And when this happens, when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual:
What was that about a house divided against itself, again?
The election in 2000 was close, very close. Gore lost by 5 electoral votes. FIVE.
I really hope those willing to cut off their noses to spite their faces put their knives away, and do the right thing: support the Democratic Party Candidate.
Before he left Reno for San Francisco, Obama took questions from the friendly audience.
When a woman asked what she could do to help him, he urged her to fight rumors that he is a closet Muslim.
“You’ve just got to tell them that’s not true, he’s a Christian,” Obama said. “There’s nothing wrong with being Muslim. We’ve got wonderful Muslim Americans. But the point is, don’t lie about my religion.”
Mary Bruns, a 65-year-old precinct captain from Reno, is worried the religion rumors, as well as prejudice against African Americans, could sink Obama’s presidential bid.
A new national study by the Pew Research Center shows that 12 percent of the country still believes Sen. Barack Obama is a Muslim…
.
What?
As I commented over at “In One Ear… Out The Other”, this never ceases to amaze. I’m constantly amazed at and by this!
When Rev. Jeremiah Wright was “all the rage”, all Obama’s opponents did everything they could to ensure that the Wright-Obama connection became firm and concrete in people’s minds.
What a weekend. What an historic weekend! The Green, Gold and Black is flying high in the hearts, minds and souls of all Jamaicans, and will be for quite some time!
For the first time in the history of the Olympic Games, one country has SWEPT all others to capture ALL the medals in the Women’s 100m sprint: Jamaica. And it was the first time Jamaica won the Women’s gold too!
On August 16th, 2008, 32 years after the Montreal Games, the results were reversed! Yet, the Caribbean dominated!
Jamaican Usain “Lightning” Bolt ran at lightspeed to take the gold with a time of 9.69s, smashing his own World record in the process! Trinidadian Richard “Torpedo” Thompson led the rest of the pack (literally) with a time of 9.89s to take the silver!
Richard Thompson (T&T) and Usain Bolt (Jam)
For the first time in Olympic history, six of the eight finalists were from the Caribbean!
Jamaica:3
Trinidad and Tobago:2
Netherlands Antilles:1
USA:2
In 1976, 0.02s separated gold and silver. In 2008, that difference widened to 0.2s!
As a Trinidadian, I’m happy, and as a Caribbean man, I’m damn proud! We don’t have anything near to the US, UK and the rest of the developed world when it comes to modern athletic facilities and programs. The fact Caribbean athletes have been present and consistently improving in all Olympic showings since 1976 is testament to not only the natural blessings of athletic talent on our shores, but the hardwork, dedication and skill of the coaches and their homespun training programs.
Interestingly enough, August 16th was also Hasely Crawford’s birthday. Also interesting to note is that the winners of both men’s and women’s 100m beat the silver medallist by 0.2s!
What makes Usain’s win all the more remarkable is that:
He won running with one shoelace untied,
This is his first Olympic showing,
He actually prefers to run the 200m sprint,
He actually slowed down (to celebrate winning) when others were running at full pelt, and still won!
When he set the record at 9.72s, he’d only run five (5) 100m races at an International level!
I’m looking forward to both the Men’s and Women’s 200m, 400m and their respective relays. I’m thinking that both men’s & women’s 200m races will be tense, as the American team will be looking to better their single bronze medal showing in these games.
Richard Thompson? The man was a veritable unknown to me, to be honest. I was more focussed on the efforts of Trinidadians Marc Burns and Darrel Brown! He’s come a long way, and to be able to actually lead the 100m for the first 5 or 6 seconds before he was overtaken by Bolt says a lot about his talent and skill. He kept his form and composure, knowing fully well that the race was not to beat Bolt, but to beat the rest of the pack… which he did.
What’s also a bit upsetting to me is all this talk of the use of steriods and performance enhancing drugs by the Jamaican athletes. Asafa complained that they were being tested excessively.
Has anyone said the same about Michael Phelps?
I’m not putting my head on a block for anyone; after all, the sprints have always been tarnished with doping allegations (Ben Johnson and Marion Jones, anyone?), but I guess the bitter must always accompany the sweet.
I hope Team USA walked with their sugar pills.
From the looks of things, Jamaica has a few more bitter pills for them to swallow!
I first read this in May, and I bookmarked it for later reading. I’ve read it often ever since. I’ve taken the liberty of copying it to share with you. The original can be found here. I’ve “hyperlinked through” the article with relevant references that I hope are helpful. This was written before Obama became the “presumptive” nominee of the Democratic Party.
I find it really calm, reflective and moving. I hope you do too. Enjoy.
By eternity’s standards, less than a second has passed, but by their lingering sense of how time passes on Earth, they have endured years full of speeches and celebrations crammed into one day. Both were moved to tears by Walt Whitman’s lengthy tribute. He was one of their favorite poets because of his deep knowledge of the American spirit.
They both mock-grimaced through President John F. Kennedy’s jokes told, as usual, at their expense. JFK still knew how to tease his younger brother. He also reminded Martin Luther King about needing a ghostwriter for his own 50th anniversary Martyrs’ Ball speech in a few years.
“Give me some words that Rev. Jeremiah Wright can’t make fun of and I’ll practice my delivery so that it doesn’t sound like his very bad imitation of my very good inauguration speech,” President Kennedy said as the heavenly hosts roared with laughter.
“One of these days, you’re going to have to stop holding me responsible for everything Rev. Wright says,” Martin said, eliciting yet another round of laughter and applause. Eternity is a place where irony is appreciated.
Standing at the great Reflecting Pool of Reality later that evening, Martin and Bobby look into its crystalline depths, causing the distance between heaven and Earth to part like clouds. Images shimmer into view. Loved ones can be seen. The secrets of men’s hearts are revealed. The political beast stands revealed in all of its nakedness.
Bobby gazes at the Democratic presidential candidate’s anguished expression in a time-lapse montage. “The grueling pace of the primary has made her careless. Her ambition is at war with her best instincts.”
Martin stoops to stir the waters of the Reflecting Pool with his index finger. He sees the face of a newborn baby. He smiles with pleasure. “My oldest son and his wife have named my first grandchild Yolanda Renee King,” Martin announces with pride. “That thunder you hear coming from the celestial mountains is the sound of Coretta jumping for joy.”
“Congratulations, Martin,” Bobby says. The civil rights leader stirs the waters once more. Democratic frontrunner Barack Obama’s face comes into view.
“It’s hard to believe a mere four decades has passed since we both slipped the bonds of Earth,” Martin says. “The evolution of America’s racial attitudes in a generation is as big a miracle as the two of us standing here reacting to it. We are witnessing a milestone in the nation’s history.”
“Is this truly Barack Obama’s moment, Martin? Is he the spiritual heir to your ‘I Have a Dream’ ethos, or will he succumb to worldly pragmatism and do whatever it takes to win?”
They listen to Barack Obama delivering the commencement address at Wesleyan University as Teddy Kennedy’s stand-in. They are impressed by his eloquence and his heart for changing America. It feels visionary to them. It feels familiar.
“My brother loves this man. Now I can see why. He is as charismatic as you once were,” Bobby says.
John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jnr.
“I beg to differ,” Martin says. “This young man definitely has more Kennedy in him than King.”
Suddenly, the waters grow dark and Martin and Bobby’s reflections return to the surface of the water. “Even we don’t have the right to see the future, Martin, but I still have a good feeling about it.”
Martin Luther King sighs. “Whatever happens — all will be well,” he says. “We have the rest of eternity to learn and absorb that truth.”
************
PS: I suspect that the Clinton camp will still try to usurp Obama’s nomination and confirmation at the upcoming convention. Let’s hope good sense prevails.
PPS: I had already ‘written’ and formatted this post, and was intending to publish it the day before the Convention was due to start, i.e., Aug. 24th.
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