Is Obama making a call to action to riot?

[nonesuche]

Honestly being familiar with Hampton University, I am frankly very concerned  as is my more liberal daughter, that Obama used their annual minister's conference to incite a call to action which IMO was in an inappropriate venue and an inappropriate moment.

Part of me is furious, Hampton has a great reputation and has been very successful in matriculating students into strong professional positions post graduation. Mainstreaming which of course IS the goal of affirmative action, which Hampton has been very successful in achieving. Is Obama so hungry to raise his ratings which have been slipping of late, that preaching evangelical calls to action for riots is AOK? Many of the youth that hear this will not interpret it as a warning, but rather they will only hear a warning of riots and a silent approval for riot.

What about the broader issue of welfare mothers and also the gross lack of males as heads of families even assuming responsibility for their offspring? Is this problem not one that needs to be addressed within this population?

I think I was surely on target early on to be concerned now, he's proven my point at the beginning of this, that he plans to use reparations as part of his platform. We shall see who calls him on it and if he answers to this responsibly this time.

I personally would like to know why Obama didn't answer his childhood friend in prison for drug and petty crime when he called him this year to ask for Obama's help ! I guess that was a "bullet" that Obama wanted to dodge?

http://content.hamptonroads.com/story.cfm?story=126061&ran=3539

In Hampton, Obama addresses war, poverty and black tensions

By STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS, The Virginian-Pilot
© June 5, 2007 | Last updated 6:45 PM Jun. 5

HAMPTON – U.S. Sen. Barack Obama pledged a broad attack on poverty if elected president, and cited his Christian faith today in a speech to a national black ministers' conference.

"We understand the possibility of God's power, but we don't always seek God," Obama said in a 35-minute social and political critique.

Obama also said the United States was "mired in the middle of a civil war" in Iraq and called for an end to American involvement.

"I'm proud I opposed this war from the very beginning," he said.

Obama, a Democratic presidential hopeful from Illinois, spoke at the 93rd annual Hampton University Ministers' Conference, one of the oldest and biggest black clergy gatherings in the country. The school's basketball arena, which seats 8,000, was about three-quarters full for his address.

Obama said the Bush administration has done nothing to defuse a "quiet riot" among blacks that threatens to erupt just as riots in Los Angeles did 15 years ago.

The senator said that with black people from New Orleans and the Gulf Coast still displaced 20 months after Hurricane Katrina, frustration and resentments are building explosively as they did before the 1992 riots.

"This administration was colorblind in its incompetence," Obama said, "but the poverty and the hopelessness was there long before the hurricane.

"All the hurricane did was to pull the curtain back for all the world to see," he said. yes and the majority of the violent crime during the crisis was black on black, not white on white

Obama's criticism of Bush prompted ovation after ovation.

Repeatedly, he referred to the riots that erupted in Los Angeles after a jury acquitted four police officers of assault charges in the 1991 beating of Rodney King, a black motorist, after a high speed chase. Fifty-five people died and 2,000 were injured in several days of riots in the city's black neighborhoods.

"Those 'quiet riots' that take place every day are born from the same place as the fires and the destruction and the police decked out in riot gear and the deaths," Obama said. "They happen when a sense of disconnect settles in and hope dissipates. Despair takes hold and young people all across this country look at the way the world is and believe that things are never going to get any better." So is he sanctioning riots as a solution? Why no caution this is not the appropriate answer?

He argued that once a hurricane hits or a jury renders a not guilty verdict, "the frustration is there for all to see."

Obama, who is bidding to become the first black president, took the stage after a succession of ministers repeatedly brought the crowd to its feet, singing, praying and swaying to music.

Repeatedly, with evangelical zeal, he raised issues that roused the crowd: increasing the minimum wage and teacher pay, funding for public schools and college financial aid for the poor, ending predatory lending and expediting the reconstruction of New Orleans and the Mississippi coast.

He introduced his own pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright of Chicago's Trinity United as "Unashamedly Black and Unapologetically Christian." He credited Wright with introducing him to Christ, and peppered his speech with Scriptural references, at one point invoking the opening lines of the Lord's Prayer.

Obama noted that during the riots, a bullet pierced the abdomen of a pregnant woman and lodged in the elbow of her fetus. The baby was delivered by caesarian section, the bullet was removed and the child, Jessica Glennis Evers-Jones, has only a small scar on her arm to show for it.

Using the incident as a metaphor, Obama said society's problems are worsening because "in too many places across the country, we have not even bothered to take the bullet out."

"When we have more black men in prison than in college, then it's time to take the bullet out," he said. We all know about the cycle of poverty but why aren't our prisons full of black women as well? Well those women are the heads of households and the working, they made a different choice ! Family is key to overcoming the erosion he speaks of!

Obama doesn't regularly focus on racial themes in his standard campaign speeches. He did speak out on black issues in Selma, Ala., in March, when he told a largely black audience that he was a product of the civil rights movement and lectured blacks for failing to vote in large numbers. failure to vote only?

Several ministers at the conference said Obama's message and style plays well among black voters and with their spiritual leaders.

The Rev. Robert Abbott, pastor of the Holy Trinity Baptist Church in Amityville, N.Y., said Obama connects with black audiences because of the preacher's style he uses when addressing them.

"The way he sounds, it's like he can reach out and encourage people," Abbott said.

# Virginian-Pilot staff writer Steven G. Vegh and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

[nonesuche]

WELL I just checked my email, I went to Obama's website to send a letter of protest last night regarding his call to action for riots, of course they require you to 'sign up' to send an email?

Well this is in my mailbox, beats ALL, even Hillary's site isn't this overt or this money hungry !!!

Dear XXXXX,

Dinner with Barack?Most political fundraisers are hosted by lobbyists and filled with representatives of special interests.

But our campaign is different.

Our funding comes from a movement of Americans giving whatever they can afford, even $5, and Barack wants to sit down with supporters like you.

If you've ever thought about making a donation to join our campaign, now is the time. In the next week, four supporters will be selected for a new kind of fundraising dinner. We're reserving two of those seats for new donors like you.

If you make a donation in any amount between now and 11:59 pm EDT on Wednesday, June 13, you could join Barack and three other supporters for an intimate dinner for five.

https://donate.barackobama.com/dinnerforfive

Our movement is changing the way campaigns are funded. We’re not taking any contributions from Washington lobbyists or political action committees.

More than 100,000 individual donors have demonstrated that this choice is about more than an election. It’s about each of us having a personal stake in the future of American politics.

The dinner for five is an opportunity for you to sit down with Barack and your fellow supporters and talk about what matters to you.

Get the kind of treatment other politicians reserve for special interests. Make a donation in the next week, and you could share your story and your ideas with Barack in person:

https://donate.barackobama.com/dinnerforfive

With every single donation, we’re building a movement to change American politics. And this is just the beginning.

Thanks for your support,
David

David Plouffe
Campaign Manager
Obama for America

 

[mrs. red]

None,
Thanks for bringing all of this in here... it's very troublesome.  I completely agree with you on him... if he is elected it would be the absolute worst fate for this country....

I had mentioned before that I heard a clip from him speaking in Chicago where he sounds COMPLETELY ghetto and no where near the polished speaker that he is when speaking to "whites"... think he spoke the same language in Chicago's south side that he did in New Hampshire... think again.... and that is truly the "two America's"

[nonesuche]

Mrs I agree and I was just explaining to daughter last night, that at a time partisanship has ruled our congress and senate and is dragging our country down, here comes Obama doing basically the same thing but along racial lines?

I resent it, every bit as much as the partisanship. IMO there is no difference, Obama should represent leadership beyond all of this toward a future of compromise and to move ahead. His true colors really are shining now  

[crazybabyborg]

I'm speechless............well, almost.

I've been burning the candle at both ends and honestly wasn't aware of Obama's speech. Thank you, Mrs. Red, for bringing it here, and Nonesy, I have followed your lead and just went to Obama's site to protest as well.

The Church has traditionally been the grass roots of politics for the Black community and for a very viable Presidential Candidate to make such an incendiary speech to it's leaders was clearly to define an agenda. Obama understands well the emotion the black community brings to worship and he resurged the buzz words of divisiveness to inspire passion to vote for him. That was HIS whole agenda: not the agenda left with that influential audience.

I think he should be arrested as an insurgent and the black community needs to learn the concept of country not race, equality not preference,
self esteem not victimization, and opportunity instead of entitlement. The ideal of color BLINDNESS is the only path that leads to true equality and Obama has only exhibited his callous disregard for his audience by inciting emotions that are totally self serving, and undermine the black community to their detriment.

I'm in shock he had the gaul to throw out New Orlean's experience during and after Katrina to further his purpose. Can he say RAY NAGIN or CORRUPTION? The victims of both New Orlean's corruption and Katrina are true victims, but whose hand fashioned the victimization and what changes need to occur to actually insure that improvement is being made? The issues are "right and wrong", not black and white and that mindset is in dire need of being fostered by Black leaders to negate the debilitating perception of "hopeless victim begging for special consideration because we, as a group, have suffered mistreatment." Where's the ecouragement in that? Where's the empowerment? Tell your kids all their life that they "can't because they are" and they'll grow up with their hand out expecting the world owes them something! Their potential, without that victimization, has no chance.

The Rodney King incident was flat out wrong. It wasn't wrong because a black man was beaten by white cops. It was wrong because he was beaten. It wasn't wrong that Duke lacross players were falsely accused of a crime by a black woman, it was wrong because they were falsely accused. That message has power, unity, empowerment, and most importantly, that message holds the promise of a day when we all are colorblind but have perfect focus on enforcing the laws of our country to be the underpinning of justice that serves it's citizens equally.

Obama has shown himself to be dangerous, irresponsible, and wreckless. Those aren't exactly the qualities I want in my President!

[nonesuche]

well said CBB and in the name of christianity is what disturbs me so much about this. It's as if there are no lessons learned and yes, King preached from the pulpit for revolution and change but not for violence but for peaceful protest.

IMO Obama has done a disservice to King's memory. I also think what we're seeing is Obama and Sharpton might well be a real good fit. Both are radical in their stances.

Thank you for writing to him too CBB, I've pledged to quit griping so much and to write or do something about it instead, so if we all do more of this hopefully someone will listen?

I wrote Plouffe in return stating I didn't give dollars to support riot or recommendation of nor approval of riots. In essence Obama is advocating war in our own country IMO. How does that differ from him constantly exclaiming he didn't vote for the war in Iraq?

IMO he's shown what causes he's supporting and I guess global ones just aren't worth his time?

[LouiseVargas]

Uh oh, this is very disturbing re Obama. Whose votes is he seeking? All black with no whites, Hispanics, Asians, and others?

[mrs. red]

LV... if you could ONLY hear him in New Hampshire... all sweetness and light. He's a moderate that wants to change the world and he is educated and yet humble enough to make those changes...

and off to the "hood" - whitey has held us down for far too long... no matter that Oprah, Obama, Sameul L Jackson, Morgan Freeman, Condi Rice, Colin Powell, Clarence Thomas, Al Roker,  - do I keep going?  earn more by far than every white person I know... (personally) - and they are right there with white people in power and stature in their fields, but NO we are supposed to repay them because four generations ago something horrible was done to their ancestors.  NOT that in any way shape or form do I commend slavery, not even a little bit... but whatever give it up.

The most telling book was written by w.e.b. dubois during/pre the civil war... I wish it was required reading for everyone - it explains the dangers of people like Obama and Sharpton. To put it in a nutshell... there is only room for one or two at the top, therefore I will keep you down by feeding you a line about how you are "owed" - it's a subtle form of control that works by keeping those you wish to "follow you"  down and following... while you retain position and power.  Amazing that almost 200 years later people still fall for it.

[LouiseVargas]

Mrs.Red,

If Obama said "whitey has held us down for far too long." I feel the statement is scandalously anti white. No politician who seeks votes would be this loose lipped unless white votes are of no consequence.

[mrs. red]

Mrs.Red,

If Obama said "whitey has held us down for far too long." I feel the statement is scandalously anti white. No politician who seeks votes would be this loose lipped unless white votes are of no consequence.

LV,
I was basically paraphrasing from None's post.  The idea of reparations is, carried to its logical extreme, saying just that. Now I want to repeat... I do not for one second believe that slavery was in any way shape or form right - but we don't give reparations to the Irish "who need not apply" in segments of Boston, or we don't give reparations to Italians who are based upon ethinicity are accused of being in the mob.. in other words the list goes on and on.... I just think that Obama is not the right person for this country.

[IBE]

Recap
lived in LA during the 1992 riots sleeping with a rifle on the bed and the ammo clip on the night stand... now living in a city surrounded by LA and only 1 block where this city stopped the riot people for they knew the attitude of the police here was to shot first and ask questions later...the mall a block away held the National Guard and about 1 1/2 blocks away I worked weekends at age 51 at CompUSA here and had the parking lot and doors with National Guard.

Nonesuche
Thanks for posting this here. Am rereading here tomorrow. Don't like to hear him preaching and condoning any type of riot, anywhere.

I go into Central LA and one of our District units is 1 light over from where the riots started... we sure don't need any more!!!

They still haven't rebuilt where some buildings were burnt before.

LA govt has research on the riots... it is believed to have been orchestrated by those who wanted to steal and create harm and the others went along as sheep. I saw two men in suits robbing a computer store driving a BMW!!!

Keep posting. I'll be back soon and decided some personal action.

PS.. ever think that Paris had to go back to jail so we wouldn't have another riot here??? Makes one think about it.

Keep up the Good Work! Love, IBE

[justinsmama]

I'm amazed that reading the same piece is understood so differently by those reading it.

[nonesuche]

Justins-

He wants your money and my money, for his election. Instead of responding to my email sent not to him but to campaign management for answers, I get a call out for money also with a manipulation pull of you might be one of the lucky ones to get a private dinner?

I KNOW that's manipulation of the first order.

[mrs. red]

Also a call to reparations is in my eyes just fostering horrible race relations....
and carried to it's logical extreme, it is what it is....

[nonesuche]

FYI Hillary is now zooming past Obama in the polls, I could have predicted this post that speech by Obama.

He's just proven to me he isn't a great strategist, he is shooting his own candidacy in the foot with the reparations drive and as a result, IMO he's not the president for me. I want one that can see the big picture and drive toward solutions for mammoth global problems and not just domestic issues.