I’m not going to deny that I’m none too proud of my country’s history of violence and oppression and inequity. In fact, this very sentiment fuels my cynicism about the state of politics in America. However, I just watched the big “racial” speech Senator Obama delivered this morning in Philadelphia and, I must say, Barack Obama makes me damn proud. I was huffing and puffing on a treadmill, Iron Maiden blaring, reading the closed caption version of his speech scroll across a tiny screen 50 feet away, and yet I still felt tears well up inside of me. His words were a refreshing breeze in an era of childish national dialogue — honest and poignant, hopeful yet challenging. I’ve never heard such frank nuance about the plight of the disenfranchised shared by a politician in his position. Shades of MLK, indeed, however muted those shades might be due to the sound-bite slugfest that is the campaign trail. After this speech — one for the ages, it would seem — I’m further convinced that Barack Obama is a step in the right direction for our country. Not the final step, but a critical one. For if we don’t raise the caliber of our discussion about America’s woes, we will continue, as Obama boldly asserted today, to be a nation distracted and divided and without hope.
I finally donated to Senator Obama’s campaign today. I’m not asking you to do the same, but I am asking you to watch this video. Asking something of my readers might actually be a first on this here blog. Personally, I’m taking it even one step further. Obama spoke today of his pastor and his grandmother, two beloved influences in his life that have also espoused divisiveness and ignorance. I’ve got my own skeletons to reconcile, those parts of me shaped by people of a previous generation that require a second look, one of compassion and transcendence. But that’s my pledge. All you need to do is watch the video.
Filed under: Politics, U.S. of A.
