School was in session Tuesday for those who needed a refresher course on racial division in the United States. The lecturer: Sen. Barack Obama (DIll.) Just two blocks away from where the Declaration of Independence was adopted, and with multiple U.S. flag
Obama touched on the education gap between Black and white students and the socio-economic gap between Blacks and whites in a wide-ranging speech. He said Americans have two options. Either continue repeating a cycle of distraction after distraction during each election, or stand in unison and say, “Not this time.”
Civil rights veteran and co-founder of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the Rev. Joseph Lowery, said Obama’s speech reminded him of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s. “It was the most powerful thing I’ve heard since Dr. King wrote Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” Lowery said.
Obama also made it clear in his speech where he stood in regards to the seemingly inflammatory remarks his former pastor made from the pulpit years ago. The White House hopeful had been under attack the last week by supporters of his Democratic rival Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) and the media for statements made by his mentor and former pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright of Trinity United Church of Christ on the South Side.
While Obama disagrees with Wright’s statements, Obama said he could not “disown him” nor turn his back on him. The Obamas had been members of Trinity for about two decades. Wright married the couple and baptized their two daughters.
Chicago’s faith-based community said Obama exposed his soul, the soul of the nation and provided a “teaching moment for American history.” The pastors also credited him for effectively separating himself from Wright’s statements without denouncing him. “It was notable that he did not reject Rev. Wright personally.
He recognized how Rev. Wright played importantly in his life as a pastor and a mentor,” Bishop Arthur Brazier of Apostolic Church of God told the DefendeR. “But, he could not agree with the inflammatory statements that caused the Sen. Barack Obama so much pain. It had the effect of slowing down his momentum,” Brazier said.
“Obama is taking too much flack by the media and Clinton supporters for being “guilty by association,” he said. “First the Rezko thing, now Rev. Wright.” Rev. Marshall Hatch of New Mt. Pilgrim Baptist Church said Obama “demonstrated extraordinary character in his embrace of his former pastor as a person, in spite of his disagreement.
He demonstrated that he was not willing to do or say anything to get elected. He laid the ground work today for an elevated conversation going into the General Election,” Hatch said.
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