March 18, 2008
Transcript: Barack Obama's Speech On Race
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Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama D-Ill., delivers a speech on race in Philadelphia, March 18, 2008. (CBS)
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Photo Essay
Barack Obama
A look at the life and meteoric rise of the president-elect.
"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.Obama Urges End To "Racial Stalemate"
Video: Obama On Anger Between Races
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
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.
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See all 131 CommentsWhen first asked he said he never heard Wright sermons that he thought were negitive. Today Yes he did.
Then he brought his poor grandmother into the speach to just because she is white, but to have the world know what she may have may not have said is wrong.
This speach has been sitting around for a while and ready to be used when his hand was forced to use it.
Didn,t belive him yesterday don,t belive him today.
But people in MSM are comparing him to MLK.
WAKE UP AMERICA HE IS NOT MLK
To bring people together, one must understand the severity of this pain and resentment. And not alienate people who are angry about injustice and have clouded judgement and a certain degree of paranoia due to their anger.
Remember Psychology 101? Years of injustice and abuse will create paranoid, angry, resentful and unreasonable reactions.
Wake up America, and learn from this speech.
We have to NAME our real differences before we can TRANSCEND them.
We desperately need someone who has compassion for all views to bring us together successfully.
I still won''t vote for him though.
He''s very clear we shouldn''t have gone to Iraq. Not so straight forward (or at least vocal) on whether we should have gone into Afghanistan.. We didn''t go into Rwanda.. Does he agree with that decision? If a genocide began in Kenya (home to his grandmother) would he feel inclined to commit our forces there?
Under his rationale it would seen that we wouldn''t have gone into Korea.. I think there are a number of individuals in S. Korea that look north across the DMZ and are glad we did.
Obama is clear we''ve been in Iraq too long (the message resonates with a populous opinion). Not so vocal on Afghanistan.. How about the Balkans, for that matter how about Korea, Japan or Germany.. How many years did we spend supporting the German economy as it was rebuilt following WW II? Or Korea? Yes they are fairly vibrant economies now but back in 1960??
Who cares about the Iraqis anyway.. If they can''t establish a free and strong government in 5 years or less then it''s obvious that the people don''t WANT to be FREE.
I probably shouldn''t bring up how long it took us (The U.S.) to get our feet on the ground and figure out a balance between state and federal powers (a Civil War, Civil Rights, socialized services...) Oh wait.. we''re still working on it..
I still won''t vote for him though.
He''s very clear we shouldn''t have gone to Iraq. Not so straight forward (or at least vocal) on whether we should have gone into Afghanistan.. We didn''t go into Rwanda.. Does he agree with that decision? If a genocide began in Kenya (home to his grandmother) would he feel inclined to commit our forces there?
Under his rationale it would seen that we wouldn''t have gone into Korea.. I think there are a number of individuals in S. Korea that look north across the DMZ and are glad we did.
Obama is clear we''ve been in Iraq too long (the message resonates with a populous opinion). Not so vocal on Afghanistan.. How about the Balkans, for that matter how about Korea, Japan or Germany.. How many years did we spend supporting the German economy as it was rebuilt following WW II? Or Korea? Yes they are fairly vibrant economies now but back in 1960??
Who cares about the Iraqis anyway.. If they can''t establish a free and strong government in 5 years or less then it''s obvious that the people don''t WANT to be FREE.
I probably shouldn''t bring up how long it took us (The U.S.) to get our feet on the ground and figure out a balance between state and federal powers (a Civil War, Civil Rights, socialized services...) Oh wait.. we''re still working on it..
Now he''s wants to lecture the country about stuff we already know about so that he somehow looks presidential when in fact he created this issue during his campaign. Obama is worse than Bush.
However, Obama''s background is that of broken homes, mutilple family relatioships, and help from the government. His view of the world is based on a deep faith in the power of the Federal Govenment to change lives. The extent to which one agrees with this view, is the extent one is a supporter of Barak Obama.
But we musn''t let one poetic flow from the mouth of an expert politician cut off the blood flow to our cerebral cortex: We have to keep in mind his history, his acceptance of the Rev. Wright''s words (words DO matter, and we all should accept the consequences of what we say). To believe that he didn''t know about the content of these inflammatory statements strains incredulity to beyond the breaking point. Now he''s lecturing us on how we can all get along. Hmm..
I guess he''s changed.
I''m not a liberal, a conservative, a Republican, or a Democrat.
I''m a skeptic.
JLT
Sermons should teach forgiveness as Jesus taught, not justified anger and hatred, even if injustice still exists. What Bible are they reading? The world has been plagued by injustice since time began. Against women; against Jews; against minorities in every civilization. None of these horrible events were ever healed by continuing hatred. Hatred breeds more hatred. Jesus taught that only forgiveness and understanding calms the soul, heals the pain and empowers people.
Obama can not win the general election now! Only Hillary is our chance for "change" from the current Republican agenda.
From Dreams of My Father, " I FOUND A SOLACE IN NURSING A PERVASISVE SENSE OF GRIEVANCE AND ANIMOSITY AGAINST MY MOTHER''S RACE".
From ''Dreams of my Father'', "The emotion between the races could never be pure, even love was tarnished by the desire to find in the other some element that was missing in ourselves. Whether we sought out our demons or salvation, the other race (WHITE) would always remain just that: menacing, alien, and apart."
I salute you!
Interesting that you try to throw white Jews under the bus by proclaiming that is what you are. Is that supposed to make you more believable or something. Cr@p coming out of the mouth of someone CLAIMING to be Jewish is still cr@p.
"Obama could never unify our country when he''''s a 20 year member of a Divisive church. It''''s time for him to step away from politics."
What do you think most churches are if not divisive? Churches are generally trying to divide those who they pick as able to get to heaven from those who they say aren''t. Do you know how many wars, and not just in the recent century, have been fought over religion? Do you know how many churches still believe that Jews are damned? Would you say that because a Christian goes to a church that doesn''t repudiate the New Testament''s anti-semetic bent that they should not be president? I would say that not many Christians are willing to repudiate the New Testament. However, I guess that is okay as long as it is only anti-Semitism and not anti-American or anti-white. The big 3 religions in the US, Christianity, Islam and Judaism, all have their bigoted histories and present. I don''t think that most churches could stand up to a deep and true examination of their beliefs. However, you may feel differently----but if you do, it is probably only about your own church.
Why foster the bitterness? Why not stand above it.
Your statement alone that says Geraldine Ferraro made racist statements show you are a liar. Ms. Ferraro was not condemning your race...she was point out your total lack of credentials for the job you were applying for and stating the obvious fact that not another man with your credentials could be running for president. You are fostering racism by such a statement!
Again, really good tear jerking speech fostering your racism. Every person in the United States today has the same opportunity as anybody else. If you pick up your freedom, your equality and run like hell with it to better yourself instead of obcessing on how oppressed your are, how abused you are, how separate you should keep yourself, there would be no need for gratituous speeches.
Rev. Wright brings home the message loud and clear that violence has no place in our great society. It makes the message clear that those who are disenfranchised and poor in America living in ghettos, and seeing no future have a burning desire to unleash their anger; because of the injustices inside in America to get a better life; they succumb to enlisting in the military. %u201CTake out your anger toward terrorists in foreign lands,%u201D the government declares.
There have only been 3 men in the world%u2019s history who have gone before us telling us and showing us the path toward freedom and peace. They spoke of the need and deliverance of nonviolence. They were Jesus of Nazareth, Mahatma Gandhi, and Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. They live this very day in our hearts as our living spirits toward the reality of truth and its goals toward peace and justice.
It is because of hatred and their unwillingness to surrender their power to Gods benevolence in America, by making Americans believe their lies of authority. They truly are racist and bigots. Let%u2019s be clear that in my earnest Declaration, Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. is the Original Founder of America. Americans will not admit this; but I will and it is true, because he stood and gave his life for nonviolence in seeking to end discrimination to the people. He is the only leader of our time who stood for positive change, and took the example of Jesus and Mahatma as his guiding light. Some hate to think George Washington is not one of the founding fathers? How could he not be? He is not because he represented violence, and he was a slave owner.
His statement in saying he will not allow our youngsters to die in vain, really means that he will allow Martin Luther King Jr. and his ideals to die in vain instead. Essentially he can not come to grip with knowing his leadership of lies to go to war caused those youngsters to die. And if he took upon the legacy values of Martin Luther King Jr. along with Jesus and Mahatma Gandhi, those youngsters would probably be alive today. If he took upon the cross and followed these great men who spoke of nonviolence in the face of violence; our world would change for peace, instead of more terror and war. Essentially our young black men who join the army fail to see the truths to their lives given in the name of nonviolence. Our young black men who have become members to the governing body in the United States having to be one Black Senator Barack Obama fails to see the truths of Rev. King and his message, due to the forces of propaganda and the deliberate attempt to subvert the truth.
While the mirror image rhetoric from the Left is about a country which was flawed, often tragically so, but which has the capacity for improvement. Be disgusted with the country as it was and is, while hoping for an evolution to a better country.
It is time that we confront these issues and attempt to heal these deep wounds. We are at a profound junction as a nation. Will we retreat to the same old entrenched patterns of prejudice and fear or will we find the maturity and honesty to take ownership of our country''s legacy and future?
This is much larger than the divisive statements made by Jeremiah Wright, Geraldine Ferraro, Rod Parsley or John Hagee. This is about who we are collectively as a country. Should we remain disparate groups of angry ideologues yelling at one another, each accusing the other for our problems, or should we take pride in our country and band together as Americans of different faiths, races and ethnic identities to actually bring about positive improvements?
I feel Senator Obama''s speech today was precisely the kind of call for reconciliation that''s needed. However, I don''t begrudge those who disagree with his political platform. But as one American to any other, please let''s be civil.
Posted by Sonmi
OHHH REALLY??? You just come up with that futile and tired old mantra you useless dim wit???
Posted by Sonmi
How was ANYTHING Ferraro said "divisive"??? Maybe you should look the word up. She said NOTHING "against" blacks, no insultys, no slurs...she STATED that if Obama was not black, he would NOT be where he is - he is not that strong of a candidate and his blackness is the novelty of an ARTICULATE black man. He is no leader, he just a black guy with good grammar.
I think you are making my case for me.
Best of luck to you.
"Third, we must remember that America cannot lead in the world unless here at home we weave the threads of our coat of many colors into the fabric of one America. As we become ever more diverse, we must work harder to unite around our common values and our common humanity. We must work harder to overcome our differences, in our hearts and in our laws. We must treat all our people with fairness and dignity, regardless of their race, religion, gender, or sexual orientation, and regardless of when they arrived in our country-always moving toward the more perfect Union of our Founders'' dreams."
OBAMA''S SPEECH TODAY:"[W]e must remember that America cannot lead in the world unless here at home we weave the threads of our coat of many colors into the fabric of one America. As we become ever more diverse, we must work harder to unite around our common values and our common humanity. We must work harder to overcome our differences, in our hearts and in our laws. We must treat all our people with fairness and dignity, regardless of their race, religion, gender, or sexual orientation, and regardless of when they arrived in our country-always moving toward the more perfect Union of our Founders'' dreams."
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And your point would be....?
OBAMA''S SPEECH TODAY:
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.
As I stared blankly down at the awarded certificate and thought of my deceased father, the tears swelled and streamed down my face and I wondered how many thousands of sons and daughters of US armed forces Black American veterans had received such certificates honoring their fathers or mothers. I thought of the pain, futility and the utter horror of combat and of war for the masses of people. And then, like a lightning bolt, the thought struck me that some in this nation are actually seriously considering the candidacy of Barack Obama to be President of the United States and concomitantly Commander-In-Chief of its potent Armed Forces.
This is a man who has enjoyed the fruits of America at the blood and expense of Black Americans and others, but who has paid virtually no dues.
This is a man whose father had also enjoyed the fruits of university schooling in America but subsequently returned to his native Kenya.
This is a man, who also like his father before him, neither served in a branch of the US military nor in any organization in America opposed to US military adventurism.
This is a man who as a deeply corporate military industrial complex US Presidential candidate, has called for %u201Cunilateral%u201D US military actions in other nations. [And why not? After-all, his father, himself, or his wife and children were not and will not be the ones killing and being killed.]
This is a man who dares opportunistically to feign admiration for the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., but does not share the collective memory, pain and deep concerns of Black America, other people of color, or even of numerous white Americans for that matter - in the ongoing struggle for equality and justice in this nation.
This is a man who has de facto contempt for the past supreme sacrifices made by thousands of activists from so-called %u201Cmilitant%u201D organizations such the Organization of Afro-American Unity (OAAU), the Student National Coordinating Committee (SNCC), the Black Panther Party (BPP), Students For A Democratic Society (SDS), the American Indian Movement (AIM), the Revolutionary Action Movement (RAM), etc.
This is a man who is silent about the need for reparations for Black American descendants of slaves and the genocide of the indigenous so-called %u201CIndian%u201D peoples on this continent. He is the consummate opportunist who, in reality, cares nothing about the horrors inflicted upon Black, Brown, and Red peoples in this nation, and has repeatedly signaled that he plans to inflict even more %u201Cunilateral%u201D military horrors upon various nations and peoples of the world.
This man, Barack Obama, is but a more articulate, younger, and shinier version of the current and infamous US Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, adorning himself dangerously and abundantly in superficiality and double-speak.
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