Barack Obama in Manning, SC

[alteredstate]

Here's an excerpt from Senator Obama's speech in Manning today:

"It’s a special honor to be here in Clarendon County. Because Clarendon County is the place that showed me and showed America that when ordinary people come together, they can do extraordinary things.

That’s the Clarendon County I know.

I know how sixty years ago, the NAACP’s James Hinton dared to ask why white children could ride buses to school but black children had to walk.

I know how Reverend J.A. DeLaine, a preacher and teacher in Summerton, heard that call and joined with Levi Pearson, a father who was sick and tired of seeing his children walk nine miles to school, and with Harry and Eliza Briggs and more than a dozen other Black parents to challenge unequal education.

I know that because of that challenge, Harry Briggs lost his job at the local service station, Eliza Briggs lost hers at a local hotel, and Reverend DeLaine’s home was burned to the ground while the fire department stood by and watched.

It would have been easy for them to stay home. To heed the voices of caution and convenience that said, “wait,” “the timing isn’t right,” or “the country just isn’t ready.” It would have been easy for them to give in to the fears that no doubt kept them awake some nights.

But I know that because they were willing to overcome their fears and reach for a larger dream, the Supreme Court overturned “separate but equal,” and Congress passed the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act.

And I know that I stand on their shoulders, that their courage and sacrifice six decades ago makes it possible for me to run today for President of the United States.

So I know Clarendon County. The Clarendon County that showed a nation how to look up rather than down. The Clarendon County that made a claim on the American Dream. The Clarendon County that changed the course of history.

But I also know another Clarendon County.

I know schools in the Corridor of Shame.

I know J.V. Martin Junior High School in Dillon was built more than a century ago, and for years had shattered windows, leaking ceilings, and broken bathrooms.

I know South Carolina has the worst high school dropout rate in America.

I know that all across this nation, one out of every four children go to schools just like J. V. Martin, and take away the same message that we don’t care enough about their education to do better by them.

I know that America today is still blind to the poverty in our midst, and that we still tolerate Jena justice for some and Scooter Libby justice for others.

I know that Black parents in Clarendon are still having to go to court to give their children an equal education – fifty years after Brown v. Board of Education.

There is another side of Clarendon County, another side of America, still waiting for what Harry and Eliza Briggs hoped and struggled for. The hope that our children’s destinies aren’t written before they are born. The hope that one day the world as it is and the world as it should be might be one and the same.

That is why I stand before you today as a candidate for President of the United States of America."

[illinoisprogressive]

1. They showed a clip of it on hardball. Thanks for the pics.

[Name removed]

2. Deleted sub-thread

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[Name removed]

3. Deleted message

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[PurityOfEssence]

4. Come on. Gently now, must there ALWAYS be a preacher in the ceremony?

Couldn't he have found a good example from the laity? Surely some actions of note happened in the civil rights movement that weren't done simply because the clergy joined in the fray.

This is getting very annoying. It's cloying and quite disturbing: he's CONSTANTLY wrapping himself up in the cloth with these praise-filled moments for important social movements of the past.

It's one thing to court the religious vote, but it's another to subtly equate all goodness in the world with the action of or practitioners of christianity. This is dangerous conflation and whether it's tactically advantageous for him, it muddies the waters way too much. This is really getting out of hand.

Are we to just sit mildly by and watch the endorsement of religion as virtually indispensable to any goodness in life be chorused night and day like a swarm of blissful cicadas chirping the joy of a superior way of living? Please knock it the fuck off.

This isn't just a passing tendency or additional theme, it's getting to be the point itself, and that's way too messianic for my taste. Can someone please get to this guy and point out that even if this does sew up some momentarily crucial flocks, it's not appropriate.

[incapsulated]

5. Stalking every single Obama thread

No matter WHAT it is about, no matter how benign, to bring up the whole McClurkin thing is really tired.

I criticized him over it many times but come on, the man isn't going to bow out over it and his supporters aren't going away.

Start a new thread on the whole other issue if you must but this sort of thread hijacking is stupid and annoying. No matter who is doing it or why. You aren't going to open any minds or change anyone's support with this sort of shit.

[ClarkUSA]

6. To all those participating: Hijacking threads is against DU rules

"Stay on topic. Do not jump into an unrelated discussion and introduce a barely-relevant tangent."

http://www.democraticunderground.com/forums/rules_detailed.html

I suggest y'all break this habit.

[alteredstate]

7. Thanks.