Re-Birth of a Nation.

“We know all too little about the factors that affect the attitudes of the peoples of the world toward one another. It is clear, however, that color and race are at once the most important and the most enigmatic.” - John Hope Franklin

Over the last 24 hours, an explosive issue has begun to creep back into the national political conscience. This issue has played a central role in American politics since the 18th century and could decide the presidential election on November 4th. As reported yesterday a recent poll suggests that up to 1 in 3 white democrats may not vote for Barack Obama due to racial biases they hold against African-Americans. Today, a Chicago Sun-Times article on the poll went on to say:

"Deep-seated racial misgivings could cost Barack Obama the White House if the election is close, according to an AP-Yahoo News poll that found one-third of white Democrats harbor negative views toward blacks -- many calling them ''lazy,'' ''violent'' or responsible for their own troubles. The poll, conducted with Stanford University, suggests that the percentage of voters who may turn away from Obama because of his race could easily be larger than the final difference between the candidates in 2004 -- about 2.5 percentage points. Certainly, Republican John McCain has his own obstacles: He's an ally of an unpopular president and would be the nation's oldest first-term president. But Obama faces this: 40 percent of all white Americans hold at least a partly negative view toward blacks, and that includes many Democrats and independents. More than a third of all white Democrats and independents -- voters Obama can't win the White House without -- agreed with at least one negative adjective about blacks, according to the survey, and are significantly less likely to vote for Obama than those who don't have such views."

“I am not, nor ever have been, in favor of bringing about in any way the social and political equality of the white and black races - I am not, nor ever have been, in favor of making voters or jurors of Negroes, nor of qualifying them to hold office.” - Abraham Lincoln

My friend Selena Zito, wrote an interesting column in the conservative leaning Pittsburgh Tribune-Review entitled "The States of the Unions", exploring the challenges unions in Ohio and Pennsylvania are facing to get members to vote for Barack Obama. PA State AFL-CIO President Bill George is quoted in the article as saying:

"There is no question, earlier in the primary campaign the racial issue was there, just like the gender issue was with Hillary for some unions," he says."We in America like to think we don't have any hang-ups or stereotypes. But because of our history and because of a lot of industrial psychology controlling the masses, people have innate prejudices."

Ben Smith & Avi Zenilman of Politico.Com weighed in on the re-emergence of race as an issue in this election:

"It may not be in Obama's political interests, but the national conversation on race may have just begun. But if Democrats hope to muffle a discussion of race, which polling and reporting have long suggested is a crucial factor in swing states, discussion of it also carries risks for the Republican nominee. McCain has largely steered clear of anything that could be interpreted as race-baiting, and the Republican Party earlier this year warned its officials to stay on message on the sensitive topic".

“Let us all hope that the dark clouds of racial prejudice will soon pass away, and that in some not too distant tomorrow the radiant stars of love and brotherhood will shine over our great nation with all their scintillating beauty.” - Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

The article reminds us that during the democratic primary in New Hampshire when asked "if he would launch another "national conversation about race." Obama responded in the negative. "I'm less interested in a conversation about race in the abstract," he said. "All the self-flagellation, it's not useful. African-Americans get all riled up, and whites get defensive.""

A short two months later, he gave his historic address on race in Philadelphia. He may find himself giving a similar address in a battleground state in the weeks to come.

Remembering the King.

40 years ago, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., was murdered in Memphis, TN during a visit to support striking sanitation workers. I spent this weekend in Memphis soaking up the spirit of Dr. King and reflecting on the dreamer and the dream deferred. I thought it was poignant that Dr. King died in the midst of the labor struggle, this is a point many people forget. Many people also forget the year before his death he gave his famous speech vilifying the Vietnam War. We too often romanticize the legacy of Dr. King and forget how he had moved far beyond the silo of racial justice to broader issues of social justice including: economic justice, anti-militarism, supporting workers rights, etc.


I spent this past weekend in Memphis with the country's emerging progressive leaders discussing the next phase of the civil rights struggles: connecting the social justice movement to the environmental movement. We can no longer afford to exist in silos, the planet is in peril. We can save the planet and shift the global economy in way that ensures wealth, natural resources and access clean land, water and air is available to all 6 billion members of the human family. This is our moral obligation of the 21st century.


I am convinced that the future of our human existence depends on the next 100 years. I am convinced we have much more in common, than we have differences. I am convinced we share a common destiny. We shall either prosper or perish together. In these coming days embrace your "higher angels", if not for yourself, do it for those who await us in the next world. Do it for those who have yet be born. Dr. King once said: I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant.


Let us begin our long journey together.

The Dream Reborn.

A Dream Reborn Taken from http://www.dreamreborn.com


Join us on the 40th Anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s assassination. This historic event will celebrate his extraordinary life and present positive solutions from today's generation of visionary leaders. A bullet killed the dreamer, but not the dream. Together, we will create ecological solutions to heal the earth while bringing jobs, justice, wealth and health to all our communities.


The Dream Reborn is a chance to embrace and commemorate the legacy of Dr. King and all of the visionaries and fighters who have stood up for racial justice, hope, unity, and equality for all people. It is also a chance to bring together a generation of new leaders who are taking on the chief moral obligation of the 21st century, building a green economy for all. Together, we will heal our communities, break down barriers of race and class, and build pathways out of poverty to uplift the entire nation.

Rest In Peace.

"I am not a racist. I am against every form of racism and segregation, every form of discrimination. I believe in human beings, and that all human beings should be respected as such, regardless of their color." - Malcolm X

El-Hajj Malik el-Shabazz, or Malcolm X was born Malcolm Little on May 19, 1925 in Omaha, Nebraska. He was assassinated at a speaking engagement in Manhattan's Audubon Ballroom on February 21, 1965. Fifteen hundred people attended Malcolm's funeral in Harlem at the Faith Temple Church of God in Christ on February 27, 1965. After the ceremony, friends took the shovels from the gravediggers and buried him themselves. He is buried at the Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, New York.

Malcolm X's Eulogy

Eulogy delivered by Ossie Davis at the funeral of Malcolm X

Faith Temple Church Of God
February 27,1965

"Here - at this final hour, in this quiet place - Harlem has come to bid farewell to one of its brightest hopes -extinguished now, and gone from us forever. For Harlem is where he worked and where he struggled and fought - his home of homes, where his heart was, and where his people are - and it is, therefore, most fitting that we meet once again - in Harlem - to share these last moments with him. For Harlem has ever been gracious to those who have loved her, have fought her, and have defended her honor even to the death.

It is not in the memory of man that this beleaguered, unfortunate, but nonetheless proud community has found a braver, more gallant young champion than this Afro-American who lies before us - unconquered still. I say the word again, as he would want me to : Afro-American - Afro-American Malcolm, who was a master, was most meticulous in his use of words. Nobody knew better than he the power words have over minds of men. Malcolm had stopped being a 'Negro' years ago. It had become too small, too puny, too weak a word for him. Malcolm was bigger than that. Malcolm had become an Afro-American and he wanted - so desperately - that we, that all his people, would become Afro-Americans too.

There are those who will consider it their duty, as friends of the Negro people, to tell us to revile him, to flee, even from the presence of his memory, to save ourselves by writing him out of the history of our turbulent times. Many will ask what Harlem finds to honor in this stormy, controversial and bold young captain - and we will smile. Many will say turn away - away from this man, for he is not a man but a demon, a monster, a subverter and an enemy of the black man - and we will smile. They will say that he is of hate - a fanatic, a racist - who can only bring evil to the cause for which you struggle! And we will answer and say to them : Did you ever talk to Brother Malcolm? Did you ever touch him, or have him smile at you? Did you ever really listen to him? Did he ever do a mean thing? Was he ever himself associated with violence or any public disturbance? For if you did you would know him. And if you knew him you would know why we must honor him.

Malcolm was our manhood, our living, black manhood! This was his meaning to his people. And, in honoring him, we honor the best in ourselves. Last year, from Africa, he wrote these words to a friend: 'My journey', he says, 'is almost ended, and I have a much broader scope than when I started out, which I believe will add new life and dimension to our struggle for freedom and honor and dignity in the States. I am writing these things so that you will know for a fact the tremendous sympathy and support we have among the African States for our Human Rights struggle. The main thing is that we keep a United Front wherein our most valuable time and energy will not be wasted fighting each other.' However we may have differed with him - or with each other about him and his value as a man - let his going from us serve only to bring us together, now.

Consigning these mortal remains to earth, the common mother of all, secure in the knowledge that what we place in the ground is no more now a man - but a seed - which, after the winter of our discontent, will come forth again to meet us. And we will know him then for what he was and is - a Prince - our own black shining Prince! - who didn't hesitate to die, because he loved us so."



"…I always had a deep affection for Malcolm and felt that he had a great ability to put his finger on the existence and the root of the problem. He was an eloquent spokesman for his point of view and no one can honestly doubt that Malcolm had a great concern for the problems we face as a race." -Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in a telegram to Betty Shabazz after the murder of Malcolm X.

Rest In Peace Brother Malcolm.