Quote Of The Day – Race And Responsibility
By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Quotes, Race“We’ve got to say to our children, yes, if you’re African American, the odds of growing up amid crime and gangs are higher. Yes, if you live in a poor neighborhood, you will face challenges that someone in a wealthy suburb does not have to face. That’s not a reason to get bad grades. That’s not a reason to cut class. That’s not a reason to give up on your education and drop out of school. No one has written your destiny for you. Your destiny is in your hands. You can not forget that. That’s what we need to teach all our children: no excuses.”
- Obama talking to the NAACP yesterday
In fact, here’s the speech and you should definitely take a look. Because I think that after you watch it you’ll understand why it’s one that only Obama could give. And the quote above can be found about 24 minutes in and it gets one of the biggest rounds of applause.
I wonder if Jesse Jackson is furious…
This entry was posted on Friday, July 17th, 2009 and is filed under Quotes, Race. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
July 17th, 2009 at 8:04 am
Very Cosby-esque. Good for him!
July 17th, 2009 at 12:39 pm
I THINK IT WOULD BE IMPORTANT FOR OBAMA TO NOT JUST DIRECT HIS SPEECH TO BLACK BOYS AND GIRLS BUT TO ALL AND BASICALLY SAY, IF YOU’RE WAITING FOR “GOD” TO HELP YOU, YOU WILL FIND NOTHING BUT DISAPPOINTMENT. IF YOU ACT FOR YOURSELF WITHOUT THE HELP OF OTHER CONFUSED INDIVIDUALS, THEN YOU CAN TRULY BE PROUD OF YOUR ACCOMPLISHMENTS. PROGRESS IN SOCIETY IS NOT DETERMINED BY A SPEECH, BUT HOW THOSE PEOPLE REACT TO A SPEECH. AND A SPEECH DIRECTED AT ONE SECT OF SOCIETY, INSTEAD OF AMERICA AS A WHOLE, IS NOT DOING ENOUGH TO CORRECT THE IMBALANCES OF JUSTICE. THE WHITE FOLKS THAT INTERACT WITH THE BLACK FOLKS THAT THIS SPEECH WAS DIRECTED TOWARDS NEED TO HAVE A CONSCIENTIOUS APPROACH TO EQUALITY AND UNDERSTANDING.
July 17th, 2009 at 8:44 pm
I think what we need to look at is how african americans are portrayed in the media and regarded in general. I firmly believe that most important is the sense of self esteem a student feels. I always felt inferior in school, like whenever i got an answer wrong it was expected and it is largely because of how i felt i was perceived. anyone who really wants to argue this point isn’t paying attention…probably because they don’t have to. im not saying it is a reason to give up, but it is an unnecessary obstacle that we should all be ashamed still exists.