The release by the White House of President Obama's "official" birth certificate was a poignant reminder of just how deep and pervasive racism remains in our nation.
Think about this: A sitting president has to "prove" to the nation that he was indeed born in America -- Hawaii -- and therefore eligibly qualified to be elected president of the United States!
A factually non-issue was permitted become a national issue, not because of Donald Trump and the media. No, this was the ultimate result, of the silence and tacit acquiescence of white political, religious, and community leaders, especially leaders of faith-based organizations, who sat, said and did nothing to counter this insidious new form of 21st-century racism. The silence and abnegation of moral leadership, by persons whom we should have otherwise expected to publicly to challenge this growing "birther" issue, is a stain on the conscience of our nation.
In 1963, Rabbi Joachim Prinz, then president of the American Jewish Committee (AJC) was the speaker who immediately preceded Dr. King's famous "I Have A Dream" speech at the March On Washington. The AJC was one of several major organizations participating in the March On Washington on August 28, 1963.
Obama's decision to release his "official" birth certificate in an effort to silence the challenge to the legitimacy of his American citizenship reminded me of the words of Rabbi Prinz on that occasion. He said:
When I was the rabbi of the Jewish community in Berlin under the Hitler regime, I learned many things. The most important thing that I learned under those tragic circumstances was that bigotry and hatred are not the most urgent problem. The most urgent, the most disgraceful, the most shameful and the most tragic problem is silence.
Is the "need" of Barack Hussein Obama, the 44th president of the United States, to "prove" his citizenship, yet again, another example of what some people called the dawn of a "post-racial America" following his election?
White political leaders, especially in the Republican Party, should hang their heads in shame. Wednesday, April 27, 2011, should be remembered as day of moral ignominy in America. It was a day that symbolized the disgraceful and tragic silence of the "good" people among our political and community leaders who did nothing to publicly challenge the irrationality of Donald Trump and others who peddled their racist garbage of President Obama's non-citizenship.
Will Bunch: Racism on Ivy League Campus and by Alum Donald Trump Cut From Same Ugly Cloth
still hate the whitey don't ya ....
You are absolutely, unequivocally, correct, sir.
Thank you for calling us out. We can, and will, do better.
Anyway, enough of this junk, move on and do your jobs.
Dayne
Shocking, isn't it?
Dayne
Dayne
Dayne
http://naturalborncitizen.wordpress.com/2008/12/06/urgent-historical-breakthrough-proof-chester-arthur-concealed-he-was-a-british-subject-at-birth/
This is one of the most compelling articles I've read in a long time. The person who wrote it put a lot of time, energy and research into it, so I accept it as viable. What's more interesting is the assertion that Arthur was just flat out, a liar.
And there also seems to be proof of this since Chester Arthur lied about his parents history to cover up his (non-natural) citizenship status (because of his British father).
So you no longer have the "Chester Arthur" argument ot hang on to. What's your position now?
However, the Pres lived abroad, had a family with roots abroad and he played with this issue to his benefit,
so again, nonsense!!
It's true that the short form is all that is legally needed to prove anyone's citizenship in Hawaii, but it's also true that the President ignoring further action for three years succeeded in making the Republican finge seem looney...(Orly Taitz, Joseph Corsi, Alan Keyes. anyone?)
I think the timing of the release of the longer form also was a brilliant masterstroke, achieving maximum exposure for a Trump putdown before the Correspondent's Dinner and torpedoing any success the Joseph Corsi book coming out next week might have had.
I don't see it as a negative from his standpoint at all, and if you analyze his response at the dinner last night, you will find that he's just laughing at the nonsense.
“Perhaps the most important result of a Black man becoming the U.S. President is that event now allows the WORLD to see the color fade from the artificial roses of…truth, justice, fairness, and liberty…Am¬erican has long maintained as being authentic plants grown in her garden…”
While addressing the ugliness motivating those pushing the non-issue of the President's place of birth, I neglected to lay any blame at the feet of those who remained silent on the issue, and thus as you stated provided “tacit acquiesces”. Thank you for drawing attention to that fact. Silence in the face of bigotry and other evils make their existents possible. As both, you and the Rabbi alluded to silence is an evil unto itself. Today we can find the evil of silence pervasive in our everyday existences. As you point out silence, and by default acquiesce, can be found in our churches, in our workplaces, our government agencies, and throughout our communities. Thank you for pointing out the importance of silence as it applies to this case. I hope some will acknowledge, extrapolate and apply that understanding of silence you shared in your article.
The racism is concentrated in the South, parts of the West, the Rustbelt, Appalachia, and Alaska.
Big surprise, huh?
And cut the profanity. It subtracts from whatever argument you are making (even the patently wrong ones).
If this was a racially divisive issue Obama was responsible for perpetuating the divide by not releasing it sooner.. I thought he was supposed to be the great "uniter".. He was using this issue until he couldn't use it any more..
Steven Colbert uttered the definitive statement regarding this ridiculous issue:
"I have no proof he's even a black man. He could be white and if that's the case I don't understand why we're questioning his legitimacy."
How quickly they forget uncomfortable facts...
Describes the "position" of our nice, liberal churches and their deafening silence perfectly.