightening. Yet some of us grew up around black male scholars in every discipline. Obama is seeking the highest political office in the land. And if we tell the truth, none of us was certain, when he announced his candidacy in February of 2007 that he would win the Democratic Party nomination. For all of his credibility and decency, he has been called an elitist, terrorist, the pal of a terrorist, and a left-wing liberal. Do not expect the attacks to stop!

Obama is frightening. He is frightening because he does not fit any of the definitions that so many folks have come to accept as conventional wisdom, including some black folks. His defiance of those definitions flies in the face of everything they know, misinformation taught to them by everyone that they have ever loved for centuries on end. Neither an Obama campaign nor an Obama presidency will completely undue their belief in those definitions.

James Baldwin once said that, “You must embrace what you fear.” It took me a long time to figure out what he meant. The things that we fear most are not monsters hiding under our beds or bumping into a stranger in a dark alley. The things we fear most are those things that defy our comprehension and our definitions even when they have done nothing to us and even when they promise to do something for us. All of us have been (or will be) guilty at some point in our lives of avoiding that which we do not fully understand even when we suspected it would be beneficial to us.

Baldwin once said that the survival of the Western world depended on its acknowledgement that, “the world is not white.” In part, he meant what anthropologists have noted for years, that most of the world’s people are peoples of color. Baldwin also meant that it was impossible to get around the reality of peoples of color or their necessary participation in all political endeavors for the perpetuation of this planet we call earth. Barack Obama is also a reminder of that fact. Therefore, keep the faith; brace yourself; save the name-calling for the other side; reach out and “embrace what you fear.”

YES, WE CAN.

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October Wind-Up: Last Night's Debate Winner

By Marjani - Oct 8th, 2008 at 8:33 pm EDT

Also listed in: 6 groups

That's the Best 2 out of 3 and McCain and Palin's numbers are slipping as we come around the corner to Election Day 2008. Yet, it's still not time to relax.

Palin has been been made out to be exactly what she is -- an inexperienced candidate who is not ready to lead this nation. She doesn't even have any business being Governor of any state, let alone Vice President of the nation. She will never ever be taken seriously.

McCain's "SP Trump Card" failed.

Bottom line in last night's debate: McCain told people in an off-handed way NOT to vote for him. His words were "We can't afford to turn this nation over to a beginner," or "someone with no experience," or words to that effect... more toward the end of the debate. He wasn't talking about Obama, he was taking a side-swipe at Palin, who has criticized him for conceding defeat in Michigan. McCain knows he has lost and it is only a matter of time. Bush and everyone who thinks like him has to leave office or we're all done. Everyone except them and their rich Arab oil-shipping magnates, that is. Taxes are going to be raised anyway--Obama's point is who's supposed to foot the bils when they come in? The people who are getting the greatest benefit from this nation, the rich and the abundantly prosperous business owners. For them, "trickle down" has meant 'p-- on all of you sandal-clad minions'. Yet, they are the ones who have been triple-dipping in our pockets (low wages, mediocre healthcare, big tax shelters and writeoffs that we pay for) and playing with the lives of our loved ones and keeping us fooled and divided for the wrong reasons for more than 100 years.

But the Bible teaches us that the wealth of the wicked is stored up for the righteous; so God is causing the winds of change in America -- change that is going to benefit all of us. I don't even think Obama or Biden are aware of exactly what the Lord is doing in their lives at this moment. It is all good.

Win or lose, God has used Barack and Michelle Obama for a purpose: To tell us to stop being afraid and stand for something and stand and watch His glory in all things. That that we don't believe will ever change can be moved overnight, as God sees fit.

I believe Obama/Biden will win in November because of this alone. Truth told, though -- even if they do not win this election, God has still used Obama in a might way in America, to take us to the place where Dr. King would have wanted and expected us to be by now.

In whatever manner that Barack and Michelle Obama have come into our lives at this time, be it personally and up front and close or just through the websites and airwaves, in whatever manner it was: Their being here this season and not being afraid has made a difference in and changed all of our lives for the better. Even those of us who don't know it yet soon will.

If I were to ever meet them in person, I would thank them for their obedience to God. Just for being who they are and for taking a stand in perilous, hard, and a wild and crazy era...and in a nation where everything that could have gone wrong did go wrong.

But still we rise to the occasion...

I wonder if McCain is going to prove out to be a man of honor in this case and admit that Obama is the better candidate?

I know that he can't just drop out, because too much time and money has been spent; but I think he's coming to the conclusion that he's too old, too tired, not focused, is losing, doesn't have a viable running mate, is losing money, losing attention, zest, appeal, and one of the reasons he didn't go after that old tired character debate regarding William Ayers or Jeremiah Wright is because he knows (a) it's unfounded; and (b) people are tired of hearing about it because we've been there over and over again ad nauseum. It's meant to frighten and distract a nation of people who are still filled with ignorance and hatred for all the wrong reasons--people who will not take the time out to investigate, but will believe anything anyone tells them.

If McCain would have brought up Wright again last night, he'd have been dragged through the mud in this morning's news. Obama is no longer even a member of that church and Wright's no longer a pastor AT that church. Wright has since retired and really didn't say anything wrong in the first place. It's all past tense regardless of what anyone says--and the last thing McCain himself wanted to hear about again is The Keating Five and his own dank and radical and questionable past.

McCain was definitely more directly involved in the Keating Five scandal. In Obama's case, he was simply a member of a church where stood a very angry black man who was angry with good reason: This nation has not been very good to its black citizens, who have worked hard, and for many many years worked without pay -- and that's the truth.

Bringing up Ayers or even Tony Rezko would have brought out things about McCain that I think he no longer wants to think or talk about. People are looking for 'soap opera' or 'reality show' or even Jerry Springer drama toward the end of this election. When they don't get it, they call them "snores," because they are too politically correct and don't draw enough blood.

Yes, we are a bloodthirsty nation; but character attacks -- we've already done it and it's tired, old, and boring in itself.

The best thing he [McCain] can do right now is concede that if the USA wants Obama, it should have Obama. He needs to do the right thing for this country for once and step aside and finally not just be an officer, but also a gentleman.

On the other hand, Obama, I believe, is ready to get in there and turn this nation around for the good of all concerned and finally wake people up and make this government fair for EVERYBODY who is at least willing to try. Not just a privileged few with high incomes, people who make up a relatively small percentage of this population overall; but for the nation at-large. And that's not change we can Xerox, that's the change we need. It is the hope of the world.

There is a lot that can be said about Obama and his candidacy and what it will mean to America at this point, but now is not the time or the place for another of my "tomes" or "diatribes."

I'll save that one for my best-selling book.

In the meantime... Vote early. Vote sensibly. Vote strong.

AND PUT SOME DEMOCRATS IN YOUR STATE OFFICES FOR GOVERNOR, HOUSE, SENATE, MAYOR, WHATEVER ELSE YOU'RE VOTING ON OR FOR IN YOUR STATE'S GENERAL ELECTION SO THAT OBAMA AND BIDEN DON'T HAVE TO FIGHT HEAVEN AND EARTH FOR THE NEXT FOUR YEARS TRYING TO GET THINGS DONE.

The more Democrats we put in office, the easier things are going to be for ALL of us; and maybe some of the goodness of God that is in the people who TRULY believe in freedom and justice for ALL (and don't just mouth the words, but also act accordingly) will "trickle down" to the Republicans and those who have made their riches at our expense (i.e., middle class and working class poor) all these years.

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McCain ignores Obama at debate

By Tom - Sep 26th, 2008 at 11:46 pm EDT

i was deeply offended by McCain's intentionality in never looking at Obama throughout the debate. It struck me as a strategy that was intended to convey a lack of respect for Obama, as if to say, "I shouldn't have had to lower myself to be on the same stage with this man. And I couldn't help but wonder if he would have treated any white person with that kind of disdain. It came across as demeaning and even racist.

Even before the debate began I heard Obama greet McCain. I heard no greeting from McCain in return.

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This is Your Nation on White Privilege

By Irish Musician for Progressive Solutions - Sep 17th, 2008 at 8:15 pm EDT

Also listed in: Irish Musicians for Obama

Original article is posted here:

http://www.opednews.com/articles/This-is-Your-Nation-on-Whi-by-Tim-Wise-080916-307.html

For those who still can't grasp the concept of white privilege, or whoare looking for some easy-to-understand examples of it, perhaps thislist will help.

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Four Key Reasons Why Barack Obama Clinched The Democratic Party's Presidential Nomination

By Ms CYPRAH - Aug 4th, 2008 at 7:55 pm EDT

Also listed in: 10 groups

One will hear all kinds of reasons as to why Barack Obama achieved a seemingly impossible American dream: the first African American in place for the White House. There will be many people with numerous bits of 'evidence' as to why he is now the nominee over Hillary Clinton, who was the heir apparent up until October last year. There will also be countless words, specially from people who were against him but who will lay claim to have seen this victory all along, spewing all over the Internet and print media in tributes or blame. Get ready for the onslaught as the analysis begins.

However, I am not an American, which is perhaps why I do not view life in an American perspective. It means I am not befuddled by the usual fears and anxieties that might beset the average American voter. I am far enough away from the action, well across the Pond, to see what others who are closer often miss, and not affected by the negativity or euphoria that might have surrounded Obama. In such a position, one might miss some details, but one is then privy to an extraordinary panoramic view that one is often denied when one is too close to events.

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When Ignorance Meets Bigotry

By Bruce Mirken - Jul 5th, 2008 at 9:10 pm EDT

Also listed in: 6 groups

A colleague of mine who works at MPP's Washington, DC office (disclaimer: As many on here know, I work for the Marijuana Policy Project, but all opinions expressed here are strictly my own and not those of my employer) told me of something that happened recently that's stuck in my mind -- and, I think, illustrates a bit of the dilemma Barack Obama faces.

Doing some errands on his lunch break, he walked past a contruction site where the workers were also on break, and he overheard some of their conversation. One (white) worker said to his friends, "If Obama's elected, he's gonna pass a law making whites the minority." This was said in all seriousness, with no sign of irony.

The mind reels, not knowing whether to laugh or cry, to be most appalled by the bigotry or the ignorance. Did this person, working literally walking distance from the Capitol, not know that an institution called Congress has something to say about what laws get passed? And should President Obama and Congress somehow agree that they wanted to "make whites the minority," how would this work? Ban whites from having kids? Ship us all overseas (presuming, of course, some unlucky country was dumb enough to take us)?

But there is a larger point here: While this construction worker may have been an extreme case, we live in a dumbed-down nation where serious discussion of news and politics is nearly absent even from what passes as news in the commercial media, a nation in which many voters operate on little knowledge. They operate on instinct, and the human instinct is to feel comfortable with the familiar and uncomfortable with the unfamiliar. For many white Americans -- not just overt bigots, who are probably hopeless, but a larger segment whose familiarity with black America consists of seeing the latest Will Smith summer blockbuster and hearing (and probably disliking) occasional snatches of hip-hop music -- the notion that a black guy named Barack Hussein Obama could be the next president of the United States is profoundly foreign and strange.

Those of us who frequent this site -- a self-selected group of politically aware, engaged, and generally progressive-leaning individuals -- can be pretty detached from how a lot of Americans perceive things. It's easy for us to forget that we are asking America to take what feels to many like a leap into the unknown by electing Obama.

Yes, the fact that it feels like a leap into the unknown to so many is profoundly sad, but it is so nonetheless. We have never, ever had a president who wasn't a white male with an Anglo Saxon-sounding name. Within my lifetime the notion of a Catholic president was still controversial. We've still never come close to having a Jewish president.

This is why I don't get too upset when I see Obama taking steps to reassure such people that he's a "normal American" -- one who's patriotic, believes in God and faith, and is serious about protecting the country from terrorists. We are a nation that's been ruled by fear for so long that it's not possible to unlearn that habit overnight. Our candidate knows that there are a lot of people out there who aren't overt bigots, but feel a vague unease at handing the presidency over to this dark-skinned guy with a foreign-sounding (or even, perhaps, Islamic-sounding) name.

America is crawling when it needs to run, but first it must learn how to walk. The learning process will not be easy or quick.

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Washington Post submission

By Beth from ColoradObama - Jul 1st, 2008 at 3:46 pm EDT

Also listed in: 9 groups

Following is a lengthy response to a column by Dan Balz (really?). Read More »

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Defining A Community's Identity.

By Kareem Shora - Jun 18th, 2008 at 8:48 am EDT

Also listed in: 10 groups

For the past 28 years, the Arab-American community has gathered on the second weekend of June in our nation's capital to ensure that Arab Americans and their concerns, as diverse as those may be, are seen and heard in Washington, DC. This has always been the intent and these are always the goals of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) Annual National Convention. By attending this annual tradition, which is consistently the largest Arab-American event in Washington, community members and their friends have routinely acheived those goals.

Unfortunately, hard facts that we as a community and a nation have encountered over these past 28 years have sometimes forced us to develop out of necessity and in very quick fashion; but we did develop and we did answer the call to protect what at sometimes was a vulnerable community that was ill-prepared to protect itself in the aftermath of the horrific 2001 terrorist attacks on our nation.

Those same hard facts have caused many of our elected officials to ignore the obvious and make the decision not to participate, in any form, during the ADC Convention. For example, during this year's event, while several seasoned members of Congress, including current and former presidential candidates; those familiar with ADC and its grassroots base, made sure they either attended, sent representatives, delivered video messages, or sent letters of congratulations, others were advised by their political campaigns not to do so.

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HAPPY TO SUPPORT THE CAUSE

By Mary - Jun 15th, 2008 at 3:31 pm EDT

Also listed in: 9 groups

Barack should win because the time is right. There may exist many others who are just as, or even more capable than, he is to effect this change; however, he is the one that has been lifted up for such a time as this. I am simply happy to support the cause.

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Guy's Perspective - Introduction

By Ligaya - Jun 11th, 2008 at 2:13 am EDT

Greetings from Nashville, Tennessee!

I’m dedicating this blog to my experiences while working hard on behalf of Senator Barack Obama, which puts me behind about four months. What can I say? I’ve been so busy responding to other people’s blogs that I hadn’t had time to write my own. But now it’s time to get serious. Senator Obama is the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee and we have much work ahead of us.

First, there’s healing that has to take place. Not just democrats, but all of us have to find a common ground and appeal to our humanity so that we can finally take steps to improve our current national predicament and international image. I am convinced that Senator Obama exemplifies the leadership we need to lead this nation. He has already demonstrated some of his leadership skills during the primaries when he unfailingly focused on the real issues and the American people’s values despite the constant personal attacks and blatant misinterpretation of his words. His integrity is in tact, his message clear and consistent and his support is strong. His ideas and plans are not just hopeful, they are realistic and timely.

My background is just as diverse, complex, interesting and filled with so many different categorizing “labels” that I’m pretty much what’s becoming the average American citizen. Here are just some of those labels: Gen-X, Asian-American, Person of Faith, African-American, Progressive, Nashvillian, Evanstonian, Naturalized Citizen, Techie. . . I can go on and on. I was born in the Philippines to a Filipina mother and an African-American father. My early childhood was spent in the Philippines while my “growing up” years were spent in Evanston, Illinois. I attended colleges - yes, colleges - in Chicago and then relocated to Nashville to attend more colleges and to plant some roots. I live in Nashville, work in Philadelphia, my employer is located in Minnesota and I have family all over the US, Canada, Asia, Australia, the Middle East and Europe. We’ll have to relocate some family members to Africa, the Antarctic and South America just to hit the rest of the continents!

My world, much like many Americans, is getting smaller because there are personal and professional connections to countries throughout the globe. We need leadership that understands that we need to change how things operate in our nation because what’s worked in the past has well, left us in the PAST. I’m so glad to have been inspired by Senator Obama to become involved in this year’s election. I hope many more feel the same way and join me.

Time permitting; I intend to write periodic blogs which I will call Guy’s Perspective. Each one will give updates on campaign events and happenings that I am involved with and sometimes give some perspective from one of my many labels. It may be a simple one-liner but I’ll share the experience.

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In Tears . . . This Day Has Come

By Pastor Robert Earl Houston, Sr. - Jun 4th, 2008 at 9:04 am EDT

My foreparents were slaves - freed during the presidency of Abraham Lincoln. I wish I could tell you how they made it through America's worst chapters - the beatings, the separations, the death, the struggles. But I believe that my foreparents, who were denied freedoms in this country simply because of the sepia tones of their skin, dreamt that one day their children or their children's children, or even their children's children's children would live to experience what freedom is, live to be considered by the content of their character and not the color of their skin, and finally, that someone who looks like us, understands our plight and history, and yet have the unusual gifts and abilities - would lead this nation.

Tonight, with tears in my eyes, I am happy to report - that day has come.

Barack Obama, has sewn up the nomination for the Presidency of the United States of America. An African-American, born bi-racially, educated, compassionate and not a speaker, but an orator has broken a color barrier that has existed for over 200 years.

I don't know how much time the Lord will give me to live. I'm in relatively good health tonight, but who knows what tomorrow will bring. I'm just praying that God will do two things for me - (a) Allow me to live long enough to vote again for Barack Obama, not for the Democratic nomination, but for the Presidency of these United States; and (b) I was to see him installed with splendor as the President of this nation.

And then I will know that we have truly overcome.

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ONE small REQUEST

By S. Docz - May 9th, 2008 at 7:47 am EDT

Also listed in: Democrats Abroad - Europe | Switzerland for Obama

I have had the pleasure to be an outsider (American Abroad) looking in on the campaign. While it has brought new perspectives on my view of the US it pains me to know that I will likely not get to see Senator Obama in person on the campaign trail. While I understand that everyone back in the states has not gotten that chance either, almost anyone who really wanted to hear the Senator in person has.

I called my family and friends after recieving an e-mail saying that Obama was going to be in Birmingham, AL. I knew I would have been there with them front and center had I been in town. I remeber watching again online when he spoke in Dallas, TX where my husband and I moved from immediately before moving overseas. I also remember this March, when I traveled back to the US stopping in Pittsburgh, the likely site of our move back home only to see that he would make a stop there just days after I left.

I have watched Senator Obama's speeches online from his declaration of candidacy in Illinois to the most recent Situation Room interview with Wolf. I am a strong, young advocate living abroad and am sure that I would have given up my job as a veterinarian for a year or so to go on the campaign trail.

With that said, is it too much to ask if the Senator could make a stop in Europe before the general election? Although I am in Switzerland, I would go to Paris or London (more likely stops for him) and stand in line just to have him come out on the bullhorn because they didn't have enough room inside.

But maybe there is a reason of why I will never have the opportunity to see the Senator in person. He already has my vote, support, and what little money I have donated. Maybe I am best suited to fufill the role of the outsider looking in, but boy does it bite sometimes.

-Swiss Docz

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Forty Years Later ... The Dream Comes True

By Scott A. Giordano - May 7th, 2008 at 7:57 am EDT

Also listed in: 9 groups

God couldn't have timed the Democratic Convention any Better ... Read More »

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We, The People

By J.W. - May 2nd, 2008 at 11:55 am EDT

You know what I’m tired of?

I’m tired of fake, black leadership. Leadership that won’t show up but never wastes an opportunity to show out. That won’t stand up for others, but will always stand up for itself. The type of leadership that is so self-centered that it won’t hesitate to tear down the leadership of another.

Moreover, I’m tired of Black Christians praising Black Muslims. I’m tired of us heralding people like Malcolm X and Louis Farrakhan as great Black leaders. Don’t we realize that they are the false teachers that Jesus warned us about? Don’t we realize that these people aren’t about hope and love, but about hate and despair? They tell you that this country can’t change. They tell you it won’t change. So they encourage you to do for yourself. But the Bible encourages us to do for others. To love our enemies. To do good to those who harm us. To bless those who curse us. Why do we praise this other type of leadership?

I’m tired of leaders like Tavis Smiley, who let their own egoism get in the way of true black leadership. Who think they themselves are the only way to the Black community. That in order to get to us, you have to go through them.

I’m tired of sell outs like Condeleeza Rice and Clarence Thomas, Colin Powell and Michael Steele. I’m tired of pretending to be proud, when inside, I’m ashamed.

I’m tired of fakes like Rev. Jesse Jackson, who haven’t said a word about Jesus publicly in over 40 years. Who think that because they were a confidante of Dr. King that automatically qualifies them to be leaders in the Black community.

I’m tired of Black preachers who scream at me from the pulpit. Who won't preach love and hope, but spew hatred. Those who steal from their congregants and preach that the only way to Heaven is to be rich.

But overall, you know what I’m really tired of?

I’m really tired of nonexistent black leaders. The type that won’t show up or show out. Who stay silent when an issue affects our community. The type that can create a song about the NBA playoffs in a day, but takes a month to speak out against injustice. I’m tired of rappers who claim to rep their hoods to the fullest, but won’t give back to their hoods to the fullest. The type that can promote sex, drugs, and violence all day, but only promote education once a year. The type that can endorse a product, but won’t endorse a Presidential candidate.

In the 40 years since Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination, we have lacked real black leadership. Leadership that stands in the face of adversity. Leadership that’s not afraid to take on tough issues. Leadership that tells the truth, despite the lies. Leadership that is open, honest, and forthright with the people. Leadership that understands its power to enact change. For so long, we’ve been waiting for a person who could speak to the rest of America about our plight. To explain to them what we’ve been through, where we came from, and where we want to go. For 40 years, we’ve lacked that leadership. But it took a little mixed, half-black, half-white boy from Hawaii to finally bring true Black leadership to the people. And that is why I support Barack Obama. Because he is the epitome of real, black leadership. Because without having met him, he has motivated and inspired me to get involved. To care. To move. To love. To hope. To dream. It is that ability that will push us forward, and restore the sense of pride and integrity that we, as a people, once had in ourselves, in our nation, and in our black leadership.

God bless,
J.W.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=pWe7wTVbLUU

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Praise God for Obama's Pastor

By Jedidiah Palosaari - Mar 27th, 2008 at 11:06 pm EDT

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Obama's pastor has gotten in the news recently. If you haven't heard, some sermons the Reverend Jeremiah Wright gave in 2001 and 2003 are causing some problems for Obama. Relevant passages include:

We bombed Hiroshima, we bombed Nagasaki, and we nuked far more than the
thousands in New York and the Pentagon, and we never batted an eye. We have
supported state terrorism against the Palestinians and black South Africans, and
now we are indignant because the stuff we have done overseas is now bought right
back to our own front yards. America's chickens are coming home to roost.

That was the Sunday after 9/11, the day I was searching for a non-patriotic church to attend and came upon Friends Memorial Quaker Church. A couple years later The Reverend Wright said:

The government gave [the blacks] the drugs, builds bigger prisons, passes a
three-strikes law, and then wants us to sing "God Bless America". No, no, no.
God damn America. That's in the Bible, for killing innocent people. God damn
America for treating our citizens as less than human. God damn America for as
long as she acts like she is God and she is supreme.

Finally, someone willing to speak truth about America's actions- and what the rest of the world has long known. As horrific and evil as the 9/11 attacks were, they didn't take place in a vacuum. There were things we did that encouraged them. But I don't want to talk about that.

I find it interesting that people who (rightly) decry the invasion of religion into politics by the Religious Right now want to force the Rev. Wright to not speak from the pulpit certain ideas, for they are politically appropriate. But I don't want to talk about that.

And I want to say that, as much as I admire the Reverend for what he said, in some places he went overboard. He should not have said "God damn America", but rather the past tense, that God has damned America, for we are called to bless, and not curse. And rather then say damn, he should have said "God judged America", for no man can know the soul of another, and certainly not that of a nation. I think Reverend Wright was looking for the rhetorical flourish, but some words should be very carefully used. Had he said, "God has judged America and found us wanting," he would have been on very solid Biblical ground.

That's what I want to talk about. The Reverend Wright was simply fulfilling the role of the prophet- a role we find throughout the Bible. If there is one most repeated theme in the Old Testament, it is God and his prophets calling the people back to justice and kind treatment of the outcast- and retribution if they do not return to righteousness.

Lest we think though that this is only an Old Testament deal, Jesus stated his mission as

to preach good news to the poor...
to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight to the blind
to proclaim an acceptable Year of the Lord.

This is very clearly a reference to the Jubilee Year, a year commanded by God every 70 years (but probably never actually practiced by Israel), a very socialist event where all property is redistributed, loans canceled, and slaves freed. Its so clear that this is an Old Testament reference, that Jesus is actually quoting III Isaiah 61.1,2- that's why its in verse form.

Of course, there's another theme to the prophets. They are all rejected, and many of them killed, which ended up happening to Jesus too. Prophets by their very nature are not acceptable to the establishment. Prophets and kings rarely got along in the Old Testament. Come to think of it, Herod and Jesus didn't get along too well either.

Now, Obama has come out and said that he supports a lot of what the reverend Wright says about justice and hope (and even wrote a book based on one of Wright's sermons), but he utterly rejects and denounces what the Reverend said in these two sermons, for which Obama wasn't present.

I wish Obama hadn't done that. I want a candidate who will stand up and reject the evil that America has done. Who will be so adamant in the pursuit of justice that they will even admit when America has not been just to others, as we have not been so many times in our history. I want a prophet. But Obama is running to be our equivalent of king.

This is why it is impossible to fully follow Christ and be Caesar. The kind of power a political leader has was antithetical to the way of Jesus. Christianity is inherently a minority suffering community, and has no truck with the ways of power and oppression.

But I also know that, had Obama supported his pastor, he wouldn't get elected. You have to rally around the flag to be elected President. Even if the people are called to hard work, as Kennedy did and Obama is doing, they don't want to be told that what they have done is evil, no matter how true. Americans don't want prophets. They want to be told that all is well, or will be well, and profit will return.

I want someone to be President who will call us to justice, no matter what. I want someone elected who is inherently unelectable.

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