Barack Obama: Climbing MLK’s Mountaintop »
Posted By Spadecaller 10 months, 1 week ago in Arts & EntertainmentOn January 20, 2008 President Elect Barack Obama arrived in Atlanta, the birthplace and gravesite of Martin Luther King, Jr., our nation's most prominent leader in the struggle for civil rights. A year ago, Sen. Obama spoke at the Ebenezer Baptist Church, where MLK once presided as its pastor. The speech addressed many of the same issues MLK often spoke about. Tomorrow, Barack Obama will become the first African American President of the United States.
This video presents an excerpt from Obama’s speech accompanied by Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 2 and artwork by Spadecaller.
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Spadecaller
Welcome to my profile. About me: I'm an artist of several kinds; from bull to painting. I don't spare too many words. Most ...
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Spadecaller10 months, 1 week ago
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“At least Americans will be able to remember the gig when the disillusion kicks in.”
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So a scoffer who was busy mocking the grand surge of idealism surrounding the inauguration of our first African American President told me. Perhaps these are the comments we need to hear today. Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. was another American whose “gig” was mocked by many. Barack Obama has already beaten the odds makers and the scoffers. He’s climbed further towards the mountaintop, while others stood by jeering. He pushed it to a height that has not been reached before. However, the truth is: he did not do it alone. He did it with support. He did with love from others. And, he did it with the courage of others who were also willing to be ridiculed and mocked. He did it with an army of supporters and a loving family.
“At least Americans will be able to remember the gig when the disillusion kicks in.”
That comment is not just the sentiment of one foreign critic; understandably, there are many skeptics who believe he will fail in his attempts to change the course of partisan politics in Washington, that he will not end the war, that he will not help make education and health care a right for all Americans, that he will not help rekindle the opportunity for the impoverished and the middle class to live with dignity and to raise their children with the hopes of a more promising future.
What can I say to the poor soul who finds it easier to mock Americans who are feeling hope and enthusiasm for a new President and for a new agenda – one that can make a meaningful difference?
”Will the disillusionment kick in?” Sure it will. We all flounder along the way. Nonetheless, someday our children or their children will make it to the mountaintop. And, we shall live in good conscience knowing that we pushed that boulder up the hill. With our last breath of air, some of us will leave this earth knowing that we dedicated our lives to making a difference.
I am only one American, and I know progress will be dependent upon the support of many people. I am not a naive starry-eyed armchair liberal. I don’t just talk and vote once a year. Like millions of Americans, young and old, I contact our legislators in Washington. I write about the issues. I participate in activities to promote the involvement of others. I try to inspire and encourage others to step up and be counted too. And I do that in fellowship with others – not for a pat on the back, but because I believe with all my heart in the inalienable rights that all human beings deserve to share.
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Spadecaller10 months, 1 week ago
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When a great challenge is met and the vitally important outcome seems dubious, a wise man that believes in the value of his endeavors wastes little time in worrying about failure. The wisest man that had ever met was the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.
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He knew his life was at risk. He spent time in jail. Why did he hold to his course?
He discovered these truths about the nature of living with dignity in this sorely troubled world: “If a man hasn't discovered something that he will die for, he isn't fit to live. If physical death is the price that I must pay to free my white brothers and sisters from a permanent death of the spirit, then nothing can be more redemptive.”
I had survived the black bag operations of Nixon during the Vietnam era. I know what it is to beat the odds and survive, when others abandon their beliefs and flee. My success was not in merely surviving. In fact, I cannot even take much credit for surviving. I was delivered to safety by a member from an organization know as Clergy and Laymen Concerned about Vietnam, an organization of which Martin Luther King, Jr. was a member.
I was a student at South Side Junior High School in Rockville Centre, New York, when I had the unique experience of hearing and meeting Martin Luther King, Jr. He spoke at my school and its impact left a mark on me that changed the course of my entire life. Though I faced serious problems for opposing censorship at a college that had members on the board of trustees who were directly involved in profiting from the sale of Agent Orange to the military for use in Vietnam, I no longer regret the painful ordeal and the consequences of taking a stand.
In looking back, I have had a good life because I have not surrendered my soul to the highest bidder. I have both painful and rewarding memories of a life that I would not trade even if I could.
When the "gig" is up and I breathe my last breath, I expect it will be with the same feeling that I am blessed with today; a sense of personal integrity, convictions, and sense of purpose. I feel privileged today to have this opportunity to thank God for the life of Martin Luther King, Jr. What he stood for will always be greater than his name or his mistakes. Many who hated his ideas and opposed him politically, later pretended to be among his supporters after he was assassinated. When he was no longer a threat, it was easier to sing his praises.
In memory of MLK, I hope that others will come to see that we should stand with and march beside our new President despite those who will mock you and falsely judge a good man, who is attempting to bring important changes to our troubled nation and world.
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PatrioticAmerican10 months, 1 week ago
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And when Obama reaches the top of that mountain and speaks to god thru that burning bush, he will have a new set of commandments.
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10. you work to support anyone else that does not work
9. if you do well in business you will be punished
8. if you are lazy and fat you will be provided for
7. socialism will be your way
6. the ignorant (obomba) will lead you to the great land of welfare
5. you will not speak ill of the Obomba
4. Obomba is the way of the wills
3. You will not worship any other but the Obomba
2. you will not doubt the Obomba
1. Obomba is the only thing you will ever need to feel good again for he is the god of the democrats
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hyperbola10 months, 1 week ago
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Well we shall see whether Obama is anything more than puff-propaganda when we see what he does about american-supported crimes against humanity in Palestine. So far he seems not to be up to MLK's heritage.
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From South Africa to Israel
Time for a New Divestment Campaign
http://www.propeller.com/story/2009/01/19/from-sou...
Barack Obama’s inauguration coming as we celebrate of Martin Luther King Day predictably draws linkages between the two. Many use Obama’s election to claim a realization of the “dream.” Others mumble something about a post-racial America. I suspect that King, if alive, would reject such nonsense....
In his speech, "Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence”, King said, "A time comes when silence is betrayal..," And, "I knew that I could never again raise my voice against the violence of the oppressed in the ghettos without having first spoken clearly to the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today - my own government."
King’s charge is just as true today as it was 40-plus years ago. America is still the greatest purveyor of violence in the world.
So, this year we should honor King in an active sense. We should commit ourselves to organize against the American policy of violence and empire. The anti-war movement should apply pressure on Obama to withdraw from Iraq and Afghanistan. And, just as important, particularly amid the horror that has been visited on the people of Gaza; a broader peace movement must also build real economic and political pressure against Israel’s immoral and criminal acts against the Palestinians. This King Day should mark the beginning of an organized push for American divestment from Israel.
US foreign policy toward Palestine has been a segregationist or apartheid policy. In his 2006 book Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid, former President Jimmy Carter likened Israel's occupation of Palestinian land and its repression of Palestinian people, both within Israel and in the occupied territories, to the state of apartheid, which existed in South Africa prior to the early 1990s. Apartheid means ‘separateness.’ And there is little debate that Zionism, the official ideology of Israel, is predicated on religious and ethnic separation or segregation. A self-described Jewish state -- that is, a state that operates of, by and on behalf of a single group of people -- cannot also be a secular, democratic state where persons of all religious and ethnic backgrounds are treated equally. A Jewish state that has never declared its borders, that has annexed and occupied territories, flouting international law and subjecting the indigenous population to poverty, indignity, theft, torture and death, is not only a colonialist outlaw state; it is also racist. As one Palestinian gentleman remarked to me, “While blacks in America were once considered subhuman, Palestinians are not considered humans at all."-
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hyperbola10 months, 1 week ago
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And Israel could not have pursued any of these policies without the steadfast financial and political support of the United States. It is no secret that Israel is the largest recipient of U.S. aid in the world... Every American taxpayer underwrites Israeli-style apartheid.
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...What’s happening in Palestine is not fundamentally different from what occurred in apartheid South Africa. Kids are being killed. People have been herded into the (more deadly) equivalent of bantustans. Political leaders are targeted for assassination... Israel’s behavior demands the same response from the world human rights community as was mustered against South Africa.
Divestment may be at odds with the position of many elected black leaders (the Congressional Black Caucus included), but it’s not at odds with what King spoke of and died for. It is not at odds with those he championed. He championed the locked out and oppressed.
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hyperbola10 months, 1 week ago
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And frankly Obama's plans for the racist militarization of american education aren't very convincing either.
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The Duncan Doctrine
The Military-Corporate Legacy of the New Secretary of Education
http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/175022 -
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hyperbola10 months, 1 week ago
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Frankly the question of whether Obama will eliminate zionists from American foreign policy is one of the crucial issues of his presidency. If he does not, he will just be another failure and the hole for Americans to climb out of will be even bigger.
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The First Mistake: Barack Obama’s Silence on Gaza
In seven days, Barack Obama will be sworn in as the forty fourth president of the United States. ...
Meanwhile, the skies over Gaza, already lacking in any silver-lined clouds, is now thick with leaflets stating that Israel plans to escalate its war, and will begin a new phase in the aggression it launched, with cruel irony, on Christmas Day. As Glenn Greenwald recently observed in Salon.com, there has to be a particularly horrific and inhumane intention behind such an action: to warn people already imprisoned in their shelters - for there are no homes we in the so-called civilized world would recognize as such inside the occupied territories of Palestine - that death is imminent. The refugee camps in Palestine and the deprivation within them are not different from the camps and deprivation that people pretended did not exist in Hamburg, Nordhausen and Munich, and the forefathers of today's Israeli citizens were once given those same intimations of death with the same macabre regularity. We remember the names of those camps, Dora-Mittenbau, Sanchsenhausen, Dachau, even as we do not know how to pronounce the names of today's iterations of those same camps: Nuseirat, Deir el-Balah, Khan Younis. ...
.... The German newspaper, Sueddeutsche Zeitung no less, scorned Obama for his stance, stating that "Gaza is burning, and Israel's bombs are causing daily casualties, but the world can only expect change at twelve noon sharp on January 20." And, all the way in the Philippines, Randy David writes thus: "By any measure, this is not a war but a slaughter, not a retaliatory response but an outrageous massacre. The Jewish nation's transformation from colossal victim to callous aggressor is complete... As Israelis and Palestinians stared menacingly at each other on Christmas Day, the rest of us stared indifferently, forgetting that, in the last analysis, we are all Gazans."
Is it, then, only our future president who has not understood the situation? Is it, then, only us Americans who have the power to intervene in this monstrous day-light butchery of an entire tribe of people, who feel that good work must wait until the partying is over? Seven years ago, another American president took the sympathy of the world and transformed it into hatred. Just two months ago, Barack Obama won it back on the backs of ordinary Americans. Today he stands on the brink of repeating the biggest mistake of his predecessor.
http://www.propeller.com/story/2009/01/14/the-firs... -
SandmonsterComment removed: Hard Banned
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Spadecaller10 months, 1 week ago
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The inauguration of President Barack Obama is a great moment for our nation. How his presidency will affect positive change remains to be seen; however, it is a sad day for those who are unable to share in this wonderful event that is a testament to the fact that opportunity for a poor white or black child to find success in this country can not be denied anymore.
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Without the efforts of the civil rights movement and Martin Luther King,Jr. this day would not have been possible. Though I can only feel pity for those who choose to exclude themselves from this great event, I feel privileged to be alive to see this moment in history take place. -
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Global_WarmerComment removed: Abusive4 Replies
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Candida10 months, 1 week ago
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Great speech and great video. It seems to me though, that his tune has changed somewhat in the past year. I hope to hear similar words carry the same meaning sometime soon again, and what's even more important, see actions that make this message a reality.
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Tangent00110 months, 1 week ago
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Just because we have elected a person of color to the White House we can console ourselves the struggle against bigotry is over? Decades of institutionalized racism is not so easily overcome.
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Sorry.
The next step has been taken, but it is only a step.
Come back to me when minorities get equal treatment under the law. Come back to me when there is not a disparity of medical treatment. Come back to me when there is not a disparity of educational expectations or occupational wages. Come back to me when you really think Obama would have been elected if he was 3 shades darker. -
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Spadecaller10 months, 1 week ago
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Tangent:
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Most of us know that racism is an issue far from resolved in this country and in this world. As a member of Propeller, how could anyone believe racism is obslolete! Nevertheless, we have made progress though.
I see nothing wrong with taking a moment to celebrate our triumphs without characterizing that pause as foolish complacency.
I believe it is disheartening and counterproductive to lament over where we want to get; better to look back and see where we have been and plod onward. Martin Luther King, Jr. described that much better in his speech, "I have a Dream." -
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Spadecaller10 months, 1 week ago
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"mrreality"? Ha! Go back to Stormfront with the rest of the racists and neo-Nazis. Eat your heart out today. An African American is now our President. How's that for a taste of reality, Mr.?
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Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha...
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sbcivilwarcommandComment removed: Hard Banned
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JDGVAL10 months, 1 week ago
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It's been an awfully long time since I've felt this kind of sense of optimism.
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http://www.awardsandhonors.com -
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Spadecaller10 months, 1 week ago
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A Prayer for Barack:
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gBoxYg052w -
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Spadecaller10 months, 1 week ago
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Born Free and JFK audio:
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JmDBbUoiRs -
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quackpot10 months, 1 week ago
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It is amazing that some who have commented seem to reject any possibility of restoring democracy and perhaps economic stability to the U.S.A.
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Whether or not the Obama administration will succeed in this monumental endeavor, we will see in due course, but to reject any possibility out of hand is totally absurd.-
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mrreality10 months, 1 week ago
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here lies part of the problem,,, pray tell where does it say we are a democracy,,,we are a republic,and you ignorant as#es just repeat what everyone tells you. not once,,,not once is democracy mention in any documents,,i.e. the constitution, bill of rights or etc...as a matter of fact the founding fathers warned of the evils of democracy,,,,,get your act together,,,know your histrory and quit being stupid if you can,,,,oh never mind, its the new day,,,feel good america,,dont need results,,just feel good,,,the black messiah is here,,,ha ha ha
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canadianrancher5710 months, 1 week ago
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There are many who are looking at this as just a win as far as race is concerned, they are looking at it as an African American issue and in part it is but MLK's dream it included more than just his people, It included all of those who are oppresed and unable to share in the American dream. When people make a choice that they are the only important thing in the world thier life may be easier since the only burden they carry is for themselves, but when they realize that if all are to be equal the burden become much larger, to me this was what MLK was talking about, It was social justice and today more than ever that is what the PEOPLE of the US. are looking for. I wish President Elect Obama the best and also hope that in a country that talks of equality it can become a reality.
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californiagirl10 months, 1 week ago
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I enjoy reading on the comments more rather on the article, It seems that a lot of people are very brainy nowadays, this is the time for the true spirit of unity, still a great article and I enjoy and Agree with some other post.
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http://www.universityloveconnection.com -
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