"Uncle Barack's Cabin": Why We Must Repudiate the Ugly Racial Undercurrents of the Campaign
Leave it to the Germans to lay bare their ugly racist proclivities. "Uncle Barack's Cabin" is the headline on the front page of Die Tageszeitung, a leading Berlin newspaper, over a large photograph of the White House. Nice. The reference, of course, is to Harriet Beecher Stowe's 1852 anti-slavery novel, Uncle Tom's Cabin.
According to one of the rag's editors, "the headline is intended to be satirical. Uncle Tom's Cabin is a book that all Germans know and which they associate with issues of racism." The headline is supposed to make people think about these stereotypes. It works on many levels.
It certainly does work on many levels. It demonstrates conclusively that the Goebbels mentality is still very much in evidence in Germany 63 years after the end of the Holocaust. It exposes the racist undercurrent that still exists in the land of Richard Wagner and Herman Goering more than six decades after the collapse of the Third Reich. And perhaps it illustrates the resentment of some Germans at the fact that Barack Obama takes great pride in the fact that one of his uncles helped liberate the Nazi concentration camp of Ohrdurf, near Buchenwald.
But the offensive Tageszeitung headline is also a warning to us here in the United States. Between now and November, the bigots and reactionaries among us are certain to exploit every slimy racist undercurrent they can discover in a desperate effort to keep Barack Obama out of the White House. They must not be allowed to get away with it.
For months now, American bigots have tried to use Senator Obama's name as a way to insinuate that he is somehow not one of us. Only two few weeks ago, Fox News contributor Liz Trotta apologized for her offensive on the air wish that "somebody knock off Osama, uh, Obama. Well, both, if we could" by chuckling that it had only been a joke in this "very colorful [hint, hint] political season."
The idiots among us who consider someone's given name to be an indication of anything, let alone political ideology, should bear in mind that there are no more American, patriotic, motherhood and apple pie names than George (Washington), (Abraham) Lincoln and (Norman) Rockwell. Put them together, however, and you get George Lincoln Rockwell, the notorious long-time leader of the American Nazi party.
As a nation, we have an opportunity to either embrace what is best in us, or to succumb to our most reprehensible instincts. It is now incumbent on Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton, yes, even Chelsea Clinton, and all the other members of the Clinton juggernaut to reach out state by state, county by county, city, town and village by city, town and village in Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Texas, and elsewhere to everyone who voted for Hillary Clinton in the primaries and get that entire constituency to support Barack Obama in November. Those who claimed to have the allegiance of "working, hard-working Americans, white Americans" must now bring undertake a concerted effort to undo any racial divisions they may have encouraged, even if inadvertently, over the past six months.
We all know that this country has come a long way. Before the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum opened in Washington, DC, 15 years ago, skeptics questioned both its relevance and its legitimacy, arguing that there is no need for a federal American memorial to a crime, however heinous, committed elsewhere by others. The critics have been proven wrong. The museum speaks to Americans of all faiths, ages and backgrounds because it is not a shrine to victimhood. Its core message, transcending memorialization of the dead, is that raw, absolute evil can permeate, corrode, and ultimately destroy civilized society whenever average men and women look the other way. Silence in the face of anti-Semitism, racism and all other forms of bigotry is in itself a moral crime against humanity. The museum commands us to know a fate our nation was spared. Images of the May 1933 Berlin book burnings bring to mind those who want to purge our own libraries. The same highly educated Germans who lit the Nazis' cultural bonfires also ignited the flames that consumed my grandparents and my brother, my mother's son, at Auschwitz. And African-Americans and southern whites alike can relate to a German hotel notice from the mid 1930s prominently displayed in the museum: "Jewish guests are politely asked not to use the hotel restaurants, but to eat their meals in their rooms." Remember the Jim Crow laws in this country, the museum warns us. Remember segregation. We learn about the Third Reich laws prohibiting sexual relations between Jews and Aryans, and we are forced to recall that it was not until 1967 that the U.S. Supreme Court declared laws banning interracial marriages to be unconstitutional.
Back in February, Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell said that "there are some whites who are probably not ready to vote for an African-American candidate." Well, it's now his job to prove himself wrong. The offensive Tageszeitung headline should be a wake up call for all of us. By uniting behind Barack Obama for all the right reasons, we can prove to the world what we and our country truly represent.
Menachem Z. Rosensaft is a lawyer in New York and the Founding Chairman of the International Network of Children of Jewish Holocaust Survivors
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You all protest too much. To deny racism does not make it go away.
The headline in the German paper was written for a German audience, not for you and your background. It was a compliment if anything. It said in a few words how far America has advanced from the time of slavery to now when a man of mixed race can become president. The cabin and the mansion are the symbols to use for the space of headline.
Mr. Rosensaft did not read or has a reading comprehension problem or his own prejudice colored his judgment.
Take the headline for what it is, with a few words you all were paid a compliment and you are not able to understand that. You take Mr. Rosensaft's interpretation without thinking for yourself.
The term Uncle Tom, based on Uncle Toms' Cabin have different meanings. The typical meaning used in US culture is actually based on the book's subject manner, not any person in the book. In places like South Africa (and possibly Germany) the term is based on the character in the book or the person Josiah Henson both whom are more hero then appeaser.
It works against Obama ONLY if you are not living in present day America. Since he could not get the nomination by Black votes and since Latino votes went to HRC, WHITE PEOPLE HAD TO PUT BARACK IN THIS POSITION. I'm glad the majority of white Americans aren't so ignorant nor stuck in some sort of bizarre racial time warp.
Without knowing more about the article or past history of this German newspaper, the use of Uncle Tom's Cabin seems completely appropriate. It was a symbol of abolitionism. It was a great book. And apparently it was read overseas as well. The tie-in to the White House is very satisfying. It is similar to the recent political cartoon showing Obama at a lunch counter (get it?) with a sign that says the counter only serves major presidential candidates and Uncle Sam, behind the counter, asking to take his order.
Of course "Uncle Tom" is a term that some African Americans have used for a black person who is overly meek and submissive, like the saintly character in the book. But becoming president is hardly meek and submissive so I don't think that's what was meant! Also, even in that case, the term is used by one black person to criticize another, not by a white bigot.
The irony is that as an Obama volunteer, I have often thought about Harriet Beecher Stowe's book as the OTHER time that a book greatly influenced American politics. (Supposedly Abraham Lincoln said to Stowe, when he met her, "So this is the little lady that launched a big war."--a legend, but it expresses truth.) This time, of course, the book is Dreams from My Father, a book so far outside the traditional political memoir as to make much of the rest of the genre hide its covers in embarrassment.
Is it Racist to point out that MLK's "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character" is incongruous with "Black" PEOPLE? That"Black" people celebrating MLK Day is hypocritical?
Incongruous: : lacking congruity: as a: not harmonious : incompatible b: not conforming : disagreeing c: inconsistent within itself d: lacking propriety
Is it fear of being called a racist that allows a group of people with black skin tones to SELF SEGREGATE as "Black" people and NOT have that challenged by PEOPLE of ALL skin tones??
And yes, Barack has run as a "Black" man from the start... (Think Oprah and our first "Black" President, or Michelle's "Black" people better wake up...) A Uniter? HUH??? Has Not he divided the Democrats nearly in half? This whole Campaign has played to Race/Color and slickly played the Race/Color Card on the Clinton's, when their was NO mention of Race or Color said by them...
Does anyone think the White House Press Core, or the MSM will actually challenge the First "Black" President? Especially noting the Obama's have played the Race/Color Card quite successfully several times...
Are WE electing the First"Black" President, or agreeing/consenting to a group Self Segregating? POGO: WE have met the Enemy and it is US!
Just one point, everyone celebrates MLK day to say otherwise is like saying only current service people celebrate Memorial Day. To say it is celebrated only by Blacks is both short-sighted and not based on facts.
You have allowed the enemy to be us. I prefer to judge a person in their total words and actions.
Based on previous posts of yours, you seem to obsessed with Obama's race. Is there a reason you are not able to move beyond that?
We are electing the BEST candidate and oh yes, he just happens to be 1/2 black and 1/2 white. Wow!
I have yet to see a white person refuse to take MLK holiday - it is in place for us all.
BTW, Barack has not ran as a black candidate! Ask the Tavis Smileys and Rev. Al about that. The Black establishment is not too happy with Barack because he is not Black enough but for you I guess he is too Black. The man can't cut a break!
What is incongruous about black people celebrating Dr. Martin Luther King? He is as much a hero, if not more, to the African American community as he is to all Americans.
Are you offended when a white celebrity endorses a white candidate? Is that playing the race card also? The fact that Oprah Winfrey happens to be a black celebrity who offered her support to a candidate who happens to be black is not playing the race card, unless of course you assume that when two black people stand together, as opposed to two white people standing together, that there is a hidden racial agenda. Senator Clinton was often introduced as our first "Woman" president. Was that playing the gender card? Or simply offering a vision of a potential reality?
Unfortunately, to some people - and perhaps you are one of them - the very fact that Senator Obama is black is perceived as playing the race card, and the color of his skin alone becomes the great divide. They hold him accountable, simply because he's black, for forcing them to confront the racial tensions within our society and within themselves that they would rather leave unchallenged, and then they blame him for agitating the demons that surface within them in their reaction to him as a black man.
I have never thought that any of our white presidents have placed us in a position of "self-segregating." Why would the election of a black president do this?
I find nothing wrong with the headline: "Uncle Barack's Cabin" posted above a photo of the White House. In fact, I'd say it's an obvious denouncement of racism.
The original Uncle Tom character is presented in the book as a principled man of peace. Despite his legal status as a slave, he never got angry or violent with his violent tormentors. While such a meek, mild, ever-faithful and ever joyful personality has somehow been twisted into the negative stereo-type of a fawning coward, Uncle Tom's attributes are the characteristics described in the Bible as the "fruit of the Spirit."
Uncle Tom triumphs over his abusers by refusing to allow their evil behavior to provoke evil in him. The triumph of well-spoken, mild-mannered, calm and humble Barack Obama is certainly an echo of Harriet Beecher Stowe's original story.
I'm not in favor of repudiating the "ugly racial undercurrents of the campaign." Actually, I'd like to bring the racial issues out into the open in a free discussion. And that can't happen if we jump all over well-meaning folks and call them Nazis just for expressing themselves.
I don't see the idea of Uncle Tom moving into the White House as racist. On the contrary, I see a celebration and a victory over racism. What I DO repudiate is the PC policing of points of view. To me, the call to repudiate free speech is the real throwback to the horrors of the Third Reich.
It's a shame that the term Uncle Tom has come to mean something that bears no relation to the story or the meaning of Beecher's book. The book was written in anger, and read in its historical context it can be viewed as one of the first shots of the Civil War. Abraham Lincoln said as much.
Uncle Tom should not be a term of derision. It's probably too late to bring it back to it's original roots, but we do Beecher a great disservice by continuing to malign such an historic book.
Labeling the Clintons as racist was straight-up BS.
Hillary was simply repeating what was on the news 24/7. The phrase "working class whites" was beginning to sound like "non-royal, uneducated, unsuccessful, generally pathetic peasants" and, in any case, doesn't glide easily off the tongue of people who would like to view all humans as worthy. She, obviously, choked on the term and tried to make it less cringeworthy.
Bill Clinton has no history of being a racist. Jesse Jackson didn't find his SC remark offensive -- he understood what Clinton was saying because he's not an idiot with an agenda. And the "fairy tale" remark had absolutely nothing to do with race yet, it's replayed as though it did. How is that okay?
If Bill and Hillary Clinton can be called racists on a whim or for political expediency, no one is safe.
This was a gameplay by the Obama campaign and a foolish one, at that. They traded short-term getting over for long-term success in making this country less racist. They need to fix it.
Why are you bring this up now?
Read the blog post.
"HAIL TO THE CHIMP" - The video game?
This is the title to a newly released video game about a fictional presidential race among various types of animated animals.
Here's more: Link
This is the link to the Game Development company's public relations dept.
pr@wideload.com
IF anyone finds the title offensive, let them know. I did. If Rachel Ray can't wear a scarf for fear that Dunkin Donuts will be perceived as supplying coffee and donuts to terrorists, well . .
I'm a firm believer in the 1st Amendment and I don't think I'm being hypersensitive or ultra PC here. They can call the game whatever they want. I just let the company know I thought the game's title was in bad taste for, what seem to me, obvious reasons.
Isn't this the same name many have used to refer to our current top guy? Just words. There is a gradual shift in that people are turning their backs on divisive actions and focusing on building a "One America". Change starts from the bottom up. Let's focus on doing our part. Voter registration is taking place in 50 states. Time to roll up our sleeves and get busy.
HIP HIP HOO-RAY pacats !!!
I am a 57 yr.old white male and PROUD BABY BOOMER !! who is looking forward to our new President and so very proud of our Democratic Party !!
America is so blessed to have such a caring and Honest candidate !!
I will be watching Sen. Obama taking his oath of office and I am sure we who truly care about this country will have tears of JOY !!
KEEP A BIG SMILE and KEEP REGISTERING VOTERS AND THE REST WILL TAKE CARE OF ITSELF !!!
To hell with Germany. What about the racism that is still in this country you willfind out how much in November.
Racism will definitely make lots of people vote against Barack but we'll see just how much. I like that we have Bob Barr to siphon votes from McWar. With the new movement and new voters...I project much enthusiasm and turnout to crush the racists.
Mr. Rosensaft, I hope your essay finds its way to a European newspaper or two -- if only as a reminder that the developed world on both sides of the Atlantic has yet to climb the mountain of ethnic and racial equality spoken of so eloquently by King, Gandhi, Fanon, and countless others.
When I was in France about 10 years ago, the people I met would talk disparagingly about racism in the United States -- while North and West Africans were treated no better than trash, holed up in shanty towns and ghettos. To bring up the ravages of colonialism would bring sharp rebuke -- we support the UN and missionaries, so there's no need to speak about such things! -- while silently allowing the mechanisms of racial and ethnic hatred to slip back into genteel society, this time in top hat and white gloves.
We live in a world that says "Never Again!" on the appropriate holidays and idly sits by awaiting the victor in Kosovo, Rwawanda, and Sudan. Again, the world is treated with free-wheeling Romany (Gypsy) atacks while the seat of the world's most prominent Christian sects utters not one single word against such mob hatred. Racism does not always appear in a white sheet or with sophisticated plans for mass extermination -- and yet so many people around the globe think the problem lays elsewhere, away from themselves.
Very thoughtful post. Thank you.
See SamSedaei's Profile
Point well taken, sir. But I do take issue with your repeatedly criticizing "Germans" or Germany for this poorly-chosen headline. The entire country did not unanimously vote to have this headline on a newspaper. By not simply condemning the individuals who chose this title and instead drawing broad generalizations based on the claims made by coincidentally the same editors who picked the title, you're in a way committing your own act of collective judgment. Just because the people who made this poor decision are not American, that doesn't mean everybody in that country agrees with the decision.
I agree with this point. I lived in Germany for 4 years and most people are ashamed of what happened during the Hitler period (and most weren't even alive then).
Die Tageszeitung is just a tabloid. It's on the level of the NY Daily News or something. The title is offensive, but consider the level of the paper. Do we want to be judged on what "Star" publishes or what Fox News says?
Of course, Germans and other Europeans are just as convinced that we are all stupid racist nut cases as well.
But, the larger points about the racism that exist here are very well taken and we must all do whatever we can to speak against this. I do think that most people want to truly get past this through this election.
One simple reason for this unfortunate headline is simple German ignorance of US-specific sensitivities. "Uncle Tom's Cabin" is mostly known for its title, in my home town even a restaurant is named thus. The embarassing part is that "Die Tageszeitung" actually is *not* a tabloid, or "rag" as MR put it. On the contrary, I would see it as a leftist, fresh, and often quite intellectual daily. Somebody really screwed up.
In case you're interested: http://www.taz.de/1/leben/medien/artikel/1/is-uncle-baracks-cabin-racist/?src=SE&cHash=96be4316f5
Straight from the horde's mouth.
Thanks for the post Menachem Rosensaft. I appreciate this article.
True, the headline may not mean much but so did the first Internet posting claiming BO to be Muslim. Now 11% of the country thinks he is Muslim. We need to find them and root them out. Expose them for the trash they are.......I see this article as a call to be conscious of this fact. Yes, it is going to take every last one of us to be vigilante.
Notice the trend at Fox news? We are letting them get away with it. Why, because it is no big deal? Free speech?
BTW, If the Germans had learned anything.....they should be the last one attempting this time of "humor".
In taking my cues for Obama I think we really need to let some of this stuff go. For one thing I think they are distractions for another I think that they are likely going to get worse and I'd rather wait until they get worse rather than cry foul at every little thing. I think when you cry foul at every little thing it takes away from the punch of hte big thing. We are not going to have a perfect election that will not be offensive I just think we need to do a better job of picking our battles. I'd prefer to save up the ammuntion for when we really have something to battle. Obama is a strong person if he can handle this stuff by not reacting at every little thing then we all can do that too.
Carol
I bet you aren't black. It's easy to let stuff go when it's not about you.
Actually, ??? I think I'm so attracted to Barack's candidacy because he's a POST racial candidate. It's easier for him and me to let go of the racist hate that has consumed this nation for centuries, because we didn't have to live through it. We can learn and read about our history but the scars aren't there because we didn't go through it ourselves.
This is the new day of race relations...the dream that Dr. King was wishing for. This is a great day in America that Barack could even get this nomination.
I'm a Black woman...but I'm more even tempered than older peeps in my family. Alot of it is GENERATIONAL. Whether Black, White, Hispanic, Asian, Jewish, Gay, Male, Female etc....etc... You must admit, America has come a long way baby!
I'm black, and as hard as it is, I have to let some of this go, its counterproductive not to. It is going to get much worse, before it gets better. Racism is not a new concept, if you are black, there is a big probability that you have been seeing it your whole life. What has always gotten racist going, has not changed here, its just on a bigger scale. We have a black man that is not staying in his perceived place. Its okay for him to be a senator (1 or 3 black senators in history), but to have the audacity to reach for the highest office in this country, they are going bonkers right now. Many who didnt think they were racists, are trying to reason with themselves that voting for McCain is better than voting for this black man. It's like hitting a behive. Barack had to be very mindful about this going in. He most certainly considered all the things that he would and may have to experience. But in that, he also knew that this is what he must go through to get to the other side. And we have to go through it with him, in strength.
I'm black, and I agree with Carol. One way of letting go is recognizing what is and what is not important to the challenge that we all must contend with. When we are distracted by the little things like this, we lose sight of the much bigger and much more critical battles that face our country in respect to race, especially the battles that will inevitably surface in this election. I understand that there is a huge gap between those of us who share the black experience and those who don't, but I think all of us, black and white, recognize the challenges that we face and recognize that we must work together to overcome them.
I believe that Senator Obama has already opened up the way for us to begin to make a difference.
Read Maureen Dowd's May 25th column in NYT, "All About Eve." It was in response to Clinton's reference to assassination of Bobby Kennedy in interview by board of Argus newspaper in So Dakota. She also made reference to assassination in March article in TIME.
She wldn't want bodily harm to befall Senator Obama, but clearly Clinton hoped that something catastrophic will happen to destroy Obama's candidacy.
WHY refer to assassination of Kennedy at all? What does that tragedy have to DO with a long extended primary campaign??
This is what Dowd said in May 25th column:
"Teddy Kennedy decided to endorse Obama in part because he was upset that Hillary sat silently when Francine Torge introduced the New York senator at a New Hampshire event saying: “Some people compare one of the other candidates to John F. Kennedy. But he was assassinated. And Lyndon Johnson was the one who actually” signed the civil rights bill into law."
It's a pattern. Hillary made statement that it was Lyndon Baines Johnson, who had signed civil rights bill. She was trying to diminish importance of Martin Luther King, Jr. Bill Clinton tried to marginalize Obama as "the black candidate" to alienate "hardworking white people"
Huckabee's comment at NRA when chair banged to floor during speech... "Oh, that was Senator Obama diving for the floor, someone tried to take a shot at him."
When has another politician in a campaign EVER made these continual references to shooting a presidential candidate??? NEVER.
I'm a Hillary supporter who recently switched to Obama, at Hillary's behest. I really must repudiate your claims about Senator Clinton. You are poisoning the well. Her point about Martin Luther King was history. Don't take my word for it: ask Bill Moyers--he was there. Martin Luther King was a movement leader; Lyndon Johnson was the ultimate insider, and he was President of the United States. According to Moyers, Martin Luther King and President Johnson made a deal. Martin would keep making noise and marching, and Lyndon would get the legislation passed.
It worked.
Senator Clinton was erroneously and purposefully characterized as "disrespecting" Dr. Martin Luther King. She did no such thing.
I willing to support Obama. Perhaps you don't want my support or my vote?
Sallybird, the post you responded to has nothing to do with the article most of us are responding to. There are folks who might not be for the dem party, but insist on coming onto this site and causing chaos. By the way, we welcome your vote. Feel free to ignore what you may view as nonsense postings. Peace.
The last line of your piece implies that somehow criticism of Hillary will cause you to not vote for Obama. Do what you want but please don't try to hold us hostage. I'm sure if you decide not to support or vote for Obama he will still become President.
As a 52 year old african american woman, I took offense at this and many of Hillary's comments. There is more to communication than words. Her tone clearly indicated that she was dimissing the role of MLK in order to emphasize her larger point that a "president" was needed to make the civil rights act happen. People putting themselves in harms way based on "hope" had to be refuted as that scenario was to close to Obama's philosophy. When she got called out for her comment and the tone in which it was offered her defense became she was relating history. Same as a her assasination comment (more history)
Oh, and I don't need to ask Bill Moyers. I was alive, remember the history and read extensively on the topic. You might try doing so.
I think what did not sit well with many is the fact that she added the "but, Lyndon..." on the day we were celebrating King's birthday. It was not about any deals he made but about honoring the man for all he did and for the ultimate sacrafice he made on the behalf of millions of Americans. I feel that she could have made this point on a different day, just not on this day.
This pissed me off at the time, but we really have to let it go. We cannot move forward if we hold on to the stuff that happened in both of these campaigns.
The German paper's headline would not be construed as racist in any European country, I would be surprised if even the most paranoid racehate hunters here could find something to be insulted by within the headline and there are a lot of nuts here. It was innocent humour. American's may find it offensive if they try hard enough but the rest of the world is not going to censor themselves to the sensibilities of Obama worshippers.
Nothing fuels racism more than race obsessives who are always standing around waiting for something to be offended by, screaming racism where there is none, it annoys people and sadly as with the boy who cried wolf too often, when true racism does occur in that enviroment nobody is prepared to take it seriously. Or they are so sick of being falsely accused, they decide to show you what true racism is.
Obama has made statements about 'typical white people' that could be seen as racist. His book is full of his paranoid assumptions of how white people see him and many of his attitudes are(were?) racist. In America though only white people can be racist, even when they are obviously not.
Black racism is ignored, denied or justified. I roll my eyes to that.
.
You might be uniquely qualified to identify racists, leaving comments like this
"Europe will be white again. Our crime will drop 3000%"
BTW, the largest drop possible is 100%...
It's all perception. Blacks and Whites will mostly see things differently. That does not mean we shouldn't continue to strive to respect and understand our different viewpoints. I think the diversity in this country will be highly beneficial. But Blacks and Whites have to talk things out. We must rip the bandage off and bleed it out until we heal. I think we owe it to ourselves. Blacks and Whites must develop some tougher skin if we're going to have these types of conversations. I think this election may help start the process, but it's not on Senator Obama to heal the wounds of hate and distrust that are obvious between the two generations of races who have been through so much together. He may be used as a catalyst, but WE THE PEOPLE must continue to work for our respective places in this country.
I'm proud to be a Black woman in this country. Despite all the racism I've encountered throughout my life, I choose not to be bitter; I cling to the possibility that race will not even really be an issue in this country. A complete 360 from the past of 17th century ancestors in America.
HuffPost's Pick
As a Christian, I have occasionally made remarks that were anti-semitic. There was a neighborhood in Chicago that was called "Jew Town," and in casually making reference to it, my Jewish friend cautioned me that my statement was unacceptable. Although it never occurred to me that this was offensive, I appreciated my friend for pointing this out. I also realized that I am not an authority on what Jews see as anti-semitic, unless of course it is blatant. I do not share in their history or in their experience as Jews, and therefore I am not always aware of those subtle injuries that touch them at the very core of their humanity.
Likewise, many white people are not authorities on racism, unless of course it is blatant. What you perceive as inconsequential or invalid charges of racism, we often see and feel it differently, based on our history and our experience as blacks in America, which you cannot fully appreciate unless you walk in our shoes. The attitudes toward whites that Senator Obama expressed in his book are attitudes that most black Americans understand and share, but these are not "racist" attitudes; these are attitudes that evolve in response to the racism to which we have been subjected. They can also become stumbling blocks or stepping stones, and as Senator Obama has demonstrated, as stepping stones, we can rise above them to work together, black and white, toward an America in which we are one.
"It is now incumbent on Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton, yes, even Chelsea Clinton, and all the other members of the Clinton juggernaut to reach out state by state, county by county, city, town and village by city, town and village in Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Texas, and elsewhere to everyone who voted for Hillary Clinton in the primaries and get that entire constituency to support Barack Obama in November. Those who claimed to have the allegiance of "working, hard-working Americans, white Americans" must now bring undertake a concerted effort to undo any racial divisions they may have encouraged, even if inadvertently, over the past six months."
Menachem Rosensaft . Thank you sir, very much. This is what I've been thinking and posting in the comments sections of blogs since listening to Clinton's concession yesterday. So many supporters of presumptive Nominee Barack Obama have seemingly had such a stunning change of heart since listening to her speech. For some unfathomable reason they seem to believe that her remarks yesterday effectively rights all of the many wrongs she and her campaign perpetrated on the American people during the campaign.
To them, I say that actions speak louder than words.
If Senator Clinton is really serious about endorsing Barack Obama then she and Bill and Chelsea must get out and campaign for him. They must do so with the same degree of enthusiasm and vigor that characterized their support for her. just as ardently as they did during her campaign. and sat
I too had the same thoughts. Although I appreciate Hillary's speech on Saturday, I think it is also imperative that she and her family and other mouthpieces for her speak forcefully and enthusiastically in support of Obama as they did for her campaign. Stephanie Tubbs Jones, Geraldine Ferraro, Ed Rendell and others are also expected to do their part to undo some of the claims that they have made. Many people know that some of what was said was unethical and others remained quiet while it was said. It needs to be undone.
Tubbs and Rendell were two of the main people who remained quiet. I hope that Ms. Tubbs receives her just do when it is time to vote.
My sentiments exactly. Perhaps they could refer their supporters to the following Bill Clinton interview to explain BO's infamous "bitter" comments . . .
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYaJHAnmjtk
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