Now That the Smoke Has Cleared...

Barack Obama showed up at high noon in the center of town. He turned and walked 20 paces. As the people braced for what was about to happen, he reached for his weapon and fired. *POW* A thick cloud of smoke makes it difficult to see who got hit...

After yesterday's events I was left feeling deflated, despondent, discouraged, in disbelief, dismayed and downright dissed. Over the last 24 hours I've received irate phone calls, traded emails, read blog sites and analysis, listened to national radio commentary, and pondered the question "Where do we go from here?" I was emotional when it first happened. I and many in my circle were disappointed. We were numb, not able to comprehend what we had just heard.

Psalm 46:10 is one of my favorite, favorite scriptures and I have learned over the years to "Be still...". Sometimes we need to stop, take a deep breath and just be still. Let the dust settle and the smoke clear. Never make an emotional decision.

Roland Martin, CNN commentator has eloquently put this whole situation into perspective.

Now, let's refocus. Let's take back our agenda. Let's put the issues back on the table and not be duped by a cleverly constructed smoke screen. Jeremiah Wright is not running for President. He is not responsible for the state we are in and he will not create the policies that will change our course. YES, Barack Obama is a politician, but let us not buy into the subtle distrust that is feeding the division. We are not choosing between Obama and Wright.

To quote the song my mama used to sing around the house when times were hard, "Nobody told me that the road would be easy...I don't believe He brought me this far to leave me." Listen folks, we've come too far as a people to have this page in history re-written before it even makes it into the book. We need to finish this and not allow them to use fear to run us back into the house and into the fields.

I referred to the Willie Lynch letter yesterday and it bears repeating:

"...I take these differences and make them bigger. I use FEAR, DISTRUST and ENVY for control purposes. Don’t forget, you must pitch the OLD black male vs. the YOUNG black male, and the YOUNG black male against the OLD black male....BEING A FOOL IS ONE OF THE BASIC INGREDIENTS OF ANY INCIDENTS TO THE MAINTENANCE OF THE SLAVERY SYSTEM."

Don't be fooled. On BOTH sides of the table, Republican and Democratic, they are all sitting together in the back rooms smoking cigars, drinking brandy, and slapping high fives. Amused at how after hundreds of years, it's still working like a charm. Meanwhile, we're distracted, fighting, arguing, bickering, and assassinating one another's character for the sake of posturing and looking good in front of "them". They want us to turn on him. They want us to despise and distrust him. They want us to do the dirty work of tearing him down. In no way am I suggesting that we not hold him accountable as we should do with ANY and EVERY elected official. What I am saying is that we need to STAY FOCUSED on November. STAY FOCUSED on January. STAY FOCUSED on healthcare, education, economy, foreign policy, supreme court appointments, and all the other issues that will affect our children's children. As one of my good friends always says - don't fall for the banana in the tailpipe. IT'S A TRICK, A DISTRACTION, SMOKE & MIRRORS!!!

The Civil War ended over 140 years ago. North and South pitted brother against brother and they shed the blood of their fathers. Now it's time to get on the same side despite our differences and despite our disagreements. This time we know what we're fighting for, and we know who our enemy is. Turn the page. Change the subject.

Yes We [Still] Can.

Obama vs. Wright: Divide and Conquer

"...I HAVE OUTLINED A NUMBER OF DIFFERENCES AMONG THE SLAVES; AND I TAKE THESE DIFFERENCES AND MAKE THEM BIGGER. I USE FEAR, DISTRUST AND ENVY FOR CONTROL PURPOSES. ...DISTRUST IS STRONGER THAN TRUST AND ENVY STRONGER THAN ADULATION, RESPECT OR ADMIRATION. The Black slaves after receiving this indoctrination shall carry on and will become self-refueling and self-generating for HUNDREDS of years, maybe THOUSANDS. Don’t forget, you must pitch the OLD black male vs. the YOUNG black male, and the YOUNG black male against the OLD black male.

...BEING A FOOL IS ONE OF THE BASIC INGREDIENTS OF ANY INCIDENTS TO THE MAINTENANCE OF THE SLAVERY SYSTEM."

Excerpts from the "Willie Lynch letter: The Making of a Slave".

I got a call while I was out at lunch from my girlfriend Tiffany. Sounding alarmed and excited, she wanted to know if I was watching CNN. She mentioned that she was in a restaurant or something and could see the picture but not hear the what was being said. Barak Obama was on and the words she was reading did not sound so good. As I turned on CNN for myself, I was in total shock at the words splattered across the screen. Barak Obama was standing at a podium at a press conference, visibly ticked-off, disclaiming everything (see Obama 'outraged' by Wright's remarks article at CNN.com) that Rev. Jeremiah Wright said yesterday during the National Press Club appearance.

Obama took questions from the press and was clear to brand Wright's appearance before the National Press Club yesterday (see video here) as a "performance" saying "yesterday was a bunch of rants not grounded in truth." "It was a show of disrespect to me...she [Michelle] was similarly angered." Obama also stated that everything that Rev. Wright said contradicts who he is and what he believes and that Wright didn't show consideration for him or his campaign.

Now, the question that the media has posed for weeks is how will Rev. Wright affect Barak Obama's electability? Prior to today, I would have said that it wouldn't have had much of an effect, but now I'm not so sure. Is Barak getting caught playing politics? Is Rev. Wright insensitive to Barak's campaign and speaking out at the wrong time? Should Barak have stood strong in defense of his pastor? Should Wright have backed out of the spotlight to let Obama shine?

The bible says that a house divided against itself cannot stand. The Willie Lynch letter (whether fictional or not) proves that division can be institutionalized and used for generations to control people. I believe that we are in the midst of watching that theory try to play itself out. Pitting old black man against the young black man and the young black man against the old black man. Now, we are taking sides. We either agree with the old black man or the young black man. We are deciding to vote for Obama or against him based on whether or not we perceive that he is standing up for his "house". We have watched the media create a frenzy around Rev. Wright and Obama. They have injected distrust and anger, fears and vocabulary words that most of us have now incorporated into our normal lexicon. We are now standing on two sides. Divided by our desire to see history made and our desire to make a sound decision that will impact our generations. Divided by our desire to hear Obama stand up for Rev. Wright and our knowing that he has to play the political game. Divided by the feeling that Barak sold Wright out for political gain and that Wright sold Obama out for the purpose of pontification.

Karl Rove recently published an article giving some "advice" to Barak Obama and I hate to say I saw it coming, but his #2 pointer was:

When you get into trouble, pick one, simple explanation. And stay with it. Take the Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr. You said you weren't sitting in church when he said those ugly things. Two days later, you excused him, saying his comments didn't give "a well-rounded portrait" of him. Two days after that, you condemned his statements as "not only wrong but divisive" but still couldn't "disavow him" any more than you could your grandmother. Ten days later, you implied if Wright hadn't retired, you might have left his church. It would have been better to say from the start that Wright's words were wrong and offensive and you should have spoken out earlier. The applause would have been deafening.

Is Obama buckling under the pressure to conform to Washington politics? I wonder if we will see his campaign strategy conform to Rove's advice. I'll be watching closely. You should too.

These recent developments beg us to revisit the question, "What is the Prize?"

Public Enemy #1

I have to admit that before today, I had never purposed to read one of Dr. Martin Luther King's speeches. The "I Have a Dream Speech" runs every year in January and again in February for Black History Month. People of various backgrounds - conservative, liberal, black, white, male, female - all seemly have acquiesced to the notion that MLK is the greatest example of a black American to have ever lived. I'm amused when I read comments on blogs and hear media pundits exclaiming that MLK was a great American and that he taught love and tolerance. He was never divisive or anti-American.

The idea here is to contrast Rev. Jeremiah Wright, the profound pastor who has recently been thrust into the international spotlight (not of his own choice), with Dr. Martin Luther King who is the "American standard" by which the black church and black preachers are to be measured.

In reading an article in Time.com (excerpt below), my thirst for knowing more about MLK heightened.

Many Americans who were shocked by the clips of Wright's sermons have only known a Disney-fied version of the black church. We know about the good music,
but don't listen to the lyrics of pain and suffering. We praise the rousing preaching without paying attention to the words. Civil rights leaders have become aging wise men revered for their inspirational sayings, not radical activists who preached truth to power. "There is so much more going on in black churches than gospel music," says Emilie Townes, professor of African American religion at Yale Divinity School.

The poster boy of the reimagined black church is Martin Luther King, Jr. "King said America suffered from a 'congenital disease' and that disease is racism," notes Eddie Glaude, Princeton professor of religion. He says that King's speech against the Vietnam War, delivered at Riverside Church in April 1967, was not a feel-good speech. "It was a passionate cry to speak to these enormous problems that were linked to America's imperialism and militarism, and what he saw as the evils of capitalism." By that point int his career, King had been banned from Lyndon Johnson's White House. The New York Times condemned his speech, running an editorial calling it "Dr. King's Error." And Barry Goldwater said King "bordered a little bit on treason."

Everybody wants to have the race conversation, but no one wants to hear what's being said. Rev. Wright has been nothing if not consistent in his cry for unification despite our differences in race, faith, education, social class, or political preference. The media is on a daily mission to parse out certain statements that Rev. Wright has made and spin them into a series of whacked-out, hate-spewing, race-baiting rants of an angry black man stuck in a 1960s mentality. He has become the poster child for everything that's wrong in America. Rev. Jeremiah Wright is public enemy #1. This has nothing to do with Barack Obama. It has everything to do with the a sense of entitlement that tells certain people that they have a valid voice and that others who do not meet the media's approval or makes the status quo uncomfortable need to disappear or be exiled to outer darkness.

This episode in our history is riveting, stimulating, and infuriating all at the same time. The lack of objective reporting in the media is being revealed and exposed like never before. The accessibility of the internet is allowing us to seek out the truth for ourselves and make our own intelligent decisions. The media would have you believe that "mainstream America" is so outraged over Rev. Wright's remarks and ready to burn him at the stake, but I believe that is the furthest from the truth. They want us to think that he is wrong and they are right. They want us to believe that he is an elitist who is dividing this great nation and that poor and disenfranchised blacks now have an excuse to be uneducated, angry, and violent because Wright is stirring the pot. They would have you believe that he is a media hungry, arrogant, anti-Christian heretic. They are afraid that this intelligent, black, scholar who speaks 5 languages has 2 masters degrees and has influence beyond their control - will raise blacks and whites to a higher level of consciousness. Don't allow television to brainwash you into thinking that the FoxNews and CNN analysts are right and everyone else is wrong.

It's time to turn the tables on the media. Talk about it, blog about it, email about it, comment about it. Go on CNN.com, FoxNews.com, MSNBC.com, Time.com and any other site you come across and let your voices be heard. Gone are the days of objective journalism. There is no such thing as fair and balanced. Turn the tables on the media who is pushing their agenda on you and PUSH BACK! The time for silence is over. This is a call for change.

The Time is WRIGHT!

To quote CNN anchor Rick Sanchez, "an unbelievable speech!" The Rev. Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr. delivered in Detroit at the NAACP's Freedom Fund Dinner. (read CNN article here)

See the speech in its entirety in four parts here.

I have heard many people, black and white, ponder why Rev. Jeremiah Wright did not just slink away into the shadows and disappear for the sake of Barack Obama's campaign. The assumption is that he should be so ashamed and live in isolation and condemnation for remarks that were taken out of context. Oh, how they miscalculated and underestimated this Man of God.

My friend Daniel and I were trading text messages as his address to the NAACP was progressing and Daniel mentioned that he liked the mix of "Christ and justice." My response was that it was not a mix. One cannot exist without the other. Rev. Wright's voice has been exposed to the world for an express purpose. The bible says that if hell and satan's demons had known who Jesus was, they would have never crucified him. I venture to say that if FoxNews, and the media lynch mob who propagated their agenda against Obama by continually blowing up sound bites, had known who Jeremiah Wright was, they would have NEVER given him the platform that he has been catapulted to today.

The time is right for Jeremiah Wright. He has the ears of the world hanging on his every word. The theme of his speech was that African Americans are "different, not deficient" and that a change is gonna come. It was funny, it was serious, it was responsible, it was honest, it was enlightening, it was thought provoking, and it was convicting. Barack Obama's "A More Perfect Union" speech on race in America may have been been a spark, but Rev. Wright's speech was a like fire from heaven.

UPDATE: Controversial North Carolina Republican Ad

Check out the ad below. These people are crazy for real.

To voice your disgust with this ad email the N.C. Republican Party at mailto:email@ncgop.org.

By now you've heard the rumbling about the television ad that is set to run in North Carolina on Monday. It was created by the N.C. Republican Party and John McCain has called it despicable and not a reflection of the tone of his campaign, yet the party chairwoman Linda Daves has refused to pull the ad.

The ad is an attack against two North Carolina Democratic gubernatorial candidates, but the punchline is an association that they try to draw between the two candidates endorsement of Barack Obama, and the controversial remarks made by Rev. Jeremiah Wright. This ad is such a stretch and absolutely manufactures a theory that because Obama's former pastor is controversial and the state's democratic candidates endorse Obama, then somehow the judgement of the candidates needs to be questioned because of Obama's past affiliation with Wright. (...WTH?)

I got the opportunity to hear Ms. Daves give a live interview with Michael Baisden and Roland Martin this afternoon, and I tell you, she is in another world (check out Roland's blog on essence.com for his perspective). To hear her condescending tone and race baiting was infuriating. She tried to insinuate that Roland was an angry black man. She talked down to both Michael and Roland like they were third graders. Daves sounded like one of those people who is finally the head of something and now is drunk with power. She constantly reiterated that she was the chairman of the North Carolina Republican Party and it was her duty to ensure that the people of North Carolina questioned the judgement of the two candidates and that they issue a "denounce and reject" type statement of Jeremiah Wright (who has absolutely nothing to do with politics in North Carolina!).

To top it all, John McCain has "asked" that the ad be pulled as it is not a reflection of the kind of campaign that he wants to run. Daves has refused to do so and will run the ad starting Monday. Obama campaign spokesman, Hari Sevugan, just released this statement: “The fact that Senator McCain can’t get his own party to take down this misleading, personal attack ad raises serious questions about his promise to the American people that he will run a civil, respectful campaign.”

Rev. Jeremiah Wright Speaks

After much character assassination and condemnation by the media, Rev. Jeremiah Wright has finally emerged and is ready to talk. In an interview with PBS that will air Friday, Wright expressed frustration with how his sermons had been portrayed by the news media and critics of Obama's White House bid. (source)

“I felt it was unfair,” he told PBS' Bill Moyers according to released excerpts. “I felt it was unjust. I felt it was untrue. I felt that those who were doing that, were doing it for some very devious reasons.” Speaking to PBS, Wright did not recant his past sermons. "The persons who have heard the entire sermon understand the communication perfectly," he said.

"The message that is being communicated by the sound bites is exactly what those pushing those sound bites want to communicate," he said, adding later, “I think they wanted to communicate that I am unpatriotic, that I am un-American, that I am filled with hate speech, that I have a cult at Trinity United Church of Christ — and by the way, guess who goes to his church, hint, hint, hint? That’s what they wanted to communicate.”

Wright also said he has never discussed politics with Obama. “He goes out as a politician and says what he has to say as a politician. I continue to be a pastor who speaks to the people of God about the things of God.”

I don't know about you, but I am tired of hearing about this. Apparently, this is the only ammunition that anyone has on Obama and most of it was manufactured and sensationalized for dramatic effect. Here are several reasons why this is not important:

1. gas costs $4/gal

2. teenagers have STDs, are planning bombings and attacks, and beating each other up on video

3. people are losing their homes to foreclosure

4. jobs are shutting down or laying off

5. rice is being rationed at Sams and Costco

6. 8-year olds are being abused and working in slave sweatshops to produce shrimp

We seriously need to start boycotting the news organizations for keeping this mess alive. Enough is enough.

Michelle Obama on The Colbert Report

If you missed The Colbert Report on Tuesday when Michelle Obama was on, check out the clip below. It's about 7 minutes long, but it's an easy watch. Stephen Colbert is funny as usual and Mrs. Obama certainly holds her own. She is sharp!

Highlights of Obama/Clinton Debate in Philly

Democratic Presidential hopefuls Hillary Clinton and Barak Obama squared off in what was the 21st debate of the campaign season. Prior to tonight, the last debate was in late February. Let's recap everything that has happened with these two since the last debate:

BARAK OBAMA
~ Photo of Obama in native Kenyan garb. Accusations of secret Muslim agenda.
~ Michelle Obama's 'proud to be an American' comment.
~ Geraldine Ferraro's comments.
~ Rev. Jeremiah Wright firestorm.
~ Obama's "A More Perfect Union" speech on race in America.
~ Gov. Bill Richardson endorsement.
~ Obama's 'bitter' comment.

HILLARY CLINTON
~ '3 a.m.' ad campaign
~ Clinton refuses to concede defeat
~ Won Texas and Ohio
~ Clinton's ex-pastor agrees with Rev. Wright
~ Chelsea's 'Lewinsky' response
~ Clinton likens herself to Rocky Balboa
~ Bosnia sniper fire fiasco
~ Clinton releases tax returns (made $109M from 2000-2007)
~ Hillary asks Bill Clinton to shut up about Bosnia.

Anyway, the Philadelphia debate aired tonight and with all that has happened since the last debate, there was much to be discussed. The question is, will they get beyond rehashing the same old sticky subjects and talk about the real issues? Here are the highlights:

The first 45 minutes were about silly stuff that won't go away in the news. The remaining 45 minutes were about the issues. Hillary Rodham Clinton hammered away at Barack Obama while an annoyed Obama accused her of turning off voters by pouncing on gaffes instead of discussing grave problems like the economy and Iraq.

Q1: Will either candidate consider the other for VP?
A1: No...we need to figure out who the Presidential nominee is first

Each candidate acknowledged that the other was capable of winning.

Q2: Sen. Obama - Explain the 'bitter' remarks
A2: He acknowledged that it is not the first time he has mangled a statement. Obama went on to say that people who feel that they are not being heard will rely on what they know, such as religion and traditions.

He said he was attempting to say that because voters feel ignored by government, "they end up being much more concerned about votes around things like guns where traditions have been passed on from generation to generation. And those are incredibly important to them." "People don't cling to their traditions on hunting and guns" out of frustration with their government, Clinton said. She added that Obama had a fundamental misunderstanding on the role of religion and faith.

Both pledged not to raise taxes on individuals making less than $200,000, and said they would respond forcefully if Iran obtains nuclear weapons and uses them against Israel.

They differed over Social Security when Obama said he favored raising payroll taxes on higher-income individuals. Clinton said she was opposed, her rival quickly cut in and countered that she had said earlier in the campaign she was open to the idea.

Clinton issued a first-ever public apology for having claimed erroneously that she landed in Bosnia under sniper fire in 1996 as first lady. "I may be a lot of things but I am not dumb," she said, "I wrote about going to Bosnia in my book in 2004. I laid it all out there. ... On a couple of occasions in the last weeks, I just said some things that weren't in keeping with what I knew to be the case. ... I'm embarrassed by it. I have apologized for it." She previously had explained her incorrect comments by saying she had misspoken.

Obama later erred by saying he had never favored a ban on handguns even though as a state Senate candidate in 1996 he filled out a questionnaire from an Illinois voter group saying he would support such a ban."My writing wasn't on that particular questionnaire ... as I said, I have never favored an all-out ban on handguns," Obama said, even though his handwritten notes did appear on its front page. The response to the question about guns was typed.

Neither rival was willing to say they would ask President Bush to serve in any capacity after he leaves office. Obama volunteered he would be "more likely to ask the advice of the current president's father. He said, that as president, George H. W. Bush had presided over a "wise foreign policy" at the time the Cold War was ending.

Of course the Rev. Wright issue came up and they also debated some of the issues, but for the most part, it was much of the same.

On a side-note, I always enjoy the buzzwords and phrases that are tossed around by every news organization and pundit when certain topics become hot. Remember these: Hussein, patriotism, ready on day one, experienced, reject, denounce, incendiary, inflammatory, divisive, historic, race conversation, bitter-gate, elitist, shame on you.

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