Politics: Obama's Speech

Read the thoughts of Megan35 who shared her thoughts with Worcester Is MAJOR:

Yesterday at the National Constitution Center here in Philadelphia, Barack Obama challenged all of us to get past the "racial stalemate we've been stuck in" in America, as he addressed racial polarization and specifically, the remarks of his pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright. He was eloquent and delivered a timely message - timely not merely in the sense of salvaging his campaign after the Rev. Wright's militant rhetoric, but timely because he faced down the insidious nature of racism and race relations in America, when it's politically safe to ignore these deep-rooted issues.

Talking about the Reverend's remarks: "These 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 towards a terrorist threat, a falling economy, chronic healthcare crisis and potentially devastating climate change problems that are neither Black nor White, or Latino or Asian, but rather, problems that confront us all."

Saying that it would be easier to ignore the racial hostility, and safer to move on and hope the problems just go away, Barack continues: "We can dismiss Rev. Wright as a crank or a demagogue...as haboring some deep-seated bias. But race is an issue that I believe this nation cannot afford to ignore right now. We would be making the same mistake that Rev. Wright made in his offending sermons about America, to simplify and stereotype and amplify the negative to the point that it distorts reality. The fact is, the comments that have been made, the issues that have surfaced in the last few weeks, reflect the complexitites of race in this country that we've never really worked through, a part of our Union that we have not yet made perfect, and if we walk away now, if we simply retreat into our respective corners, we will never be able to come together and solve challenges like healthcare, or education, or the need to find jobs for every American."

It was a speech we can all benefit from hearing, and it reminds us that the only path to progress is through understanding ourselves and our pasts. In case you missed it, I hope you get a chance to hear what he has to say, regardless of your political preferences.

Barack Obama