Note: I wrote this post on August 29th 2013, a day after Obama gave this speech. I am not sure why I did not post it then, but I present it here, unchanged, just as I wrote it:
American President Barack Obama’s “I Don’t Have a Dream” Speech (August 28th 2013) was not called that, but that is what it was. Fifty years to the day, to the hour, after Dr Martin Luther King, Jr gave his “I Have a Dream Speech”, President Obama gave a speech to mark the occasion, standing in the very same place in front of the Lincoln Memorial.
Obama said, in effect, that he has no dream, that if Americans have a dream, then they need to get it together and push for change themselves. “Change does not come from Washington,” he said.
This from the man who five years ago who ran for president with the line, “Change we can believe in.”
This from America’s first black president.
This from a man who put his hand on the Bibles of both Lincoln and King when he was sworn into office. And is again wrapping himself in King and Lincoln.
Since becoming president over four years ago he has spoken about race to the country as a whole only once before – last month, a week after the Zimmerman verdict. Then he offered little in the way of government action. The same goes for this speech.
In his “I Don’t Have a Dream” speech Obama noted the progress made over the past 50 years – not just for blacks, but for women, gays, Latinos, etc. He noted the progress still to be made. He noted how America has lost its way on race. But, apart from some action on voter rights, he was not going to do anything about it.
The words of King and Lincoln and the Declaration of Independence are just things to mouth, to wrap himself in. They are not words he takes seriously.
It is possible for a president to give a speech about civil rights and, at the very same time, in the very same speech, “ruin it” by saying what he is going to do. It has been done. Kennedy did it – 50 years ago.
Apparently if people want progress on equality they have have to mount something like the civil rights movement, burn cities, get some clean-cut white people killed, etc.
If only a black man were president.
“He is just being realistic.” Fine, but then do not clothe that realism in the idealism of King and Lincoln. Just be honest.
After his second inauguration I wondered if he was a Rented Negro, a black face on white power. I now have my answer: If he were going to do anything on race, this speech would have been the time and place to roll it out, to frame it, give it moral force. He did not.
– Abagond, 2013.
See also:
No offense, sir, but you said rn.
Consider rahm emmanuel that enuf is cause to give him props
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Hope, it sells just behind peace, i think, statstically speaking of course.
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Hope, it sells just behind peace, i think, statstically speaking of course.
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“After his second inauguration I wondered if he was a Rented Negro, a black face on white power. I now have my answer: ”
Ah yes. The second inauguration. I remember…
(https://youtu.be/yJnAp3YxCCw)
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Like I said, he’s a politician. And referencing your post about black liberals, We shouldn’t expect black people or anyone else for that matter to change things from the very system that helped create the very problems we need to address. In the end, they get caught up or use it to either their advantage or the advantage of the most powerful groups in the land.
Obama’s speeches, policies, etc.cater mostly to what white people want and feel. Left wing whites mostly love him while Right wing whites largely despise him. Still, he tried to appease to both sides by speaking to the left while trying to convince the right that he’s not a threat to white people.
At the end of the day, American politics doesn’t care about the needs of black people. And it doesn’t matter who’s in office. Ultimately, black folks somewhere will get screwed.
At least that’s how I see it.
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I think he was being honest. Others cannot give you your dream. You have to believe in yourself and build your own world. It starts within – where true change lies. If you wait for others to make those changes in society for you, it may not happen the way you envision it for yourself properly. I found Obama inspiring but I bring my own dreams to life.
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@dorisean23
Come back to this later.
Ah. I see we got the same fortune cookie. What a coincidence. Did you order the stir-fried rice with green peas and sweet and sour chicken like I did?
Do you now who Stepin Fetchit was? From the irreplaceable Armond White.
http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/books/2005/12/back_in_blackface.html
Remember that the original March on Washington to was create the changes that would allow black people to attain the very dreams that were being deffered by the various billy clubs, attack dogs and legal and community rules that ensured black people “knew their place.”
People are not independent agents and no man is an island. From the day you are born there are spoken and unspoken social contracts that say where you can go and where you can’t. What you can say and what you can’t. What you can do and what you can’t. Who you can do it to, and who you can’t. What you are allowed to dream and what you are allowed to achieve. Sometimes these contracts are enforced with billy clubs. Sometimes with a nice smile, and a “We’ll call you back when a space opens”, despite the fact that 95% of the same people (guess what they have in common?) from the same coding school are able to get jobs a month after graduating. Everybody knows that real change starts fromm within. But the idea that personal transformation is all you need to succeed in life is stupid. No amount of hard work and eating your vegetables is going to make society come around to see your way, if it doesn’t want to. So MLK and Civil Rights re-negotiate it one way. Obama has just so happened to re-negotiate it back.
But maybe the way change is envisioned for one set of people will be bad for the other. If say, pro-black blacks start making life bad for anti-black blacks, maybe some people are goingto start losing money. Could be Glam and Gangsta Rap. Could be the old minstrel shows. Could even be some hedge fund and money managers. I hear George Lucas’ wife did pretty well for herself during the Obama years…. If certain things change, the way some peoiple have envisioned their rightful places in society may not happen as properly as think it should…. But it takes well orginized, properly indoctrinated groups of people to make social change, and as your post implies. Its every man for himself.
Your post only demonstrates the moral and historical myopia that many blacks of many classes have. Yet in many ways they, and you, are right. The changes that the older generation worked hard to achieve arenot ones that can be rested on. They must be vigilantly defended. FOREVA! That’s what it means to live in a democratic republic. Appointing one man to put everything right is just a recipe for disaster.
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@satanforce
Oh yeah!
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@Stanforce, you’ve made some excellent points regarding US as a people, placing all of our trust, hopes and dreams of a better Amerika in one Black President (former). Clearly, some of the ill-advised comments posted by a few on this board is proof positive that we’ve been completely destroyed as a people to believe in such foolery in the first instance.
@@@@
DNA is the master molecule of every cell. It contains vital information that gets passed on to each successive generation. It coordinates the making of itself as well as other molecules (proteins). If it is changed slightly, serious consequences may result.
http://science.howstuffworks.com/life/cellular-microscopic/dna.htm
Now, after 400 years of slavery, oppression and brutality, there are Black folks who unfortunately still believe that the white man still holds the key to our salvation, masked behind a Black face via former President Barack Obomber (smh). There is no EFFing way a people can overcome such a dire situation without remembering their spiritual self and their ancient and contemporary history.
Even further, how could environmental factors, longitudinal mental state, at times, forced under gun and swords, expanding a few centuries and at the same time, not be cognitively affected, even down to our most basic essence, our DNA? To me, being collectively ahistorical, is why some of us so easily capitulate to those of the evil side by giving credence via believing or trusting in a political system that was designed specifically for the primary purpose to destroy, from generation to generation.
Moreover, I believe at the very core of our being as a people, our DNA instructions has been altered, rendering us incapable of making proper decisions for continued survival. Our collective ills, in the manner of pathologies, regarding who we vote for and our overall collective behavior, definitively demonstrate that subconsciously, these destructive instructions have transmigrated into our DNA, placing us on an even firmer path of certain destruction.
http://www.naturalnews.com/042157_DNA_transformation_science_epigenetics.html
Case and point regarding the evils of this so-called Amerikan political system. In August of 2014, Dr. Brantly went to Liberia to supposedly stem the tide regarding the Ebola Virus. Thousands of Liberians had already succumbed to this illness under the mantra that there was no cure. However, after being there for a few weeks, Dr. Brantly contracted the virus as well. Shortly thereafter, it was announced by the CDC that there was a cure for Ebola.
Even some of the lesser known white media (not MSM) questioned how quickly they found a cure for Ebola, but only after a white Doctor contracted the virus.
http://www.nbcdfw.com/news/health/Ebola-Patient-Dr-Kent-Brantly-to-Leave-Hospital-Thursday-272102161.html
I wouldn’t be surprised if the so-called elitarians had the cure in a closet at the CDC, the entire time while Black folks were still dying.
Ecclesiaticus 12:10 “Neuer trust thine enemie: for like as yron rusteth, so is his wickednesse.”
Carry on Black folks, continue to believe in the Amerikan political system!
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I see this blog has turned up the Obama-Hate a few notches since my last visit.
I think that history (PanAfrican?) will offer a much different assessment of the Obama Presidency. The historical perspective may be justitfiably tempered by an equivalent look at the accomplishments/failures of both his immediate predecessor and successor.
I have railed against the lack of persuasion by our politically vacuous rabble that complain with caustic slogans that are indistinguishable from those espoused by the most rabid racists.
I recall the ignorant backlash I got on this site by those “kids” that denounced my assertions that seizing the levers of power and using the very tools ( register, vote, attend candidate forums, develop a platform and incubate/develop/support candidates for ALL elected offices) to better the collective outcomes for all POC.
I might also note that within the same comment thread most agreed and voiced support for the founding of a majority Black State (Georgia?) within the next 50 years via collective mass migration. My disdain is reserved for the sloganeering political newcomers that would face the same obstacles in a majority Black Country anywhere on the planet.
Was Obama the best president for the realization of political, social and economic aspirations of POC?
Compared to whom?
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@Abagond
It would be interesting id you could do a comparison between this speech and his Inauguration speech here.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/barackobama/2642861/Barack-Obamas-acceptance-speech-in-full.html
Remember? The one where he said things like…..
These last three posts have been your best trilogy.
Oh, and I am ready for Markd…. uh, never mind.
@Black SciFi
Dennis Kucinich. John Edwards.
No. That is separatism and Autarky. That never works. I am using a physical location as the both the vital economic and control centre for people of African descent. Like an undercover Israel.
Agree. The bolded part is essential to the success of Outer Heaven -errr, I mean in reference to my previous statement. Indoctrination is key.
I think that history (PanAfrican?) will offer a much different assessment of the Obama Presidency.
This is true. Unfortunately. But then again, the black middle-class got the President they deserve. Just like America has now.
Just like:
1 Corinthians 13:12
But in this case, the black middle class did see through the dark glass. Obama is just a reflection of their own dark heart.
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@Black SciFi
Just saw your comments in Cosmo whatshisname post. Please compare with min in the Black Liberals post. Who was making fun of you, by the way?
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Who is President NOW..??
Did Obama bashing depress the Black vote..??
Did any of the Black “uber critics” of Obama actually vote, organize the POC in their family, faith community, development of an alternative slate of candidates, help the infirm vote, protest at local party sponsored candidate forums?
If not, then what are you complaining about from the relative safety of being a Keyboard Warrior..??
Grow a pair and get busy.
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@satanforce –
yup, Stepin Fetchit for yourself, because most of the time they try to get in your way.
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Reality – the world or the state of things as they actually exist, as opposed to an idealistic or notional idea of them. [“he refuses to face reality”]
Idealism – the practice of forming or pursuing ideals, especially unrealistically.
[‘the idealism of youth”]
Here is what happened to quite a few Black soldiers returning from World War II. Maybe they thought that they had attained were true Americanship after putting their lives at risk for this country and perhaps in pursuit of idealism for doing so.
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*whee* not a new idea:
https://freestateproject.org
Btw have you actually been to georgia?
Sort of like america’s original intentions folding in on itself in any case…
I think i’d like to compare, stastically speaking, of course, the original tax hikes that fomented the ‘american revolution’ to the modern day taxes on gasoline or real estate!
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