On Lowery and the Slave Mentality comment and some great context.

[Perky]

http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/shared-blogs/ajc/polit...

Says Joe Lowery: Obama’s black doubters have a ‘slave mentality’
Wednesday, January 16, 2008, 04:09 PM

In an address to the Hungry Club at Butler Street YMCA in downtown Atlanta, the Rev. Joseph Lowery re-stoked the fires on Wednesday when he told the largely African-American audience that “a slave mentality” was fueling black doubts about Obama’s chances of capturing the White House...“No matter how much education they have, they never graduated from the slave mentality,” Lowery said of those who have advised Obama to wait, or have doubted his ability to compete in a general election.

“The slavery mentality compels us to say, ‘We can’t win, we can’t do,’” said Lowery, an avid Obama supporter and a co-founder of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

Well he did not say vote for Obama. But this elder stateman who was one of Martin's liuetenant, a key figure in the Civil Rights struggle. a man who has known Jim Crow and has been the point of the spear in the movement, is making a very valid point about the naysayers within the the Old Guard.


Here is a black man who is the epitome of what King was talking about in the "I have a dream" speech and there are some within that community saying he is not black enough.... He is not one of us.....He does not share our experiencees. He is not worthy." That is lagely because those experiences define them. It is largely a generational thing....but that generation can sometime get stuck Genuflecting towards Sweet Auburn and Selma and singing "we shall ovvercome" rather than recognizing that Obama is what overcoming is about.

Compare what Lowery says above with waht Obama said in Selma a few weeks after he annunced he was running for president.

You know, several weeks ago, after I had announced that I was running for the Presidency of the United States, I stood in front of the Old State Capitol in Springfield, Illinois; where Abraham Lincoln delivered his speech declaring, drawing in scripture, that a house divided against itself could not stand.

And I stood and I announced that I was running for the presidency. And there were a lot of commentators, as they are prone to do, who questioned the audacity of a young man like myself, haven't been in Washington too long.

And I acknowledge that there is a certain presumptuousness about this.

But I got a letter from a friend of some of yours named Reverend Otis Moss Jr. in Cleveland, and his son, Otis Moss III is the Pastor at my church and I must send greetings from Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. but I got a letter giving me encouragement and saying how proud he was that I had announced and encouraging me to stay true to my ideals and my values and not to be fearful.

And he said, if there's some folks out there who are questioning whether or not you should run, just tell them to look at the story of Joshua because you're part of the Joshua generation.

So I just want to talk a little about Moses and Aaron and Joshua, because we are in the presence today of a lot of Moseses. We're in the presence today of giants whose shoulders we stand on, people who battled, not just on behalf of African Americans but on behalf of all of America; that battled for America’s soul, that shed blood , that endured taunts and formant and in some cases gave -- torment and in some cases gave the full measure of their devotion.

Thank God, He's made us in His image and we reject the notion that we will for the rest of our lives be confined to a station of inferiority, that we can't aspire to the highest of heights, that our talents can't be expressed to their fullest. And so because of what they endured, because of what they marched; they led a people out of bondage.

They took them across the sea that folks thought could not be parted. They wandered through a desert but always knowing that God was with them and that, if they maintained that trust in God, that they would be all right. And it's because they marched that the next generation hasn't been bloodied so much.

It's because they marched that we elected councilmen, congressmen. It is because they marched that we have Artur Davis and Keith Ellison. It is because they marched that I got the kind of education I got, a law degree, a seat in the Illinois senate and ultimately in the United States senate.

It is because they marched that i stand before you here today. was mentioning at the Unity Breakfast this morning, my -- at the Unity Breakfast this morning that my debt is even greater than that because not only is my career the result of the work of the men and women who we honor here today. My very existence might not have been possible had it not been for some of the folks here today. I mentioned at the Unity Breakfast that a lot of people been asking, well, you know, your father was from Africa, your mother, she's a white woman from Kansas. I’m not sure that you have the same experience.

And I tried to explain, you don't understand. You see, my Grandfather was a cook to the British in Kenya. Grew up in a small village and all his life, that's all he was -- a cook and a house boy. And that's what they called him, even when he was 60 years old. They called him a house boy. They wouldn't call him by his last name.

Sound familiar?

He had to carry a passbook around because Africans in their own land, in their own country, at that time, because it was a British colony, could not move about freely. They could only go where they were told to go. They could only work where they were told to work.

Yet something happened back here in Selma, Alabama. Something happened in Birmingham that sent out what Bobby Kennedy called, “Ripples of hope all around the world.” Something happened when a bunch of women decided they were going to walk instead of ride the bus after a long day of doing somebody else's laundry, looking after somebody else's children. When men who had PhD’s decided that's enough and we’re going to stand up for our dignity. That sent a shout across oceans so that my grandfather began to imagine something different for his son. His son, who grew up herding goats in a small village in Africa could suddenly set his sights a little higher and believe that maybe a black man in this world had a chance.

What happened in Selma, Alabama and Birmingham also stirred the conscience of the nation. It worried folks in the White House who said, “You know, we're battling Communism. How are we going to win hearts and minds all across the world? If right here in our own country, John, we're not observing the ideals set fort in our Constitution, we might be accused of being hypocrites.” So the Kennedy’s decided we're going to do an air lift. We're going to go to Africa and start bringing young Africans over to this country and give them scholarships to study so they can learn what a wonderful country America is.

This young man named Barack Obama got one of those tickets and came over to this country. He met this woman whose great great-great-great-grandfather had owned slaves; but she had a good idea there was some craziness going on because they looked at each other and they decided that we know that the world as it has been it might not be possible for us to get together and have a child. There was something stirring across the country because of what happened in Selma, Alabama, because some folks are willing to march across a bridge. So they got together and Barack Obama Jr. was born. So don't tell me I don't have a claim on Selma, Alabama. Don't tell me I’m not coming home to Selma, Alabama.

I’m here because somebody marched. I’m here because you all sacrificed for me. I stand on the shoulders of giants. I thank the Moses generation; but we've got to remember, now, that Joshua still had a job to do.

As great as Moses was, despite all that he did, leading a people out of bondage, he didn't cross over the river to see the Promised Land. God told him your job is done. You'll see it. You'll be at the mountain top and you can see what I’ve promised. What I’ve promised to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. You will see that I’ve fulfilled that promise but you won't go there.

We're going to leave it to the Joshua generation to make sure it happens. There are still battles that need to be fought; some rivers that need to be crossed. Like Moses, the task was passed on to those who might not have been as deserving, might not have been as courageous, find themselves in front of the risks that their parents and grandparents and great grandparents had taken. That doesn't mean that they don't still have a burden to shoulder, that they don't have some responsibilities. The previous generation, the Moses generation, pointed the way. They took us 90% of the way there. We still got that 10% in order to cross over to the other side. So the question, I guess, that I have today is what's called of us in this Joshua generation? What do we do in order to fulfill that legacy; to fulfill the obligations and the debt that we owe to those who allowed us to be here today?

Now, I don't think we could ever fully repay that debt. I think that we're always going to be looking back; but, there are at least a few suggestions that I would have in terms of how we might fulfill that enormous legacy.


Moses told the Joshua generation; don't forget where you came from.

--more--


We've got to get over that mentality. That is part of what the Moses generation teaches us, not saying to ourselves we can't do something, but telling ourselves that we can achieve.

In this context the linkage between what Lowery said yesterday and what Obama said is better understood.

[Perky]

1. kcik

[USA_1]

2. ''Slave Mentality"

I thought this was a reference to Charlie Rangel's desire to resurrect the draft.

No, not a good idea especially since bith parties seem intent on expanding war.

[Perky]

3. More on the inter-generational struggle. from AP today

ATLANTA (AP) -- When civil rights elders signed on to support Hillary Rodham Clinton's run for president, it was seen as a coup in the competition for the black vote, especially in the Deep South.

Yet many younger black voters seem to be shrugging off the sway of leaders such as Rep. John Lewis and former Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young, siding instead with Barack Obama's history-making bid to be the nation's first black president.

It's a generational struggle that should serve as a warning to Democrats as they head into primary contests in states with large black populations: The black vote today is anything but monolithic.

It also suggests the influence the civil rights leaders have enjoyed as political kingmakers is waning.

''The figureheads are not actually gatekeepers to the black vote,'' said William Jelani Cobb, a 38-year-old history professor at the historically black Spelman College.

''No disrespect, but they don't speak for us.''

The candidates face their first showdown for black votes in South Carolina on Jan. 26 and another Feb. 5 in Super Tuesday states with large minority populations, such as Georgia, Alabama and Arkansas.

Clinton and Obama have been aggressively courting black votes for some time. Both visited Selma, Ala., in March for the anniversary of the ''Bloody Sunday'' civil rights march in 1965. And Obama is set to speak at Martin Luther King Jr.'s Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta on Sunday, a visit expected to be rich in symbolism coming the day before the King holiday.

In a sign of what's at stake, a heated dispute has erupted over Clinton's comment that King's dream of racial equality was realized only when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Bill Clinton's putdowns of the Illinois senator also have offended some blacks. Altogether, the scrap between the Clintons and the Obama camp has awakened racial sensitivities in the party that is supposed to know how to deal with race.

Blacks have traditionally voted overwhelmingly Democratic and Obama is picking up their support fast, according to new polls. An ABC-Washington Post survey this week found a 21-point increase in support for Obama among black voters in the last month, putting him up 60-32 over Clinton. He led the New York senator 49-34 in a CBS-New York Times poll.

Still, Clinton's husband enjoyed such strong support from black voters that he was dubbed the first black president. And Hillary Clinton has been able to capitalize on long-standing friendships with the black political elite in scoring endorsements. Whether that will translate into black votes is anyone's guess.

''For me personally, I have a long association with the Clintons and I'm very loyal to my friends,'' said Lewis, an Atlanta Democrat.

Younger blacks don't share the same loyalties. And some lump older black leaders with the political establishment they say Obama is aiming to upend.

One civil rights veteran who is backing Obama shares that view. Joseph Lowery, former head of the Southern Christian Leadership Council, calls colleagues who are supporting Clinton ''good old boys.''

''They are business-as-usual, old-guard politicians and it's hard for them to break out of that mold,'' Lowery said.

At a speech Wednesday before the Hungry Club at the Butler Street YMCA in Atlanta, Lowery said blacks who doubt Obama's ability to compete are guilty of ''a slave mentality.''

''No matter how much education they have, they never graduated from the slave mentality,'' Lowery said. ''The slavery mentality compels us to say, 'We can't win, we can't do.'''

Clinton has lined up the support of baseball Hall of Famer Hank Aaron, one-time basketball superstar Magic Johnson, Motown founder Berry Gordy and Black Entertainment Television founder Bob Johnson among others. Obama has Oprah Winfrey in his corner as well as R&B crooner Usher.

Clinton has poet Maya Angelou; Obama has the rapper Ludacris -- a generational split all its own.

The campaign has divided some prominent households, too.

Jesse Jackson, who tried to become the first black president in his 1984 and 1988 campaigns, and his son, Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., are backing Obama. The elder Jackson's wife, Jacqueline, is supporting Clinton.

Georgia state Rep. Bob Holmes, former director of Clark Atlanta University's Southern Center for Studies in Public Policy, said blacks in the South could once count on a rigid brand of machine politics in which black churches and civic leaders delivered their voters.

That machine is no more, he said. ''The younger generation is more independent and make up their own minds.''

Holmes also said younger blacks feel the old guard set its sights too low.

''This isn't the generation of slow struggle,'' he said. ''This is the Me Generation and if they see a viable black candidate for president they don't see a reason why that shouldn't be possible right now.''

Rick Dent, a political strategist who has worked for Democratic campaigns throughout the South, said older black leaders adopted a more pragmatic political approach out of necessity.

''For the John Lewises of the world, who've been hit in the head with a baton, they have a different perspective,'' Dent said. ''You've got a new generation of African-Americans with no contact or understanding with what he had to go through, thank God.''

LaDawn Jones bounced her 5-month-old daughter Lyndon on her knee at a party that brought several hundred Obama supporters together to watch returns in the New Hampshire primary won by Clinton. She said she backed Clinton at first because she thought the New York senator had a better chance of winning in November.

Now Jones is behind Obama, explaining, ''I want to go for the gold.''

[Perky]

4. Kicking because of someone else's stupid stupid post

[Perky]

5. kick