On Critical Race Theory - I stand with President Obama

-

 In 2008, as a candidate for the office of President, Senator Barack Obama became embroiled in a controversy.  The pastor at the church he and his family attended, Reverend Jeremiah Wright, offered a sermon with strong, negative views about the United States of America.  The sermon expressed points that align directly with what is called "Critical Race Theory" today.  

Opponents of then Senator Obama, both his political opponents and opponents in the media, suggested that because Senator Obama and his family attended that Church for a long while the Senator must share the views expressed by Reverend Wright.

Obama gave a speech in response.  In that speech he started out expressing hope for America.  That hope was based on his "unyielding faith in the decency and generosity of the American people.  But it also comes from my own American story."  He then recounted that story - "son of a black man from Kenya and a white woman from Kansas" raised by white grandparents and given the opportunity to attend the best schools.  Obama concluded this background by saying "and for as long as I live, I will never forget that in no other country on Earth is my story even possible."

Obama then turned to the remarks of Reverent Wright and, consistent with the background above, he said:

But the remarks that have caused this recent firestorm...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...

During the speech, Obama spoke about problems that have existed and still exist in America.  But he circled back to Reverend Wright's criticisms and said:

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.  

I was reminded of this speech by an article written by Andrew Sullivan, "What Happened To You?," where Andrew Sullivan responds to those on Twitter who essentially ask him "Why have you become a white supremacist, transphobic, misogynistic eugenicist?"  Mr. Sullivan's response is that he hasn't changed and turned the question back on those who criticize and ask "What happened to you?"

Mr. Sullivan, who describes himself as an ObamaCon quoted that last passage of Obama's speech cited above and said "This is what I still believe.  Do you?"  

I agree completely with both Mr. Sullivan and with then Senator Obama.  

I found Mr. Sullivan's article because his comments were referenced in a story in Town Hall.  In that story, they presented statistics offered by Mr. Sullivan and another writer, Kevin Drum that demonstrate, as Mr. Drum says: "It is not conservatives who have turned American politics into a culture battle.  It is liberals."




----------------------

The text of President Obama's speech is at: http://dish.andrewsullivan.com/2008/03/18/obamas-speech-1/

https://andrewsullivan.substack.com/p/what-happened-to-you-e5f

https://townhall.com/tipsheet/guybenson/2021/07/12/liberal-writer-to-progressives-what-happened-to-you-n2592345

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Biden Legacy

-
This week President Biden gave a speech reviewing his legacy in the White House.  Biden talked about the good he's done.  I have a different perspective, I see the deaths and damage that occurred in the last four years. Covid - more people died of Covid in 2021, when Biden was in office, than died in 2020, when Trump was in office.*  In 2020, the disease was new and testing was ramping up, treatment protocols were being developed, medical supplies like ventilators were in short supply, and multiple Democrat run States put in place nursing home rules that led to significant numbers of deaths.  In 2021, those nursing home rules were no longer in place, multiple vaccines were available, testing and supply issues had been overcome.  Despite those advantages, more people died of Covid in President Biden's first year in office. The Border - Laken Riley, Rebecca Morin, Jeremy Poou Caceres (a 2 year old boy), Rachel Morin, Melissa Powell and her son Riordan Powell, Ai...
Read more

H-1B Visas - theory versus reality

-
H-1B Visas are a good idea in theory.  People around the world want to come to the United States to work and live.  Why not invite the best and brightest.  Bring top talent to the US to help our businesses, industry and military remain the top in the world. Then there is that pesky thing called reality.  I've worked for small companies with less than 250 employees and companies with hundreds of thousands of employees, and companies in between.  I've seen the reality I'm describing. I'm sure there are some brilliant researchers and developers who have come to the US under this program.  But they are the exception.  The norm is that companies don't bring over the best and the brightest.  They bring over cheap labor.  Companies, seeking to get a leg up on opponents by offering customers lower prices, import labor who will work at a fraction of the cost of US residents doing the same jobs. If a person from Country X is doing the same job an Ameri...
Read more

The Biden Administration blew it on Covid

-
 It's about a year now since Joe Biden was sworn in as President and we can see the Biden Administration has handled the Coronavirus situation horribly.  The Administration had a fantastic opportunity to declare victory early in 2021 and put this behind us.  But they chose not to do that.  The Biden Administration dropped the ball on pursuing the things America needs to put Covid in the rear view mirror while offering a message of fear and dictatorial mandates, and wedding themselves to a bureaucrat who declared that he is the science.  The result was more Covid 19 deaths in 2021 than in 2020, strong disagreement and a loss of public confidence in the measures promoted by the Biden Administration, none of which is good for America. But it didn't have to be this way.  The Biden Administration took office with three different vaccines available to issue to the public and almost 1 million people getting the jab every day.  Shortly after taking office, Con...
Read more