Photo by Nicholas_T

Here’s the youtube of his speech… I haven’t figured out how to properly embed videos so that it’ll show up good for both IE and Firefox, so here’s the link:

Obama’s speech on race

Summary:

He basically says that Rev. Wright’s statements (these are my thoughts on his statements) were divisive and were wrong and reflect a wrong way of thinking. He said he could not shut Rev. Wright because Rev. Wright is like a family member to him. Then he identified with both the whites and blacks by talking about their struggles and their way of thinking and then highlighting his own diverse background. He said that we need to talk about race and that blacks need to stop blaming others and focus on working hard and overcoming. Whites on the other hand need to acknowledge that the past has contributed and is still contributing to discrimination. Then we move on by fighting for justice wherever injustice may exist. Providing healthcare, jobs, better schools etc.

Reaction of the pundits:

Most of the mainstream media is basically saying it was an awesome speech. Perfectly delivered and hit on all the right points. He defended Rev. Wright while condemning his words. He identified with all of his constituencies and consolidated his forces while seizing a new issue in the campaign. If you want someone for racial reconciliation, Obama is the candidate.

The conservative blogs and radio basically are saying that Obama sidestepped the issue. He put the focus on race while the focus should be on Rev. Wright’s statements. It doesn’t matter how close he is to Rev. Wright, he cannot associate himself with a person like that as a public figure. They point out that Obama has written elsewhere that he basically agrees with the sentiment that blacks are still oppressed by whites and they disagree with that.

My reaction:

Obama’s speech was really good. I thought he seized a potentially devastating moment [Read more]

photo by g-hat

The race issue has finally come to the forefront. Barack Obama has to answer questions about his pastor’s racially divisive comments and 90% of blacks are voting for Obama whereas 80% of whites are voting for Clinton in the Mississippi primary.

Rev. Jeremiah Wright is Obama’s pastor and is supposedly very close to Obama. He even inspired the title of Obama’s book, The Audacity of Hope. So the fact that Wright is making racially incendiary comments about Hillary Clinton is quite disturbing.

The thing is, most of his comments are probably true:

Rev. Wright said, “Hillary ain’t never been called a n—–!”

“Hillary never had a cab whizz past her and not pick her up because her skin was the wrong color…”

“Hillary never had to worry about being pulled over in her car as a black man driving in the wrong nei…”

“Hillary was not a black boy raised in a single parent home…”

“Barack knows what it means to be a black man living in a country and culture controlled by rich white people…”

Check out the video on youtube.

What’s so interesting about his speech is that he gets everyone really riled up. Everyone is going crazy resonating with every word this guy says. Clearly it’s not just one man who feels this way. Clearly at least a decent portion of the black community feels this way.

This leads me to believe: Whites do not understand. Black people live a different existence and struggle with more difficult circumstances than white people do. The anger in his voice is because white people do not acknowledge that there IS a difference. “Rich white people” do not acknowledge that they don’t understand. They don’t know that they don’t live the same lives as black people. Black people ARE oppressed and we’re no longer acknowledging it. That’s part of the oppression. Those in control have the privilege to ignore those less privileged. Blacks cry out about police brutality and what does the government say? “It’s rare occurrence.”

So many people today feel like the race issue has been “taken care of.” Clearly it has not. Just because you don’t see it doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. We choose to ignore it. We choose not to think about it. It’s there. At least we’re talking about it now…

Another thought provoking post… about Piper and his comment about Asians and missions.

I personally agree with thecuttingtruth on this one. I myself have had the thought that we Asians have a better chance of ministering in Asia just because of our face… but when I had these thoughts, they were in a personal conviction type of thought. They were meant for me, and had no bearing on other Asian-Americans or non Asian Americans and their ability to minister in Asia.

Piper should not use this thought to try to convict whole groups of Asians to go to Asia or to Muslims. That becomes stereotyping. I think it can be a personal convicting thought, but he should not use these statements at conference to speak to Asians as a whole. That is slightly offensive. I understand he probably has really good intentions and he is NOT racist, but he needs to be careful in the words he uses.

It shows Piper has no understanding of the cultural issues that Asian Americans have. Some Asians would never want to go back to Asia because they left Asia for certain very specific reasons. Some Asians would never want to to Asia because they DO NOT understand Asian culture and are actually more “westernized” than a lot of “white” people. Some Asians would never be able to minister in Asia because they don’t speak Asian languages, and moreover do not have a knack for learning languages like some of our “white” brothers and sisters do. On top of that, they may feel more ostracized in Asia due to the language barrier. (What?!?! You’re Chinese but you don’t speak Chinese?). A lot of Asians have unresolved ethnic identity issues that would be huge barriers to going to Asia.

Piper just shows his complete lack of understanding about theese issues. Asians in general are NO more qualified or able to be missionaries in Asia than their non-Asian brothers and sisters. Some Asians may be LESS qualified to minister in Asia than some of their non-Asian brothers and sisters. (I’ve focused on the Asians going to Asia argument, but this could also be applied to Asians going to Muslims.)