Plainly Speaking . . .

Political Race vs. Political Racism: [De]Code It For Yourself!

'Elitist' Use of Word Toward Senator Obama is CODE for Being an 'Uppity Negro,' or an 'Uppity Nigger!'
by Miriam G. Aw

The use of the word 'elitist' may fit some people who are just that, elitist, in terms of having multiple vehicles, expensive homes, a lot of money, power wielders, a member of an organization that you and I perhaps could not become members, etc. However, in the case of Senator Obama, who is called an 'elitist' by Sen. John McCain, Gov. Palin, and other GOP'ers of the Republican party have an entirely different meaning, and they are well aware of it!

Anyone with an ounce of gray matter in their brain seemingly understand what an elitist is by all accounts. And whenever you see someone on television pointing out McCain's use of the word 'elitist' describing Senator Obama, thus explaining how Senator Obama cannot be an elitist due to his [Caucasian] mom being a woman who was a single parent receiving public assistance (welfare), therefore, how in the world can he described as an elitist, is insulting!

The use of the word "elitist" is a "code" word describing Senator Barack Obama as an uppity negro, or uppity nigger, who has the 'audacity to hope' (no pun intended) in becoming the next President of the United States of America of the 21st Century! In addition, McCain basically spelled it out when he was recently seen and heard on a daytime television show, "The View." Joy Behar, one of the co-host of the show asked Senator McCain about his recent t.v. political ads that she said were 'lies,' and that he (McCain) approved them. McCain states that they weren't lies. However, one of the first things that came out of his mouth, thereafter, when he was explaining as to why it has come to this point [dirty politics], which is because Senator Obama did not take him up on his offer to have town hall meetings as he requested. In other words, what McCain was saying that had Senator Obama agreed with his request to have town hall meeting debates throughout America, there would be no need for these negative untruthful campaign ads that exist today!

So, what McCain is saying that since Obama refused to meet with him to have these town hall meeting debates at his request, he is "punishing" Obama by spanking him with lies, smears, and untruthfulness. When a father tells his son to clean up his room, and the child refuses to do such, the father will either: 1) physically spank the child for not listening to what he was told to do, and/or 2) punish him by taking away some of his privileges (i.e., computer, t.v., games).

Thus, whenever you have a grown man, who is Black, who turns down a man, who is Caucasian, and that Black man is doing exceptionally well in the polls better than the Caucasian man who has been around a bit longer in the world of politics, it is no wonder that the Caucasian male would feel that a Black male is acting "too big for his britches!" This type of mentality was evident during black slavery: Whenever you had a Black man who has shown to have more common sense than his Caucasian slave owner, and whenever you had a Black man who is smarter, stronger, healthier, and wiser than his Caucasian slave owner, then the slave owner becomes angered believing that the Black man is defying him, and as a result of it, needs to be punished!

Another misconception of the phrase "Raising your taxes," does not apply to the average American. For example, at the Republican National Convention (RNC), it seems that this phraseology of "Obama will be raising your taxes," was (and still is) a message to the people who earn MORE THAN $250,000 annually, and NOT toward the average American people who make LESS THAN $250,000! More "code words' being used in a way that perhaps many do not realize.

As I understand it, it is the [old] Republican party of long time ago that was responsible for abolishing [Black] slavery - Abraham Lincoln, I presume? But as it turns out, the [current] Republican party has crossed the line of impugning the efforts of Lincoln, as well as other un-sung COMMUNITY ORGANIZING LEADERS, such as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., former President, Jimmy Carter (Habitat for Humanity), all types of volunteers (i.e., hospital, community centers, local schools, recreational centers, hospices, legal, medicine, domestic violence centers, non-profit organizations, etc.), and the list goes on and on.

Do not be fooled by the word 'elitist' when it is aimed at Senator Barack Obama. In fact, Newsweek reported something http://www.newsweek.com/id/160091 that you may find interesting.

Bronze Community Digest Online Newsletter

Fusing The Generational Family Nucleus To Achieve Economic Survival in the 21st Century!

What Worked [Back]Then Does Not Work Today!
written by Miriam G. Aw

Once upon a time there was a belief that the 'Rites of Passage' initiation for most males (and females), ages 18 through 25 to gain self made independence were to go out into the world to attend a go-away college, register at a local community college, start looking for a job to work from the bottom up toward a higher position or title in life, or voluntarily enlist in any branch of the U.S.A. armed services. This merely meant that it was time to leave the nest, and become 'their-own-man, or woman,' to achieve sole independence, so that mommy and daddy will no longer be in charge of their comings and goings.

In the meantime, a myriad of the parents of these youngsters have either attended college to gain a degree, or have always worked for someone else since graduating from high school, thus, building a financial nest egg in the bank, and/or living in a modest home long before the current mortgage bubble explosion that exists today in the 21st Century. And for the parents to see their son, or daughter, paving their own path in life by getting their own apartment, or purchasing their first home, illuminates joy in their heart and soul giving them 'bragging rights' to share with family, friends, co-workers, etc., about how "independent, and successful" their child is doing in the world!

However, whenever a young man or woman who range from the ages 18 through 29, for example, decides to pursue his or her own aspirations (i.e., attend [local] school, work) without leaving their parents' home (especially these days), but instead, opt to remain at home to achieve their objectives and goals are looked upon negatively due to the so-called 'traditional' outlook of what makes a self-made young man, or woman. Well, those days are long gone, and have been gone for the past five to ten years!

These same people (most of whom are children, and/or grandchildren of the baby-boomer generation) who've trenched their way in life living through their parents and grandparents' traditional muck and mire 'way-of-thinking' in this country of what is considered 'successful versus failure' have literally destroyed their own 'life-course-path' in the world. And as a result of this, they have become subjected to, and victims of a whole slew of undercutting business practices that has askew the moral fiber of wanting to achieve the traditional 'American Dream' of achieving prosperity, independence, financial security, as well as passing-on morals & values to their children. But instead, these dreams have been smashed through greed, selfishness, racism, bias toward class and education, to the point of becoming an American Nightmare, to say the least, for millions of people in the U.S.A.! In this case, the predatory mortgage lending practices, the failure of the banks, housing & foreclosures, food, gasoline, and the list goes on and on!

I Want To Provide To My Children What My Parents Could Not Do For Me - No longer is the so-called 'traditional' thinking, getting, nor living the American Dream feasible, nor obtainable, until the meaning of the American Dream is reexamined and redefined on a personal level by every family living in this country dictating what works best for them, and NOT defined, nor dictated by anyone else!

This is another day, another century, another time, and there is another way of surviving economically living in America, by our own individual terms! As a person who have always preferred to 'go-against-the-grain,' and is inherently suspicious of anyone, ESPECIALLY the media, politicians, government, etc., who insists on dictating 'what is correct versus what's not correct,' 'what you should do versus what you shouldn't do,' whom you should believe versus whom you should not believe,' and last but not least, 'what is good for you versus what is not good for you,' tells me to closely examine THEM, and not whom they say are not right in the world! What worked [back]then, does not work today!

In other words, it is time to start EXAMINING THINGS FOR YOURSELF by THINKING FOR YOURSELF, in order to IMPROVE YOURSELF for SELF SURVIVAL! And how can this work for you and/or your family? DO WHAT IS BEST FOR YOU AND YOUR FAMILY! PERIOD!

So, what can you do, as a family, to conquer the economic woes that you and your grown children may be facing today? As a wife, and parent of three (Ages 24, 17 and 14) children, I FULLY understand how difficult it is to 'go-against-the-grain' in society by not allowing other people to define who you are in life, or define what you do is correct, incorrect, feasible, or not feasible. Why? Because these same people DO NOT pay my bills! Until someone comes up to ring my door bell, call me on the telephone, text me, write me a letter, or email me, to tell me that they have a couple of thousand of dollars for me, so that I can handle my financial obligations, then I have to do what is best for me, and my family, for ALL OF US to become comfortable, and less stressed! Plainly speaking, it is time to take charge of our life to 'preserve our sanity' at all cost, if we are to survive economically, socially, personally, academically, financially, and spiritually! [http://www.lulu.com/content/1237524]

How Can Parents and Grow[n]ing Children Fuse Their Various Sources Together As a Family?

Depending on where you live in the U.S.A., there are so many options you can choose to ensure that you and your family can live in harmony, despite what other families are, or are not, doing to maintain a financial and spiritual harmonious relationship. For example, as a native Bronx, New Yorker, born and reared, I've always believed as a young teen that there will be a time in the near future that what exist at that time will no longer become a fact down the road. With that said, my spiritual understanding of what was to come were in multiple folds:

• New York, N.Y. will change forever their outlook on what being 'neighborly' means;
• We will be put into a position that growing our own food becomes a MUST, if we are to know what goes in, and is kept out from our eating source;
• We will no longer know our immediate neighbors in our community;
• Our sense of "What's mine is mine" has dominated our sensibility turning against our inherent humanitarian gut of doing what's right;
• We got too damn cute to give a damn about anyone other than ourselves, or our immediate family nucleus within the confines of our four walls;
• The 'Haves' versus the 'Have Nots' living in America will ALL BECOME 'Have Nots' because 'Middle Class' will no longer exist, due to a long-lasting overt & covert design of separating people by race, culture, education, money, and religion. [You know what I mean: The "Once Was Us, Now It's You" thing has back fired and has exploded in America's face leaving NO MORE middle class versus working class versus the affluent class because ALL CLASSES HAVE BEEN SCREWED regardless of race, education, money, and/or religion, EXCEPT the so-called 'low class' because no one gave a damn about this class of people from the start! Now, America is beginning to FEEL just how "low-class" it has become!];
  
• The ideals that our parents and grandparents believed in will no longer become the mainframe of the American Dream (i.e., two children, a house with picket fences, and a dog);
• The idea of retiring to the ripe age of 65, and living it up by taking vacation trips, and spoiling the grandchildren with luxuries;
• The younger generation born in the latter 70s, 80s, and early to mid-90s to parents who were born in the 50s, 60s, and early to mid 70s WILL NOT enjoy the traditional American Dream ideals due to the destruction and elimination of so many much needed programs that were annihilated during the 70s, 80s, etc.;
• Education taught in public schools throughout the country will "dumb-down" its curriculum, and fear thought-provoking youngsters, all of whom in each generation born will become more vocal, fearless, and intelligent bucking & challenging the old negative traditional ways of what the American Dream is all about;
• And much much more, that is becoming evident on a daily basis by ALL generations of the past and present.
  

FAMILIES NEED TO RE-ESTABLISH PRIORITIES TO ACHIEVE HARMONY:

1. Buy some land: Grow your own vegetables, fruits, trees, shrubs, herbs, etc. [http://www.lulu.com/content/1253420] You can build a house, or put a house onto your piece of land. The "Manufacturing Housing" business somehow has not been affected by the predatory mortgage lending problems that are faced today with the purchasing of existing homes. Buying land can be one of the BEST things you can do for you and your family while leaving a legacy for future generations! Whether it is a half-an-acre, 1 acre, 2 acres or more, you will find yourself building a 'Community' within a community when you add up all of the savings you and your loved ones can enjoy by pulling together to achieve self-preservation. [Most people who grew up in the city (like myself) may never leave the city surroundings. The availability of mass transit (i.e., buses, trains, taxi cabs & vans) can be a selling point as to why many people DO NOT leave the city environment. There is no [najor] mass transportation here in many parts of South Carolina. Although, there are some mass transit in major cities within the state, driving your own vehicle is the mainstay mode of transportation, everywhere, except for public school children who ride the school bus daily to and from home/school. Granted, I miss using mass transportation, but you have to ask yourself: What is important in these days & times of uncertainty when you are dealing with constant 'recall' of food and beverages in your area? And how about 'Housing' in the cities, which are becoming increasingly too high to live, comfortably?]
2. Build a small to mid-size house, or Put a manufactured house onto your land: No one has the time to try to keep up with the Jones's, especially with a 3000 or more square foot house! You've got to think smart, and know your financial limitations. Think about what works best for you and your family: Do I really need five bedrooms, a den, living room, bonus room, 4 bathrooms, guestrooms, playroom, basement, attic, pool, etc.? You've got to ask yourself how much space can I seriously live with, especially since the fact that I am getting OLDER, and NOT younger? Do I really want to pay my local utility company for air-conditioning and heat a lot of money? Can I really afford that? In addition, know not only yourself, but also your family! Is he or she home often? Day job or night job? Girlfriend or boyfriend? Respect of space and understanding among EVERYONE is extremely important, and doable! Really! So, before you get carried away with what kind of house you want, think smartly and intelligently about how much you NEED!
3. Build an Addition to your existing house: One of the most intelligent and smartest thing I believe a person can do is to ADD-ON to their existing house with bedrooms, bath, and/or play room. Particularly, if there are grown children who would love to become a part of such a project. I've always loved two-family homes, and mother-daughter homes. It allows family members to be close, geographically, thus giving each other space within their own domain, as well as sharing with the expenses. Today, in Year 2008, and in the 21st Century, the thought of families beginning to germinate this idea of building additions to the existing house, and/or building two-family homes, or mother-daughter houses no longer have negative connotations associated with it anymore. Why? In these days and times, NO ONE can afford to act stupid, selfish, greedy, manipulative, controlling, and most of all, ungodly in their words and actions! Spiritual repercussions are becoming more and more evident everyday! Once you do wrong, or wrong others with your wicked ways, I assure you that it won't be long that it will turn itself around, and back fire toward you! Again, think smartly, shop around for the BEST person to do the job, or slowly research about doing the project yourself, if you're known to be handy, and do the job yourself at your own pace!
4. BUY OR RENT A CAMPER: When I first saw a hand few of people who were living in campers until they were able to buy or build their home on their land, I said to myself "Wow, this is smart!" And it is smart! They were on their own land, they did not have to pay anyone to be on the land, and the best thing: they had their own lodging, cooking, bath, and prepared their land with growth of vegetables, fruits, trees, etc. right there! SMART, SMART, AND TRIPLE SMART! In addition, a couple of them were able to leave their camper, go back up north (i.e., New York, Maine), and continue to live there, and return whenever they're ready WITHOUT ever having to go to a hotel or motel!
5. Mortgage/Rent, Utilities: Parents and grown children must go back to the days of 'uniting' together. Remember the movie "Raisin in the Sun?" Momma, grown son and his family, and his sister were living together in one household. Was it tough at times? Sure. Did they have respect for one another? Sure. Did they have disagreements? Of course. But what was more important, did they have faith? YES! The point I am making is that such a family scenario is not only doable, but is needed in today's economy, and the lack of godliness and faith that continues to permeate among our younger generation. Can they grow maturely? Yes. My parents have always instilled in me to "pay where I lay" because you cannot live anywhere in this world without paying someone for lodging, eating, driving, etc. You cannot and should not free-load yourself off of people, and your character and integrity is worth more in this world than any amount of money! It has been my personal observation of some people who will find numerous excuses so that they did not have to pay rent. Sad. And nine times out of ten, its these same people whom you'll find constantly moving from pillar to post. Now, this doesn't apply to those who love to travel, and move to different places within their lifetime. On the contrary. What I'm talking about are people who are trying to be more than what they are about in life, but somehow appear to be seemingly misguided with a belief that they don't have to put out if they're not happy with what they got at that moment. SOME FAMILIES CAN LIVE AND WORK TOGETHER TO SURVIVE THE ECONOMICAL WOES IN AMERICA! All it takes is a little sacrifice on everyone's part, and complete godly faith!
6. Decide What Everyone Can Use: For example, as you all know, effective as of February 17, 2009, all analog televisions will not work without the aid of a t.v. converter, or digital apparatus. So, with that said, make sure that products like these are in the home. Also, receivers, and other structures that will allow viewable pleasures for everyone in the household.

More information about how you can fuse your family's economical survival later on. Please enjoy, and remember that you must work with what is best for you and your family, and not what others think is best for you and your family.

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Santee, South Carolina
Southeastern Orangeburg County, South Carolina

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Is There [Another] Murder in the Military Being Hushed?

U.S. Army says suicide; Parents seek investigation -
http://www.finalcall.com/artman/publish/article_5113.shtml

(For more information regarding the LaVena Johnson [inset picture] case, visit http://www.lavenajohnson.com.) Please voice your views to your local politician, and/or to your local news affiliates so that this story can be publicly addressed in the media. The truth of this matter concerns EVERYONE. What would you do if this was YOUR child or grandchild?



WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BEING "NEIGHBORLY" IN MANY OF OUR COMMUNITIES THROUGHOUT AMERICA?
written by Ms. G.

Growing up in Bronx, New York in the 50s, 60s and early 70s, I remember when you heard the word 'neighbor,' it had meaning. Most people from diverse cultures, race, ethnicity, religion, etc. had sincere respect for their neighbor(s). Even the person who may have been labeled a "gossip," had respect to the degree that regardless of what he or she had to say about someone else, the other neighbors knew that there was someone back at home to watch their backs when it came down to anyone attempting to burglarize one's property, or harming someone in the area. The 'local gossip' was, for the most part, the person who watched over the neighborhood despite the ills of tongue wagging from time-to-time.

In spite of such negative behavior on the part of the woman or man who had a fervor to spread other people's business, that same neighbor, and other people in the community were 'neighbors.' And no matter what went down with Mr. So and So, or Mrs. So and So, most of us knew that in a crunch, help was on the way, or standing-by to assist whenever it was called upon to do so!

Today, most of us do not know who our neighbors are in the community! That alone is a damn shame in itself. And no matter how much you try to become neighborly, perhaps bring a pie, or just stop by to offer any assistance in the event it is needed, you are looked upon as a fool, or an ass simply because you call yourself being a 'neighbor!'

But what I am asking everyone is when did being a 'neighbor' become a dirty word? Why, when, where, what, and how has being 'neighbors' cheapen the experience of uniting with one another, so that invaluable information and knowledge can be shared, or assistance of any kind can be offered in a time of need, or a sense of 'belonging' to a neighborhood that'll bring forth 'unity,' 'understanding of those who may be unlike us,' and/or at best, 'learn to like ourselves and other people who really give-a-damn about life itself?

I am sure that there are plenty of people who will say that most folks just got 'too damn cute' to be neighborly! And you know what? They would be correct! But, what is being "too damn cute" means in the general broad sense of the term? Does it mean that when a person has lifted him or herself out of a negative environment (i.e., drugs, alcoholism, sexual promiscuity, gambling), and have become clean living their life as godly as possible? NO! If anything, such an accomplishment should be applauded and commended Thanking God, in His Infinite Wisdom, that such a feat has taken place! THAT IS NOT BEING CUTE!

Does being 'too damn cute' to be neighborly means a person who has become selfish, greedy, manipulative, and/or ungodly in their way of living by refusing to help other folks to achieve betterment of quality of life, especially when someone has taken the time to help THEM to reach where they are in life? HELL YEAH TO THE YES! Being 'too damn cute to be neighborly' means that a person has chose to forget (or should I say, chose NOT to remember) who they are, from whence they came, and prefer not to help others to get where they are at in fear of by-passing where they are currently positioned in life in fear of someone else 'by-passing' them, as if a competition is being held! THAT IS BEING TOO DAMN CUTE TO BE NEIGHBORLY!

There are a lot of media coverage depicting this societal ill that plagues our Black communities throughout America. However, black folks aren't the only race of people who are being affected by this ill-gotten manifestation of ungodly neighborhood-less in America. On the contrary. Caucasian have always been plagued by this anomaly, but it has been repressed for so long that past and present day-time television talk shows have FINALLY revealed "the truth" about what goes on outside predominant Black communities, like "The Jerry Springer Show," "Montel Williams," "Oprah," "Sally Jesse Raphael," "Dr. Phil," "Keith Ablow," "Phil Donahue," just to name a few. To be 'neighborless' in a neighborhood, whether you're Black, Caucasian, Hispanic, or Asian, is against the laws of God.

What basically 'destroyed' the sense of being 'neighborly' is similar to what happened to the Welfare Relief back in the 50s and 60s. There was a time that in order to receive 'Welfare,' the man of the house could not occupy in the dwelling. And to add insult to injury, if you posses the simplest things in life, such as an iron to press out your clothes, for example, was a no-no. Remember the movie "Claudine," with Diann Carroll and James Earl Jones? It may have been funny and charming, but it clearly depicted 'truth' in its content. Today, locking up 'baby's daddies' has become a sport for unpaid child support. What a joke? Once again, societal governmental screwed up, and later try to clean up.

Which brings me back about being 'neighborly' in neighborhoods throughout many communities throughout America. What essentially 'destroyed' the neighborhood with neighborly attributes among the people is the fact that many services that served the people were either 'cut,' or 'shut down.' Case in point: Recreational centers throughout New York's five boroughs (various indoor & outdoor sports, after-school homework programs, the Arts, etc.). Some have remain in existence, but you have to register as a Non-Profit Organization with the Secretary of State within the state where you reside in order to keep that open - and when you do that, PERMISSION from your community leaders, politicians, school officials, and/or other organizations, etc., need to become a part of the 'Grant (money) Proposal, or at best, must agree with what the Director/Founder's mission of the non-profit organization intends to fulfill. In other words, the gov ain't frontin' no mo' cash for yo' child's ass to play sports or get smart on their dime no long'ah! But if we are no longer being 'neighborly' to one another in a neighborhood that either no one no longer lives in, care to live in, or is forced to 'kiss-ass' because we needz money' to fund a proposal, then whose soul is being sold for a few pieces of silver and gold, in the long run?

A very clever, well orchestrated scheme designed by the 1% to 5% of people in the world have devastated so many neighborhoods so badly in Black, White, Hispanic, and Asian America that it will take just as long to clean up what has already been dirtied by the few. The poor, working poor, middle class poor, middle-class middle poor, and the middle-class upper poor, have ALL BEEN PUNKED, DUNKED, AND SKUNKED by the unknown powerful 1%-5% elite! Period.

Because you see, if ALL OF US were neighborly with one another, regardless of the 'Degree' we hold, or the amount of money we make, or our race, ethnicity, religion, gender, age, geographic origin of birth, etc., the likelihood of ALL OF US being USED (Ever heard of divide & conquer) for a purpose that is not in our best interest would not have worked! Now you just think about that for a moment! And I don't give a damn if you're Caucasian, Black, Hispanic, or Asian descent. ALL OF US WERE 'DIVIDED & CONQUERED' AND AS A RESULT, HOME FORECLOSURES THROUGHOUT AMERICA ARE AT ITS HIGHEST, AND IT'S HITTING EVERYONE, AND NOT JUST A SELECTED FEW! Who's the dummy now?

"White Flight" was going on in neighborhoods throughout America in the past, and all it did was get you into more problems than ever before! All because you didn't want to be 'neighborly' with people looking unlike yourself - preferring to live around other white folks!

"Black Fright" was going on in neighborhoods throughout America in the past, and all it did was get you into more problems than ever before! All because you didn't want to be 'neighborly' with people looking like yourself - preferring to live around white folks, or 'wanna-be' black folks!

"Hispanic Site Fright" was going on in neighborhoods throughout America in the past, and all it did was get you into more problems than ever before - all because you didn't want to be 'neighborly' with people who came from another country - and harboring the notion that these people are taking jobs away from American-born citizens (mostly White American citizens).

MORE NEXT TIME ON: "What Happened To Being 'Neighborly' in Many of Our Communities Throughout America?

DO YOU HAVE GOOD NEIGHBORS IN YOUR COMMUNITY? HOW MANY OF THEM DO YOU KNOW? DO YOU TRY TO GET TO KNOW YOUR NEIGHBORS DESPITE CYNICS? Please email me at: bronzecommunitydigest@yahoo.com with your comments.




http://www.barackobama.com







SENATOR BARACK OBAMA's SPEECH ON RACE RELATIONS IN AMERICA ON MARCH 18th, 2008 AT THE NATIONAL CONSTITUTION CENTER, PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA!



The Following is Senator Obama's Public Speech In Its Entirety

"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.

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.

And this helps explain, perhaps, my relationship with Reverend Wright. As imperfect as he may be, he has been like family to me. He strengthened my faith, officiated my wedding, and baptized my children. Not once in my conversations with him have I heard him talk about any ethnic group in derogatory terms, or treat whites with whom he interacted with anything but courtesy and respect. He contains within him the contradictions - the good and the bad - of the community that he has served diligently for so many years.

I can no more disown him than I can disown the black community. I can no more disown him than I can my white grandmother - a woman who helped raise me, a woman who sacrificed again and again for me, a woman who loves me as much as she loves anything in this world, but a woman who once confessed her fear of black men who passed by her on the street, and who on more than one occasion has uttered racial or ethnic stereotypes that made me cringe.

These people are a part of me. And they are a part of America, this country that I love.

Some will see this as an attempt to justify or excuse comments that are simply inexcusable. I can assure you it is not. I suppose the politically safe thing would be to move on from this episode and just hope that it fades into the woodwork. We can dismiss Reverend Wright as a crank or a demagogue, just as some have dismissed Geraldine Ferraro, in the aftermath of her recent statements, as harboring some deep-seated racial 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 Reverend 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 that the comments that have been made and the issues that have surfaced over the last few weeks reflect the complexities of race in this country that we've never really worked through - a part of our union that we have yet to 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 health care, or education, or the need to find good jobs for every American.

Understanding this reality requires a reminder of how we arrived at this point. As William Faulkner once wrote, "The past isn't dead and buried. In fact, it isn't even past." We do not need to recite here the history of racial injustice in this country. But we do need to remind ourselves that so many of the disparities that exist in the African-American community today can be directly traced to inequalities passed on from an earlier generation that suffered under the brutal legacy of slavery and Jim Crow.

Segregated schools were, and are, inferior schools; we still haven't fixed them, fifty years after Brown v. Board of Education, and the inferior education they provided, then and now, helps explain the pervasive achievement gap between today's black and white students.

Legalized discrimination - where blacks were prevented, often through violence, from owning property, or loans were not granted to African-American business owners, or black homeowners could not access FHA mortgages, or blacks were excluded from unions, or the police force, or fire departments - meant that black families could not amass any meaningful wealth to bequeath to future generations. That history helps explain the wealth and income gap between black and white, and the concentrated pockets of poverty that persists in so many of today's urban and rural communities.

A lack of economic opportunity among black men, and the shame and frustration that came from not being able to provide for one's family, contributed to the erosion of black families - a problem that welfare policies for many years may have worsened. And the lack of basic services in so many urban black neighborhoods - parks for kids to play in, police walking the beat, regular garbage pick-up and building code enforcement - all helped create a cycle of violence, blight and neglect that continue to haunt us.

This is the reality in which Reverend Wright and other African-Americans of his generation grew up. They came of age in the late fifties and early sixties, a time when segregation was still the law of the land and opportunity was systematically constricted. What's remarkable is not how many failed in the face of discrimination, but rather how many men and women overcame the odds; how many were able to make a way out of no way for those like me who would come after them.

But for all those who scratched and clawed their way to get a piece of the American Dream, there were many who didn't make it - those who were ultimately defeated, in one way or another, by discrimination. That legacy of defeat was passed on to future generations - those young men and increasingly young women who we see standing on street corners or languishing in our prisons, without hope or prospects for the future. Even for those blacks who did make it, questions of race, and racism, continue to define their worldview in fundamental ways. For the men and women of Reverend Wright's generation, the memories of humiliation and doubt and fear have not gone away; nor has the anger and the bitterness of those years. That anger may not get expressed in public, in front of white co-workers or white friends. But it does find voice in the barbershop or around the kitchen table. At times, that anger is exploited by politicians, to gin up votes along racial lines, or to make up for a politician's own failings.

And occasionally it finds voice in the church on Sunday morning, in the pulpit and in the pews. The fact that so many people are surprised to hear that anger in some of Reverend Wright's sermons simply reminds us of the old truism that the most segregated hour in American life occurs on Sunday morning. That anger is not always productive; indeed, all too often it distracts attention from solving real problems; it keeps us from squarely facing our own complicity in our condition, and prevents the African-American community from forging the alliances it needs to bring about real change. But the anger is real; it is powerful; and to simply wish it away, to condemn it without understanding its roots, only serves to widen the chasm of misunderstanding that exists between the races.

In fact, a similar anger exists within segments of the white community. Most working- and middle-class white Americans don't feel that they have been particularly privileged by their race. Their experience is the immigrant experience - as far as they're concerned, no one's handed them anything, they've built it from scratch. They've worked hard all their lives, many times only to see their jobs shipped overseas or their pension dumped after a lifetime of labor. They are anxious about their futures, and feel their dreams slipping away; in an era of stagnant wages and global competition, opportunity comes to be seen as a zero sum game, in which your dreams come at my expense. So when they are told to bus their children to a school across town; when they hear that an African American is getting an advantage in landing a good job or a spot in a good college because of an injustice that they themselves never committed; when they're told that their fears about crime in urban neighborhoods are somehow prejudiced, resentment builds over time.

Like the anger within the black community, these resentments aren't always expressed in polite company. But they have helped shape the political landscape for at least a generation. Anger over welfare and affirmative action helped forge the Reagan Coalition. Politicians routinely exploited fears of crime for their own electoral ends. Talk show hosts and conservative commentators built entire careers unmasking bogus claims of racism while dismissing legitimate discussions of racial injustice and inequality as mere political correctness or reverse racism.

Just as black anger often proved counterproductive, so have these white resentments distracted attention from the real culprits of the middle class squeeze - a corporate culture rife with inside dealing, questionable accounting practices, and short-term greed; a Washington dominated by lobbyists and special interests; economic policies that favor the few over the many. And yet, to wish away the resentments of white Americans, to label them as misguided or even racist, without recognizing they are grounded in legitimate concerns - this too widens the racial divide, and blocks the path to understanding.

This is where we are right now. It's a racial stalemate we've been stuck in for years. Contrary to the claims of some of my critics, black and white, I have never been so naïve as to believe that we can get beyond our racial divisions in a single election cycle, or with a single candidacy - particularly a candidacy as imperfect as my own.

But I have asserted a firm conviction - a conviction rooted in my faith in God and my faith in the American people - that working together we can move beyond some of our old racial wounds, and that in fact we have no choice is we are to continue on the path of a more perfect union.

For the African-American community, that path means embracing the burdens of our past without becoming victims of our past. It means continuing to insist on a full measure of justice in every aspect of American life. But it also means binding our particular grievances - for better health care, and better schools, and better jobs - to the larger aspirations of all Americans -- the white woman struggling to break the glass ceiling, the white man whose been laid off, the immigrant trying to feed his family. And it means taking full responsibility for own lives - by demanding more from our fathers, and spending more time with our children, and reading to them, and teaching them that while they may face challenges and discrimination in their own lives, they must never succumb to despair or cynicism; they must always believe that they can write their own destiny.

Ironically, this quintessentially American - and yes, conservative - notion of self-help found frequent expression in Reverend Wright's sermons. But what my former pastor too often failed to understand is that embarking on a program of self-help also requires a belief that society can change.

The profound mistake of Reverend Wright's sermons is not that he spoke about racism in our society. It's that he spoke as if our society was static; as if no progress has been made; as if this country - a country that has made it possible for one of his own members to run for the highest office in the land and build a coalition of white and black; Latino and Asian, rich and poor, young and old -- is still irrevocably bound to a tragic past. But what we know -- what we have seen - is that America can change. That is true genius of this nation. What we have already achieved gives us hope - the audacity to hope - for what we can and must achieve tomorrow.

In the white community, the path to a more perfect union means acknowledging that what ails the African-American community does not just exist in the minds of black people; that the legacy of discrimination - and current incidents of discrimination, while less overt than in the past - are real and must be addressed. Not just with words, but with deeds - by investing in our schools and our communities; by enforcing our civil rights laws and ensuring fairness in our criminal justice system; by providing this generation with ladders of opportunity that were unavailable for previous generations. It requires all Americans to realize that your dreams do not have to come at the expense of my dreams; that investing in the health, welfare, and education of black and brown and white children will ultimately help all of America prosper.

In the end, then, what is called for is nothing more, and nothing less, than what all the world's great religions demand - that we do unto others as we would have them do unto us. Let us be our brother's keeper, Scripture tells us. Let us be our sister's keeper. Let us find that common stake we all have in one another, and let our politics reflect that spirit as well.

For we have a choice in this country. We can accept a politics that breeds division, and conflict, and cynicism. We can tackle race only as spectacle - as we did in the OJ trial - or in the wake of tragedy, as we did in the aftermath of Katrina - or as fodder for the nightly news. We can play Reverend Wright's sermons on every channel, every day and talk about them from now until the election, and make the only question in this campaign whether or not the American people think that I somehow believe or sympathize with his most offensive words. We can pounce on some gaffe by a Hillary supporter as evidence that she's playing the race card, or we can speculate on whether white men will all flock to John McCain in the general election regardless of his policies.

We can do that.

But if we do, I can tell you that in the next election, we'll be talking about some other distraction. And then another one. And then another one. And nothing will change.

That is one option. Or, at this moment, in this election, we can come together and say, "Not this time." This time we want to talk about the crumbling schools that are stealing the future of black children and white children and Asian children and Hispanic children and Native American children. This time we want to reject the cynicism that tells us that these kids can't learn; that those kids who don't look like us are somebody else's problem. The children of America are not those kids, they are our kids, and we will not let them fall behind in a 21st century economy. Not this time.

This time we want to talk about how the lines in the Emergency Room are filled with whites and blacks and Hispanics who do not have health care; who don't have the power on their own to overcome the special interests in Washington, but who can take them on if we do it together.

This time we want to talk about the shuttered mills that once provided a decent life for men and women of every race, and the homes for sale that once belonged to Americans from every religion, every region, every walk of life. This time we want to talk about the fact that the real problem is not that someone who doesn't look like you might take your job; it's that the corporation you work for will ship it overseas for nothing more than a profit.

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.

I would not be running for President if I didn't believe with all my heart that this is what the vast majority of Americans want for this country. This union may never be perfect, but generation after generation has shown that it can always be perfected. And today, whenever I find myself feeling doubtful or cynical about this possibility, what gives me the most hope is the next generation - the young people whose attitudes and beliefs and openness to change have already made history in this election.

There is one story in particularly that I'd like to leave you with today - a story I told when I had the great honor of speaking on Dr. King's birthday at his home church, Ebenezer Baptist, in Atlanta.

There is a young, twenty-three year old white woman named Ashley Baia who organized for our campaign in Florence, South Carolina. She had been working to organize a mostly African-American community since the beginning of this campaign, and one day she was at a roundtable discussion where everyone went around telling their story and why they were there.

And Ashley said that when she was nine years old, her mother got cancer. And because she had to miss days of work, she was let go and lost her health care. They had to file for bankruptcy, and that's when Ashley decided that she had to do something to help her mom.

She knew that food was one of their most expensive costs, and so Ashley convinced her mother that what she really liked and really wanted to eat more than anything else was mustard and relish sandwiches. Because that was the cheapest way to eat.

She did this for a year until her mom got better, and she told everyone at the roundtable that the reason she joined our campaign was so that she could help the millions of other children in the country who want and need to help their parents too.

Now Ashley might have made a different choice. Perhaps somebody told her along the way that the source of her mother's problems were blacks who were on welfare and too lazy to work, or Hispanics who were coming into the country illegally. But she didn't. She sought out allies in her fight against injustice.

Anyway, Ashley finishes her story and then goes around the room and asks everyone else why they're supporting the campaign. They all have different stories and reasons. Many bring up a specific issue. And finally they come to this elderly black man who's been sitting there quietly the entire time. And Ashley asks him why he's there. And he does not bring up a specific issue. He does not say health care or the economy. He does not say education or the war. He does not say that he was there because of Barack Obama. He simply says to everyone in the room, "I am here because of Ashley."

"I'm here because of Ashley." By itself, that single moment of recognition between that young white girl and that old black man is not enough. It is not enough to give health care to the sick, or jobs to the jobless, or education to our children.

But it is where we start. It is where our union grows stronger. And as so many generations have come to realize over the course of the two-hundred and twenty one years since a band of patriots signed that document in Philadelphia, that is where the perfection begins." END.

Copyright 2008 by Miriam G. Aw. All rights reserved.