Wednesday – 19 March 2008
Yesterday, Senator Barack Obama gave a speech on race and relations in Philadelphia, PA. He spoke before a small crowd… and the media. The speech was roughly 35 minutes long. In it, he addressed his relationship with Reverend Jeremiah Wright, his minister of the past 20 years.

Twenty years is a long time.
(Click here to see some of the things that have happened in the past twenty years.)

The speech has sparked a lot of discussion.
On TV.
On the radio.
Online.
Offline.

One such discussion can be found in ‘s journal entry from yesterday. It took me a while to collect and compose my thoughts on the speech. When I finally gathered them, my response, left as a comment in ‘s journal took this form:

I was, also, duly impressed with the speech.

As a member of Black churches, I have heard many sermons laced with comments that could be seen as… “unfavorable” or possibly even separatist… but they also addressed the beliefs and fears of the congregations. Yes, many/most were “black vs. white” issues, but for the areas in which the churches were located, those were the issues about which the people were cncerned. In some of the same sermons, the ministers also charged the congregation to do more than just sit back and talk – or more commonly, just complain – about the situations and instead to get up and DO something about them. Get out with their neighbors and coworkers… or even just random people on the street… and work together to make the communities better places to work and live.

Would I disavow my ministers on the bases of their sermons, especially if someone took selected excerpts out of context? No. No more than I would for taking family and friends’ comments out of context – all of us have, at one time or another, said things that could be considered “unpalatable,” especially when taken out of context. (I point to any [of our] given Friday night coffee gathering[s] as a shining example.)

Could more have been said? Possibly… but to what end? He addressed the issue at hand – the divisive comments of Reverend Wright – and he also addressed that there is still disparity between the races and the sexes… and that NONE of it will change until we, as a nation, are willing to acknowledge that “yes, there is a problem” and are willing to do what it takes to move ourselves through and past it. I appreciate and respect the fact that he acknowledged that the statements were invective, but would not disavow his relationship because of things Reverend Wright said.

And, if you need anything else to consider about the speech, consider that it was not written by speechwriters or committee: [Senator Obama] wrote it himself.

Namaste.

Events that have occurred in the past 20 years:

Twenty years. Like I said: “That’s a long time.”