It was an amazing day, and, we may look back to conclude it was a historic day. Before Barack Obama's speech on Tuesday, after the now infamous statements from his former pastor; the issue seemed to be a test of him. But after what may go down as one of the most significant addresses ever given about the history and future of race in America, the issue may now be a test of us. The examination of a candidate was transformed this week into an examination of a nation.
A young African American leader, more than four decades ago, told us about his dream for our nation. This week, another young leader, who is also a black man, outlined what it would take to make that dream into a "more perfect union." No political leader has ever delivered such a comprehensive and, I would say, prophetic treatment of race in America.
Every American needs to watch and listen to Barack Obama's speech about the future that the U.S. could have. And I would suggest we watch the speech with our children. After watching, we should ask ourselves, and ask our children, if this is the vision for the U.S. that we and they really want. If it is, we will have moved from an issue over controversial comments to much higher ground. After the constant replaying of the same video tapes (which seems like a metaphor of our recent racial history in America), we listened to an invitation to turn the page and move forward.
We heard the vision of a new generation today, one that understands how injustice does indeed breed frustration and anger, but that to remain stuck in past anger and present frustration can be counter-productive and even self-destructive. We heard a vision characterized not by incendiary recrimination but by the possibility of changing the realities that have kept us stuck in a racial "stalemate" and a mired in a "cynical" and "static" view of America's painful divides. This was a speech that actually posited new hope for opportunity and equality, and even the beginning of the kind of racial reconciliation and unity which few have dared to speak of since the end of the civil rights movement.
We heard a political leader who, as a black man, can also sympathize with white resentment and frustration over racial politics, and who can see both the anger of a black mentor and the racial stereotypes of a white grandmother as both part of him and part of America. The most honest and compelling speech about race in decades could open the promise of a deeper national conversation about our racial past and future than we have had for some time. Obama's speech leaves the choice to us. The issue now is whether we will choose not to allow the angry and frustrating past prevent a more fair and hopeful future; or whether we will be forever bound by that past. To the question of whether race will continue to divide and conquer our hopes for a better America, Barack Obama had his answer, "Not this time." Now we each have to answer the question for ourselves.
This is not just about a candidate now, or a campaign; it is about the country and the choices we have to make about whether we will decide to bind our progress to one another -- including those beyond our own tribe. Ask your children what they would have us do.
Jim Wallis is the author of The Great Awakening
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Read more HuffPost coverage and reaction to Obama's speech
Courageous. Hardly. I was at the March On Washington to hear the "I Have A Dream" speech. People with courage DO things other than talk. Dr King was courageous for the things he did. There were years of marches, prison, humiliation.
The speech encouraged a new identity to those who listened and were moved. Dr King tried to teach us to judge one another on the basis of character - not skin color. I do not vote based on skin color.
Voting - thank god - does not require courage. Thank you great country of mine - that I have the vote to express my choices in government.
I knew Dr King. Obama is no Dr King.
We need to focus on the class struggle. We really need Hillary to defeat Obama. She listens to us.
I think of the labor struggles in this country. This was the movement I respect the most from our history. These racial, gender and age divides are useless at this point in our history. What we can come together on is the class issues.
I hate Obama bringing up the race issue like we are all suppose to vote for him because of it
Speeches are not action, I won't deny it. However, speeches can CAUSE action, and the best speeches DO cause action!!
Huckabee does have a good heart. I had hoped that there were more of theose in America. We will have to see.
Again - it is not words, but deeds that tell the story.
Obama was made to choose between his white and black sides by Black Nationalism thinking - separatist thinking. Us vs Them thinking.
Obama is the opposite of a great American leader like Dr King. The opposite.
Look at what he does - not the preacher behind the pulpit. Oh no wait - maybe we can tell who he is and what he will do by looking at how much he is like his adopted father, Rev Wright.
Obama is throwing all white people under the bus like his father.
Blacks made him choose. He has chosen. Be not deceived. Obama is a false prophet.
Obama's religious nation building of the Black Nationalists trying to take over the Democratic Party is too too close to Al Quida's muslim nation building.
Yes He Can - be worse than Bush or McCain.
Second, once again, words INSPIRE deeds. Without the WORDS of Dr. King, we wouldn't be even where we are regarding race in America. Without the WORDS of FDR, we wouldn't have EVER had the great society that won WWII and caused the last 50 years of American hegemony. Without the WORDS of Teddy Roosevelt, we would not have our national parks, or competition in our business world. Without the WORDS of Abraham Lincoln, we would most likely STILL have slavery on the North American continent! And finally, without the WORDS of Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Frankllin, John Addams, George Washington, and others, we would all STILL be using the pound sterling for our currency!
Words do matter. Words cause people to be WANT to do more. Words cause people to give everything that they have to support the cause! We need words, because without the words, NOTHING will change!
It us up to us because we have and will continue to endure or benefit from the government we choose to have in place. Most voters' choices are based on all the wrong reasons - party affiliation; what they've heard or read but failed to ascertain as fact or fiction; gender, race or religious bias and the list goes on....
Everyone needs to do their own homework - and not base their vote on network or cable television reports; what they've read in blogs, newspapers or on the internet; what they've been told by another or because of a personal bias. Look at the whole picture of every candidate. character, voting records, policy plans, etc.
If we continue to choose our government leaders in the same manner as in the past, we will continue to have the same results - only at this moment in our time, the consequences will be much graver.
It's up to each American to decide how our country will evolve as a nation and as a society. Once that decision is made, vote accordingly.
Beautifully put. I think Barack Obama has done his job. He has made the case for his vision and, by implication, for his presidency. I hope -- more than I have hoped for anything in a long time -- that the American people choose his vision and choose this remarkable leader for our nation's highest office. Whether they do or not will speak volumes about the health of our democracy and whether our nation's future lives up to our highest dreams -- or whether America is just another empire in rapid decline.
And more than hope, I intend to do whatever I can to support this campaign, so our country answers the challenges Obama has laid before it.
It IS a test of the American people - and if they're too intellectually lazy to answer the first question on the test correctly, they're going to miss out. I hope they're not.