“We ask you to help us work for that day when black will not be asked to give back, when brown can stick around, when yellow will be mellow, when the red man can get ahead, man, and when white will embrace what is right,” ~ Rev. Joseph Lowery
Inaugural Benediction
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45 comments:
This is typical for somebody like this to say...I thought that the white man was being asked to give back for what our ancestors did to the black ancestors over 100 years ago. All is rediculous....
This was not a prayer. It was a racist speech.
Mike, you had to hear it. I got to hear about the last 15 minutes of the ceremony. It was a call for everyone to be good to each other and to live together in peace and prosper together.
He delivered it in a way that was the comic relief in a serious ceremony, and people of all races and faiths had a good chuckle. Put a smile on my face, too!
It's all good.
Don't worry, be happy!
There actually ARE two Americas!
In one America it's ok to be rascist
In one America it's ok to be intolerant
What if a white conservative said this of the black/red/brown/yellow man?
Scary times ahead folks!
my jaw dropped too!!!!
Only a Black man could get away with a Racial closing like that and have no criticism.
That man is outrageous -- as is his hero, the Big O man.
i personally thought it was the best line of the day :)
Agree 100% with anon 3:04.
Joseph Lowery is the "REAL DEAL". He is a civil rights icon that walked side by side with Dr. King.
What he said was a phrase used throughtout those times. It basically we still have work to do on the subject of racial equality.
I can't imagine how you would think it is offensive. You should listening very carefully instead of trying to criticize.
And Anon: 3:11pm white conservatives say a look worse than this non issue, just look at this site.
Hey Dems -- your asked for it, so you had best be happy now because it's not gonna last long. For every action there's an equal and opposite reaction!
PS- Where's the Right Rev. Wright these days?
Anon: 3:13pm
Actually he is The Big O's hero.
Know your history.
Obama is already proving his great capability -- to be divisive (sure, he's good a sugar-coating it). Move over Bill Clinton & Barrie Tilghman, you can't touch the BO in B-S-ability.
In a time when Obama is trying to draw us together, those remarks were totally inappropriate. All they did was serve to remind us of our differences. I wonder if he approved that benediction beforehand.
Agree with Anon 3:08 & 3:17, did not believe it to be racist at all.
Watched with 50 co-workers at lunch, we got a chuckle out of it.
I'm OK with it. I think it was a call for unity. A very oddly worded call for unity. It sounded more like a poorly written children's book. I did not vote for Obama but he is now the Commander in Chief of the greatest country in the world and he was put there through a democratic vote of the people of this country. Therefore he deserves the respect of every citizen of this country, those who voted for him and those who did not. Until he screws the pooch he will have my respect. I simply hope he has my respect for a long time.
I'm SO glad to see that someone caught all of the Reverend's benediction enough to quote it!
THANK you for sharing it!
It even got a triple "Amen" from me, right along with the THOUSANDS in attendance, who felt strongly enough about being a part of such an historical and pivotal moment in this country's history, to actually BE there in person.
And I don't pray, nor consider myself as one to ascribe to ANY religious doctrine/dogma.
And it's a real shame that some people will continue to perpetuate racial bigotry by continuously making ethnicity some sort of issue.
We VOTED for a "Leader".
He was sworn into Office today. Let him lead, already.
And may his example prove to be one we are ALL motivated to support AND follow.
Someone needed to check the misguided reverand's speech... That was Not a good thing to say, especially today.
used up 60s rhetoric...
i too want equality among the races.
and we can never have it as long as things like affirmative action exists.
true equality provides no special privileges to anyone
I actually just read on a message board that that quote was from a freedom fighter song written in the 1960's. I'll see if I can find a legitmate news story about it, rather than just heresay from a message board.
Still, I don't think it was appropriate to use.
"and WHEN white will embrace what is right." the problem is the word WHEN. Without the white the black man would have never been elected so in reality did the white man do right?
Thank you, 3:23 PM, for putting those words into context for me. I only caught the very last part of the benediction---but I can't say I think that political and/or humorous comments should be part of a benediction. Just doesn't set right with me.
The inaugural speech is where we need to focus.
grannydragon said...
Thank you, 3:23 PM, for putting those words into context for me. I only caught the very last part of the benediction---but I can't say I think that political and/or humorous comments should be part of a benediction. Just doesn't set right with me.
4:14 PM
Grannydragon,
You are welcome. Please remember also that Rev Lowery is an old school African American preacher.
The style of prayer he uses is typical within his church. The ended was a Civil Rights mantra from the 1960's. I swore it was part of a joke!
wow, such complainers!
I think we should next contact the inventor of the peanut butter and jelly sandwich, bc it is complete prejudice towards the jelly.
It was a definite distraction and detraction from the hope & opportunity of the moment. To use sixties rhetoric that was nothing more than making silly rhymes to perpetuate racial sterotypes was simple minded & childish at best; at worst, it was an insult to everyone, including President Obama! Surely the man could have done better than that!
Anon 4:43 I like jam
Teresa,
The Dems and Obama are the ones bringing up race and making it an issue.
As long as we classify people by race, race will be an issue. And as long as we give to particular races to even out past injustices, we never move forward.
And oh yeah, He's mixed race, not black. Which is a good thing. A mixed race president represents this country better than anyone. Why is the media so scared to call him bi-racial or mixed race?????
Tiger Woods wasn't!
BC in NC
ps...It's snowing in NC today!!
Sorry Walter,
The man paid his dues in this country.
We owe him, including Obama, more than he owes us.
What I get out of that little rhyme is that as long as "white" people bow down to allow other races to win, then the "whites" have done right.
Which eludes to meaning ...If "whites" lose , they have done right. Which evolves to... As long as any race except "whites" come out ahead it is right.
Which means ...if your "white" you are destined to be less than any other race.
Which is the biggest insult and worst intention to promote equality amoungst all races.
In other words ....What a sack of crap. I still remember how obama constructed his campaign around being " a person of color" and it has no support of mine.
Does anyone know how to denouce citizenship leagally and then to aquire a green card and get a exemption of having to pay taxes for the next seven years ?
it was funny--you had to watch it to get it.
When white will embrace what is right means, when white people will recognize that all people are created equal. Nothing more, nothing less.
5:59,
I didn't say the man wasn't legit.
I said the rhyme was childish, sterotypical, and was an embarrassment to the presidential proceedings and the nation.
He may have marched with Dr. King, but I have to believe Dr. King was a much superior thinker, who if he weren't the president, himself, would have infinitely more appropriate words for the solemn occasion!
Peace
With out losers there are no winners. With out color there is no contrast. With out sorrow there is no joy. With out difference there is no opinion. And with out races there is no variety.
Or do you know better than GOD.
Racism is a issue created to distract people from what is happening around them. I am beginning to beleive the democrats were the people who invented this "smoke screen" in the first place as a distraction so as not to answer for their "bad" decissions, instead of taking responsibility for their actions.
How much taxpayer dollars have been wasted the last two days? If this is an example of the change Obama has promised the US will be bankrupt in 4 years, but of course Bush will be blamed.
When will they stop playing the race card? I say never because people like Al, Jesse, Rev. Wright etc. will have nothing to do. They are now holding the highest position in the world or at least half of it. I hope and pray one day they really mean equal rights, but really they want unequal rights.
We all know what the #1 problem is.
" When white will embrace what is right means, when white people will recognize that all people are created equal. Nothing more, nothing less.
6:28 PM"
I am white and have always recognized this, and gotten over it. I don't look at someone's color and judge them. I am colorblind. why can't people focus on Obama the Man, and not Obama the BLACK man. I don't trust him or his ideas, and it has nothing to do with his color. his ideas are representative of his party and ilk. if he was lilly white and came straight from Scandinavia I would still distrust him. Hillary, Biden, and all of the early Dem front runners had similar ideas, proven by the fact that they supported his candidacy and have/will benefit from his election. but I am tagged "Racist" when I disagree with him. that's repugnant to me.
One of Obama's theme does ring true with me- Hope. I hope he does what he says he can do. I hope he doesn't screw it up worse than it already is. I hope that he doesn't spend his full 4 years pointing fingers at who he thinks is to blame.
ANON5:59PM -
I owe Obama? He's President for cryin' out loud.
Guess we should petition the Pope to canonize him.
When he's made a saint, then will "white"(y) have embraced what's right?
Did you vheck his birth certficate?
TO BC in NC, who wrote: "A mixed race president represents this country better than anyone. "
_________________________________
I couldn't agree with you more on this point, especially! :)
But I hesitate to pin the "blame" on "democrats" OR on "Obama supporters" for the perpetuation of racism.
We ALL have our part (to varying degrees) in it, imho, even if we don't want to admit it.
I think the media made the biggest ruckus about race, personally. *shrugs*
It's natural for human beings to discriminate among so many different things. We do it to help decide where we fit in with Life... where our personal niche might be.
And it's natural for someone to be proud of an accomplishment, especially one which seemed insurmountable by everyone else in the world.
So it stands to reason that President Obama, would be exceedingly proud of THIS accomplishment... and it makes total sense to me that those who identify with ANY part of his being, would wear that connection proudly as well.
I hold hope that race will become "old news" as early as today. I HAVE to hold that hope, even though it's unrealistic.
People are going to discredit the President's successes as riding the coat-tails of the outgoing administration or some other ridiculous thing... and some people will find some way to tie the color of his skin to his less-than-successful moments, too.
It's just how humans are, unfortunately.
And I don't see this election, OR ANY part of the inauguration ceremonies, as "trying to make up for" past transgressions, either.
(I personally don't see why prayer services belong in a public innauguration ceremony in the first place).
(I know you didn't say anything about this particular bit of the discussion personally. I'm just responding to multiple points in one post here).
It's simply not POSSIBLE to "make up for" entire generations of people enslaved and brutalized to such an extent.
An example to illustrate my point, would be having the audacity to assume that the Nazi's could ever "make up for" the hundreds of thousands of live's taken in concentration camps(MILLIONS if one counts the legacy left for descendants).
I only chose that example because everyone in the world knows about that part of history, not for some covert, rhetorical agenda, so please people....let's not.
How ludacris and down-right POMPOUS, imho, to even assume reparations can even begin to be made.
It's time to accept that some things simply cannot be "taken back" or "made up for"... put it to bed and look forward to making the FUTURE something worth looking forward to again.
That's what President Obama stands for here, and he's got an INCREDIBLY hard road ahead of him.
I wouldn't trade places with President Obabma for ANYTHING in the world.
P.S.
Besides, it could be a VERY short "future". Dec 21, 2012 is ast approaching you know *snickers*
P.P.S.
I MISS snow! :)
Individual perception is the curse here.
20 people witness an accident and are asked to recount it... there will be 20 different interpretations, some with similar points... and some with absolutely way-OUT-there points.
Millions of people heard the Rev's Benediction... and everyone who DID, will interpret what it means, TO THEM... and apply it... or denounce it... in entirety or partiality... or tweak it a bit here and there to suit them... or (insert whatever you will do with it here).
There will be interpretations which are similar and interpretations which are dissenting.
And in America, we won't be sanctioned/tortured/killed/penalized etc. for doing so!
Might be moved to be SQUELCHED to preserve harmony at times, but since when is THAT new?
I squleched the part of me that objects VEHEMENTLY to the practice of mixing religion with affairs of Government... and I am enriched for having done so this time, imho.
I never heard that piece when it was orginally penned (born in '65) and I found humor in it as well as wisdom.
Theresa
*BIG smiles*
Thank You Moderator, Who-ever-you-are-that-fixed-that-little-posting-screw-up-for-me"!
Sincerely appreciated :)
Kudos to 4:43!!!!
You all need to take a second and breathe....then give this office a chance. Oh yeah...FYI - I didn't vote for Obama.
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