Barack Obama Tells Blacks To Stop Complaining

During a speech in Selma, Alabama on Sunday, Barack Obama called on blacks to help themselves instead of complaining that the gov't is not helping them.

But Obama, who was three years old on Bloody Sunday, delivered a call to action that would be politically unfeasible for Clinton or any of his other white rivals to make. He said the current generation of blacks does not always honor the civil rights movement and needs to take responsibility for improving their lives by rejecting violence; cleaning up “40-ounce bottles” and other trash that litters urban neighborhoods; and voting instead of complaining that the government is not helping them.

“How can it be that our voting rates dropped down to 30, 40, 50 percent when people shed their blood to allow us to vote?” Obama asked at a unity breakfast with community leaders.

www.msnbc.msn.com...

It will be interesting to see how this is compared to the HUD Secretary's recent statements.

This is a rare case where a Politician spoke his mind, and actually expressed some honesty. Personally, I applaud him for being honest. Will this bite him in the but? Time will tell. Obama's stock just increased a few points in my book. Simply for being honest.

Don't sit on your couch and whine about how the system sucks. Get out, get dirty, get your voice heard, and do something about it.

Most people can not overcome their inner apathy. Yet they expect everyone else to save the world.

I expect he's the long awaited anti-christ. I dont get good vibes from him at all, the more i listen to him, the less i like his vibes.

I hope I'm wrong, lord knows we need a good man/woman in office who will *chuckles loudly* TRY to turn the country around.

I will keep my eye on him but my gut doesnt like him. I hope this is the one time my gut feeling is wrong.

BTW, he does have some good points.

[edit on 7-3-2007 by dgtempe]

He said what was the truth, and in effect what was nessecary.. but honestly..

he said it because no white contender COULD say it, and he knows he can connect to the black public like no OTHER contender can..

he's got a very big advantage.. and its his colour.
Like it or not, the colour of your skin means a lot in todays world.. .and its really the first time that the black community will have a chance at having one of their own in office.

The thing I like about Natives, or coloured people.. is there mental ability if they believe something is just.

Black people in sports are brilliant, when they are truley dedicated.
Black people are amazingly smart, and intellegent when they are dedicated.

If there is anything about Obama that gives the black people hope, and encouragement.. I see a major landslide victory.
If he's simply playing politics, and is really a weak, morally curropt person doing what politicans do best.. then im confident the black community will see this... and not elect him.


But he gets my thumbs up for having a go at howard, and speakin his mind to the african americans of his country.

Just so we're clear, i would welcome a black president anytime.

My bad feeling is not due to his color- Just to prove it, i had the same gut-wrenching feeling when Little Bush was running for president.

He does more than tell them to stop complaning. To me hes saying its time for battle. I been talking about it here on Cnn right now Obama preaching thread.


This is part of his speech.

So I just want to talk a little about Moses and Aaron and Joshua, because we are in the presence today of a lot of Mosses’. We're in the presence today of giants whose shoulders we stand on, people who battled, not just on behalf of African Americans but on behalf of all of America; that battled for America’s soul, that shed blood , that endured taunts and formant and in some cases gave -- torment and in some cases gave the full measure of their devotion.
Like Moses, they challenged Pharaoh, the princes, powers who said that some are atop and others are at the bottom, and that's how it's always going to be.
I’m here because somebody marched. I’m here because you all sacrificed for me. I stand on the shoulders of giants. I thank the Moses generation; but we've got to remember, now, that Joshua still had a job to do. As great as Moses was, despite all that he did, leading a people out of bondage, he didn't cross over the river to see the Promised Land. God told him your job is done. You'll see it. You'll be at the mountain top and you can see what I’ve promised. What I’ve promised to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. You will see that I’ve fulfilled that promise but you won't go there.’’

his whole speech can be found here.

obama.senate.gov...

Originally posted by dgtempe
Just so we're clear, i would welcome a black president anytime.

As would many others I am sure.

Problem with this upcoming '08 election, I can see many people playing the victim card here. Clinton will win or lose because she is a woman, and Obama will win, or lose, because he is black. I think we all know that is, or at least should not be, the case, but only time will tell.

Originally posted by chissler
I applaud him for being honest.

Originally posted by Shar
To me hes saying its time for battle.

I don't get Obama at all. I really don't. In this case, he's saying something that is needed to be said and is true. But then .. why did he distance himself from his minister and spiritual advisor (Obama says this) .. you know .. the minister that went to Libya with Louis Farrakahn of The Nation of Islam .. the one at the church that is separatist.

www.foxnews.com...

From the Fox News article -

Obama's campaign is distancing the candidate from Rev. Jeremiah Wright, the pastor at Obama's Chicago area church, over Wright's supposedly Afro-centric teachings. Obama had asked Wright to deliver the invocation at his Feb. 10 presidential announcement, but disinvited the preacher saying, "You can get kind of rough in the sermons, so what we’ve decided is that it’s best for you not to be out there in public."

MSNBC is reporting that the minister said that Obamas support will melt like a snowball in hell when the people find out about his (the minister's) connection with Nation of Islam.

Obama isn't being honest about his 'church', it's mission, and it's minister. Is he just being a typical cafeteria candidate ???


Link to discussion about his church -
www.abovepolitics.com...

Edited once to fix quote

[edit on 3/7/2007 by FlyersFan]

I wonder why Obama can say this and receive very little fall out, yet Cosby said almost the exact same thing and look what they called him???

HMMMMMMMMM

Robinson and Cosby have both been called "Uncle Toms" for their actions, and many people who are not black who agree with them are scared to do so publicly because of the political correctness backlash. Agreeing with their solutions, like I do most of the time, is enough to be called a racist. And people wonder why there is not a more clear dialogue about race on campus? That label is not only social suicide, but it is practically a campus blacklist.

LINK

There is a book titled “The Directory of Certified Uncle Toms.” Some of the prominent names mentioned in the book are Bill Cosby, Condoleezza Rice, Colin Powell, Star Jones, Clarence Thomas, Tiger Woods, Oprah Winfrey and a few surprises such as the Wayans Brothers, Ice Cube and Shaquille O’Neal. This caused me to ponder what constitutes being an Uncle Tom and more important, what message are we sending our children by applying this message to prominent blacks?

LINK

Now, where ever DO they get those comparisons?

Semper

Ive been saying this for years. New Haven has all of these problems on one side and Yale splendor on the other. I happen to live where there isnt any splendor. As soon as I started saying this to neighbors and others in the area guess what happened? RACIST! they shouted. They still shout it. I occasionally get acosted while walking through my own neighborhood.

God forbid I expect people to rise above.
Or is it, God forbid white people expect black people to rise above?

Originally posted by Semperfortis

I wonder why Obama can say this and receive very little fall out, yet Cosby said almost the exact same thing and look what they called him???

I think you know the answer to this, semper. It's all about which side of the political fence they sit on.

Originally posted by FlyersFan
I don't get Obama at all. I really don't. In this case, he's saying something that is needed to be said and is true. But then .. why did he distance himself from his minister and spiritual advisor (Obama says this) .. you know .. the minister that went to Libya with Louis Farrakahn of The Nation of Islam .. the one at the church that is separatist.

No thinking person gets Obama yet, FF. His only appeal is a book and a speech. But the real candidate is slowly being revealed.

So far, only his religious and moral beliefs have been examined. Wait until his senate record is examined and exposed. You yourself have already exposed his shady real estate dealings.

He is not the shining candidate that he portrays himself to be.

Originally posted by jsobecky
shady real estate dealings.

www.abovepolitics.com...

Yes, and it makes me wonder what other things will come out as he's vetted. I seriously don't understand him. I don't understand why America seems to wear rose colored glasses with him either.

I think he is a very influential speaker, I think with his limited political experience he will be viewed as a washington outsider. Both Obama and Hillary will get a bit of a pass as they are not the average white male candidate.

Despite his relevant inexperience within the government, i think that he could very well give Hillary a run for her money. I think he is popular with whites as well. There is nothing that this country needs more than a powerful speaker, and someone that can unite the downtrodden populus

You would never have seen Al Sharpton or Jesse Jackson tell black people to stop complaining.

I think Obama has potential. lets just hope the media doesnt uncover something worse than his smoking habit...

Originally posted by Don Wahn
lets just hope the media doesnt uncover something worse than his smoking habit...

Like ... shady stock purchases/sellings that involve pharmacuticals and campaign investors? Like a highly questionable real estate purchase involving 'The Windy City Sleaze'?

www.abovepolitics.com...

I don't know if they are worse than his smoking drugs .. but they certainly are interesting.

... and then there is his 'spiritual advisor' ...
www.abovepolitics.com...

[edit on 3/7/2007 by FlyersFan]

To return to the original topic of this thread (and NOT whether Obama would make a good president ) I want to say that I have seen this same message from many black leaders. The message is sound, regardless who speaks it and regardless who the audience is.

But in this specific case, I agree that all people need to take responsibility for their lives and stop blaming someone else for their choices.

State of the Black Union Panelists

“You control your destiny by your choices,” said Tim Reid, a Norfolk native who achieved success as an actor and director despite, as he told the audience, being born out of wedlock, poor and during segregation.

“If we want our children to do right, we’ve got to do right by them,” said Glenda Hatchett, the first black chief presiding judge in a Georgia state court.

The pop culture of today’s youth took multiple hits.

Young black people, by glorifying thug life, perpetuate the damaging image of the “young, violent black buck” first portrayed in the 1915 D.W. Griffith film “The Birth of a Nation,” Reid said.

“It is time, young people, to move forward and put away this rude behavior,” he said.

Originally posted by dgtempe
Just so we're clear, i would welcome a black president anytime.

My bad feeling is not due to his color- Just to prove it, i had the same gut-wrenching feeling when Little Bush was running for president.

That will teach you not to go on chilli-binges during presidential elections!

Originally posted by FlyersFan

Originally posted by Don Wahn
lets just hope the media doesnt uncover something worse than his smoking habit...

Like ... shady stock purchases/sellings that involve pharmacuticals and campaign investors? Like a highly questionable real estate purchase involving 'The Windy City Sleaze'?

Don't forget his coc aine habit, or his traffic/parking tickets that went unpaid for 17 years...

www.washingtonpost.com...

somervillenews.typepad.com...


[edit on 8-3-2007 by jsobecky]

What is piss poor is that if a white man/woman stood up and said half the things he said during his speech they would be called a RACISTS ... Society lets anyone say anything especially about tensions that should have never been there. We gave those slaves thier freedom ... We should have never given them that power back ... Maybe we need to let the AB come back into existence legally and we will not have all these black people that stand up and shout "RACISTS" at every WHIM !!!

Originally posted by dgtempe
Just so we're clear, i would welcome a black president anytime.

My bad feeling is not due to his color- Just to prove it, i had the same gut-wrenching feeling when Little Bush was running for president.