Obama: Race Matters

[babylonsister]

Xpost from Eds, but I really like this. I''m proud of my country, for the first time in awhile!


http://www.tpmcafe.com/blog/coffeehouse/2008/jan/05/oba...

Obama: Race Matters
By M.J. Rosenberg

snip but read the whole thing if you can//

The thing I love about this country most is that we are not racially based. People may be racist but no one says that a black American is not really an American. A Turk can't really be a German. A Jew can't really be a Swede. And an Arab can't really be an Israeli.

But we are a country that is defined by neither race nor religion.

At the same time, our history is all about race. Our economic greatness was built on slavery and the extermination of the Indians.

For most of their time on this continent, people of African descent could not even vote. (Voting rights finally passed in 1965).

And now an African-American is the front-runner for the Presidency.

Yes, he's also qualified and brilliant, etc. But he would not be who he is if he was not black. And I doubt he would be our front-runner either.

For me, this is not a slam against him but a statement of praise for this country. It couldn't happen anywhere else (in any case, it hasn't).

If it happens here, we will understand that America really is America, maybe even "the last best hope of mankind." At the very least, we will know that, unlike most of the nations of the world, this country truly belongs to all the people who live here.

Lincoln would be proud.

[Traveling_Home]

1. ???"A Jew can't really be a Swede. And an Arab can't really be an Israeli"????? n/t

[babylonsister]

3. OK, the Jew/Swede thing is odd, but my perception of Israel is that

Arabs will never be Jewish. Let me know if you disagree.

And this came from this thread...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x329990

[msongs]

2. Lincoln did not care for black people nt

[babylonsister]

4. Yea, he sucked.

Can you say or read 'Emancipation Proclamation'? Oye.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emancipation_Proclamation

[TheDonkey]

5. civil war.. more like wag the dog

[babylonsister]

9. Another post without content. You're a gem. nt

[Anouka]

7. Wasn't Seward half black/high yellow?

Anyway, it's not like Lincoln actually OWNED slaves, or made a profit off the business of slavery, like some folks who could be mentioned from that time period. He certainly didn't make false promises to his slaves in order to keep them cowed.

Lincoln was a man of his times. Andersonville was an atrocity. The Emancipation Proclamation is one of the greatest documents in human history. Both are Lincoln. Lincoln gets a pass for doing the right thing, at the right time, even if he dropped the n-bomb at home with Mary Todd. You could do much worse than Lincoln.

[billbuckhead]

6. Bullshit, the President of France is of Hungarian descent

The CEO of Mercedes is of Turkish descent. The CEO of Renault is Syrian. The UK had Disraeli in the mid 1800's. Miss Italy was a black woman a couple of years ago. South Americans are of all ancestry's.

It's a cliched American conceit that we are the only melting pot in the world.

[AtomicKitten]

8. After Katrina, America has a chance to show it's better nature.

Obama is crossing over all kinds of barriers - beautifully, eloquently, masterfully.