Obama in his speech today basically CONDONED Jeremiah Wright's hate speech, condoned the reverse prejudice of many in the Black Community. He flat out admitted, that those two things are a part of him, that he cannot and will not rebuke Jeremiah Wright who he feels is an honorable, kind, passionate man always there for HIS COMMUNITY. He admitted in his words, though not directly that he has lied to the American people, admitted that "Yes, I sat in the pews, I listened to Jeremiah Wright's hate speech." He conveniently did not admit openly and honestly to the American people that he LIED TO US when he claimed it was the first time he'd heard the words, heard the hate.
Here's a wake up call, take it for what it is worth.
Slavery ended over 100 years ago. The civil rights movement started way back with Rosa Parks in 1955 (before I was born) refused to give up her seat on the bus. 52 years later, almost three generations of people later, there still exists this anger and sense of entitlement in the Black Community, a spoken and unspoken "You Owe Us." No, we do not owe you, we had nothing to do with the sins of our father's father's fathers. Quite frankly, we are tired of being told, "You OWE US". We are tired of your anger pointed squarely in our direction when we have done nothing wrong. Enough already. Stop trying to guilt people who have done no wrong.
I lived through the turbulent 60's, I lived through the assinations of John F and Robert Kennedy, cried when Martin Luther King was slain. I supported the Black Community's Civil Rights Movement, defended the actions of people like Malcolm X as a teenager. When I applied to jobs, and did not get the jobs (not because I wasn't qualified) because of Affirmative Action, I was fine with it, it was a part of equaling the playing field, erasing the slate, giving people of color a chance they had never had before. Those jobs I wanted, even needed are ancient history, go back over 30 years.
Problem is, some fifty plus years after Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on the bus, the Black community refuses to let go of its own anger. That fact was made perfectly clear today when Obama defended the racist, bigoted hate speech of Jeremiah Wright, spoke about the bitterness within segments of the Black community. Sure it will make some howl in anger, but you know what...at some point in time, one has to accept an apology and move on, because if you do not, people get tired of it, get tired of hearing the same rhetoric, complaints and whining over and over again. By the 70's the Black Community had a whole generation who had grown up with the Civil Rights Movement, supported it, were willing to make self sacrifices in the name of Equality...I was one of those people. Now, I'm upset, tired of the same complaints, the same wasted rhetoric that 40 years later no longer rings as true as it did in those early days when Martin Luther King spoke those wonderful words, "I have a dream."
There is a bitterness in the Black Community, a community wide chip on their collective shoulders as they look at us Whiteys almost daring us to knock it off. I know that chip, or more aptly a similiar chip. I spent a lot of my life being angry at those who abused me as a child, had a deep seething anger and resentment towards all men because men had been my abusers. That chip, that anger caused me problems, saw me at times shooting myself in the foot, but I never admitted my own wrong, my sad luck always the fault of others. It was not until I took responsibility for myself, took responsibility for my own actions, took steps to let go of that darkness I clung too, saw as my friend, was I able to make major strides forward in who I was and am. What I found in my own path of healing, was that once I let the anger go, once I stopped distrusting others just because they were male, my life started changing, the door of opportunity started to open up. All along, it had been ME, not them who were keeping me from succeeding in life and in love.
Obama today admitted that anger and bitterness exists in the Black Community, admitted that old grudges were still held, even on some level admitted he himself shares that same seething anger. That is not America's problem to deal with, that is the Black Community's problem to deal with. Martin Luther King openned the dialogue, gave his blood that the healing could begin. In holding on to the bitterness, in clinging to old grudges, in refusing to forgive, it is the Black Community that is throwing away everything that Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Malcolm X and many others gave their all for. Unless and until the Black Community is willing to take that chip off their shoulder, set aside their anger and bitterness, any forward progress is and will remain stalled. No one like to break bread with an angry man.
Sadly, America saw today that Obama is not America's Presidential candidate, he is the Black Community's Presidential Candidate. His speech today for many Americans verified what we already suspected. He may have come far enough down the road to win the Democratic Nomination, but he will not win the fall election, thus hurting the nation as a whole when John McCain is sworn into offrice, takes up residence in the Oval Office...that angers me. It might sound offensive, but is this the thanks we get for supporting the Equal Rights Movement? A President in John Mccain who, like Bush who will continue stealing away our personal liberties, running a once proud nation into the ground.
Not all, but many White Americans have for years ,even decades have extended our hand in friendship, and that offer has been ignored, our hand refused. At this point, as the basketball phrase states, "balls in your court".
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