Obama Warns of 'Quiet Riot' Among Blacks

[FORD]

Obama Warns of 'Quiet Riot' Among Blacks


Tuesday June 5, 2007 9:16 PM

By BOB LEWIS

Associated Press Writer

HAMPTON, Va. (AP) - Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama said Tuesday that the Bush administration has done nothing to defuse a ``quiet riot'' among blacks that threatens to erupt just as riots in Los Angeles did 15 years ago.

The first-term Illinois senator said that with black people from New Orleans and the Gulf Coast still displaced 20 months after Hurricane Katrina, frustration and resentments are building explosively as they did before the 1992 riots.

``This administration was colorblind in its incompetence,'' Obama said at a conference of black clergy, ``but the poverty and the hopelessness was there long before the hurricane.

``All the hurricane did was to pull the curtain back for all the world to see,'' he said.

Obama's criticism of Bush prompted ovation after ovation from the nearly 8,000 people gathered in Hampton University's Convocation Center, particularly when he denounced the Iraq war and noted that he had opposed it from the outset.

Repeatedly, he referred to the riots that erupted in Los Angeles after a jury acquitted four police officers of assault charges in the 1991 beating of Rodney King, a black motorist, after a high speed chase. Fifty-five people died and 2,000 were injured in several days of riots in the city's black neighborhoods.

``Those 'quiet riots' that take place every day are born from the same place as the fires and the destruction and the police decked out in riot gear and the deaths,'' Obama said. ``They happen when a sense of disconnect settles in and hope dissipates. Despair takes hold and young people all across this country look at the way the world is and believe that things are never going to get any better.''

He argued that once a hurricane hits or a jury renders a not guilty verdict, ``the frustration is there for all to see.''

Obama, who is bidding to become the first black president, took the stage after a succession of ministers repeatedly brought the crowd to its feet, singing, praying and swaying to music.

Repeatedly, with evangelical zeal, he raised issues that roused the crowd: increasing the minimum wage and teacher pay, funding for public schools and college financial aid for the poor, ending predatory lending and expediting the reconstruction of New Orleans and the Mississippi coast.

He introduced his own pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright of Chicago's Trinity United as ``Unashamedly Black and Unapologetically Christian.'' He credited Wright with introducing him to Christ, and peppered his speech with Scriptural references, at one point invoking the opening lines of the Lord's Prayer.

Obama noted that during the riots, a bullet pierced the abdomen of a pregnant woman and lodged in the elbow of her fetus. The baby was delivered by caesarian section, the bullet was removed and the child, Jessica Glennis Evers-Jones, has only a small scar on her arm to show for it.

Using the incident as a metaphor, Obama said society's problems are worsening because ``in too many places across the country, we have not even bothered to take the bullet out.''

``When we have more black men in prison than in college, then it's time to take the bullet out,'' he said.

Obama doesn't regularly focus on racial themes in his standard campaign speeches. He did speak out on black issues in Selma, Ala., in March, when he told a largely black audience that he was a product of the civil rights movement and lectured blacks for failing to vote in large numbers.

Several ministers at the conference said Obama's message and style plays well among black voters and with their spiritual leaders.

The Rev. Robert Abbott, pastor of the Holy Trinity Baptist Church in Amityville, N.Y., said Obama connects with black audiences because of the preacher's style he uses when addressing them.

``The way he sounds, it's like he can reach out and encourage people,'' Abbott said.

Link (http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6686046,00.html)

[Unchainme]

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????

[ELVIS]

Originally posted by FORD
``All the hurricane did was to pull the curtain back for all the world to see,'' he said.

See what ???

Oh c'mon...

Obama is pulling a sharpton here...

``When we have more black men in prison than in college, then it's time to take the bullet out,'' he said.

Please disperse, nothing to see here...


The guy's all over the place in this article...

C'mon Dave and Obama, give us a break...:rolleyes:

[FORD]

I think you need to cut some bigger eye-holes in your sheets, ELVIS :(

[Hyman Roth]

Well...Obama just lost the primaries.

[Mr. Vengeance]

Will he wear the metal mask during the debates????
http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/I/61Qg7IR4dzL._AA240_.jpg

[Unchainme]

Originally posted by Mr. Vengeance
Will he wear the metal mask during the debates????

http://jacket.subtonic.jp/wp-content/uploads/2007/01/b00005nnml01_aa240_sclzzzzzzz_v37091914_.jpg

I'm shocked that it hasn't shown up Ebay yet..

[FORD]

Waiting for the Photoshop........

[ELVIS]

Originally posted by FORD
I think you need to cut some bigger eye-holes in your sheets, ELVIS :(

What the hell are you talking about ??

And I think he dug himself a hole with that crap...

[Nitro Express]

All the black people I know are too busy working and making money to riot. No shit.

[Ellyllions]

Does anyone remember the thread a long time ago talking about how the press was saying that Obama wasn't "black" enough to get the black vote?

I even went out and asked my best friend if he has to hide the fact that he's friends with us (hubby, youngin' and I) because his black friends and family would shun him.

This article is a real disappointment for me. I had hopes (waining of course) that Obama wouldn't go this route...

[DrMaddVibe]

The Race Card gets thrown early.

Kinda like playing Spades.

Sad thing is, once its out there...its gone. Used.

[BITEYOASS]

This is great! I think every culture in america should be open to more than just one genre of music. Although he quite inaccurate about African-Americans liking Quiet Riot. Most of them I know back in Jackson, MI thought GnR was the shit.

[FORD]

So are there really that many people in this thread that are in complete denial as to what happened in New Orleans? :confused:

Looks like the whore media did their jobs again. BTW, you might have noticed this article came from a real Newspaper....

[Nitro Express]

I feel sorry for the people in third world countries who don't get FEMA debit cards and free hotel rooms for two years.

Mississippi was harder hit and the people there went to work. The state govenor said they had plenty of money it was workers they were short of.

New Orleans and it's liberal welfare handouts created lazy and dependant people that would sit in their own squalor instead of crossing a bridge to dry land. One homeless guy crossed the river and walked on foot to Baton Rouge to a former army buddies house for help. He said he had two MRE's in his rucksack and was used to camping out and walking because that's what he did in Vietnam.

There lies the difference. A guy with no money and homeless could do what the lazy welfare rats couldn't and those people get more bennefits a month than a lower middle class working person does.

[Ellyllions]

Ford, this thread isn't about Katrina it's about Obama changing his platform to try to pander to only one people in this country. It's about him making a seperation.

...and it's not right.

[FORD]

Originally posted by Ellyllions
Ford, this thread isn't about Katrina it's about Obama changing his platform to try to pander to only one people in this country. It's about him making a seperation.

...and it's not right.

He's not making a seperation. He's acknowledging the fact that blacks are angry over the way Katrina was handled, and they have every right to be. I'm white, and I'm angry about the way it was handled.

And he makes the comparison to the LA riots wisely. Those riots were a reaction to a gross injustice, when 4 brutal fascist pigs got away with beating a black man on camera. Their guilt was without question, yet they walked. And Los Angeles exploded.

Obama is warning all of us that this kind of anger could happen again, if justice is not done. There are still thousands of New Orleans residents left homeless. Some were forced out of their homes, even though there was no flood damage.

The real irony here is that I can forsee the event which will set off black anger in this country on a level that will make Los Angeles look like a Mormon church picnic.

And that's when the same bastards who killed Bobby Kennedy 40 years ago, and Martin Luther King 2 months before that, decide that Obama is too much of a threat to them :(

And God help us all if that happens.

[jhale667]

Originally posted by Ellyllions

I even went out and asked my best friend if he has to hide the fact that he's friends with us (hubby, youngin' and I) because his black friends and family would shun him.




...That you even had (or thought you had) to ASK is indicative of what's still wrong with this country.... :(

And I completely agree with FORD's last post.

[Hyman Roth]

http://a.photos.cx/jesseandaltardzzls6-def.jpg

[Hyman Roth]

I'll take Elly's position on this one. As long as we (the people) view problems as a "black" problem or a "white" problem, whatever, we can never improve race relations.

Obama is pandering to the "black" vote on this one only because someone on his election committee did some research and decided he needed to court the "black" voters. Its so translucent you can see right through it.

[sadaist]

Originally posted by Nitro Express
All the black people I know are too busy working and making money to riot. No shit.

Same here. Neighbors are busy raising their kids, going to little league, school plays, etc... But then I don't live in the inner city to know what's really happening there.

[Ellyllions]

Originally posted by jhale667
...That you even had (or thought you had) to ASK is indicative of what's still wrong with this country.... :(



Naw, I heard it on the news and I went straight to a source that's important to me.

He answered, "I don't hang with people who are like that."

That's indicative of what's RIGHT in this country but being ignored.

We know how to live together now. What we don't need is politicians who make us look at each other with a divide again. We need leaders who will find a way to bring us closer together.

[FORD]

Originally posted by Hyman Roth
I'll take Elly's position on this one. As long as we (the people) view problems as a "black" problem or a "white" problem, whatever, we can never improve race relations.

Obama is pandering to the "black" vote on this one only because someone on his election committee did some research and decided he needed to court the "black" voters. Its so translucent you can see right through it.

Facts are facts, and the fact is that those who sufferred the most from Katrina (because of the complete incompetence of the BCE) were predominately African-Americans.

In reality, it's an economic issue more than anything. If Clarence Thomas lived in New Orleans, you can bet your ass he wouldn't have lost his house. And Chimpy promised that he would personally make sure that Trent Lott's house (in Mississippi) was rebuilt.

The Republicans scream "class warfare" when ever they are asked to pay their fair share of taxes, but the REAL class warfare is being waged by them.

Who got hit the worst by Katrina?

Who continues to be hit the worst by insane gas prices?

Who suffers the most from the fucked up state of healthcare in this country?

The poor, obviously. And occasionally, the poor are depserate enough to steal. Which is why they also make up a much larger part of the prison population, which Obama also addressed.

However, it is a fact that in many cities, especially in the South, the poor are mostly not white. And that is when it becomes a racial issue, whether skin pigmentation is the TRUE root of the problem or not.

[Hyman Roth]

I don't know if its a fact or not that the poor are mostly not white - maybe in disproportion to their respective populations, but by in large I agree with your post. The rich are way too rich and the poor are way too poor. That has nothing to do with the amount of melanin one has in his or her skin. Of course most politicians are too pussy to make this argument and, after all, it would lose them votes. We need major systemic change to solve many of this Country's problems. Unfortunately, I don't see that happening in our lifetime.

[studly hungwell]

Originally posted by FORD
Facts are facts, and the fact is that those who sufferred the most from Katrina (because of the complete incompetence of the BCE) were predominately African-Americans.

In reality, it's an economic issue more than anything. If Clarence Thomas lived in New Orleans, you can bet your ass he wouldn't have lost his house. And Chimpy promised that he would personally make sure that Trent Lott's house (in Mississippi) was rebuilt.

The Republicans scream "class warfare" when ever they are asked to pay their fair share of taxes, but the REAL class warfare is being waged by them.

Who got hit the worst by Katrina?

Who continues to be hit the worst by insane gas prices?

Who suffers the most from the fucked up state of healthcare in this country?

The poor, obviously. And occasionally, the poor are depserate enough to steal. Which is why they also make up a much larger part of the prison population, which Obama also addressed.

However, it is a fact that in many cities, especially in the South, the poor are mostly not white. And that is when it becomes a racial issue, whether skin pigmentation is the TRUE root of the problem or not.

Jesus, man...Everybody knows by now that the ones who failed are the mayor and the governor of la. Also, your opinion that the poor do not know right from wrong because of how much money they have in their pocket is fucking silly! Hey, Ford....if you reach in your pocket and find no money, is it alright for you to bust the window of a Best Buy and steal a big screen TV? This isn't racial....this is about right and wrong. As much as you oppose the idea....those that broke the law deserved to be punished. They never will be because people like you will go out of their way to make excuses for them. What motivates you to defend criminals? Apparently because you noticed the color of their skin. Do you feel guilty or responsible because some black people committed crimes? You shouldn't. Who's the racist.....You or me?

[Hyman Roth]

Is it wrong to steal when you are starving?

[studly hungwell]

Originally posted by Hyman Roth
Is it wrong to steal when you are starving?

That could be another thread....that is not the example I used. I assume that you agree that bread and milk were not the only things stolen?

[Hyman Roth]

Yes I agree that bread and milk were not the only things stolen, but I think you mis-interpreted Ford's statement as a defense of all criminals rather than a rational explanation for some crime.

[Hyman Roth]

And speaking of right and wrong...is it right that people in this country are starving and homeless? Is it right that education is so unaffordable? Capitalism, as efficient as it may be, is based on a whole series of "wrongs". Just my opinion.

[studly hungwell]

Originally posted by Hyman Roth
Yes I agree that bread and milk were not the only things stolen, but I think you mis-interpreted Ford's statement as a defense of all criminals rather than a rational explanation for some crime.

Well, Mr. Roth, by your own words we are discussing "crime". I bow to you, Mr. Roth, to conviently redifine actions that contradict the law of the land. By definition, "crime", describes all actions that are to be proscribed by society as a whole. Such activity deemed unacceptable by society itself as voted on by its representatives. Do I begrudge a person for saving themselves from starvation? No. I am not an elected representative of the people....it is not my sworn duty to honor and enforce the law.....only to obey it. Now, see? This is not about skin color at all, is it?

[jhale667]

Originally posted by Ellyllions


He answered, "I don't hang with people who are like that."



People who ARE like that (no matter WHAT color) should be ostracized....

Actually, I'm more for just straight-up KILLING racists...maybe they'll come back as a human next life? ;)


As for the post-Katrina looting, I said in a previous thread anyone caught stealing anything OTHER than food and disaster 'essentials' should have been fucking shot...

A lady I work with relocated here after losing everything to Katrina, and she is BUSTING HER ASS working two jobs to support herself and her kids...she's not looking for a "liberal welfare handout"....

[Hyman Roth]

Originally posted by studly hungwell
Well, Mr. Roth, by your own words we are discussing "crime". I bow to you, Mr. Roth, to conviently redifine actions that contradict the law of the land. By definition, "crime", describes all actions that are to be proscribed by society as a whole. Such activity deemed unacceptable by society itself as voted on by its representatives. Do I begrudge a person for saving themselves from starvation? No. I am not an elected representative of the people....it is not my sworn duty to honor and enforce the law.....only to obey it. Now, see? This is not about skin color at all, is it?

No - you're doing an excellent job of keeping this discussion race-neutral. But on the issue of crime: have you ever driven 36 mph in a 35 mph zone? Have you ever found a crinkled up $5.00 bill on the sidewalk and neglected to report it as income to the IRS (assuming you are American, of course)? There are so many "crimes" on the books that they can't all be enforced and if they could we would all be in a mess of trouble.

[Nickdfresh]

Originally posted by studly hungwell
... This is not about skin color at all, is it?

Obviously he let his feelings known in a previous post. Fifty percent of what passes for racism is actually classism. It has a lot to do with money...

[studly hungwell]

Originally posted by Hyman Roth
No - you're doing an excellent job of keeping this discussion race-neutral. But on the issue of crime: have you ever driven 36 mph in a 35 mph zone? Have you ever found a crinkled up $5.00 bill on the sidewalk and neglected to report it as income to the IRS (assuming you are American, of course)? There are so many "crimes" on the books that they can't all be enforced and if they could we would all be in a mess of trouble.


Granted...I will not argue with that at all. Yes, in the strictest sense of the the word, I am a criminal. The thing that got my dander up was crime as a result of poverty. Then, from there, we are led to assume african american. Then, we are encouraged to excuse the criminal activity because of their poverty or color of their skin. That's bullhsit. Call it what it is and call people out for it. Don't rake these people over the coals but don't try to smooth it over because of their skin color or their income level. This behavior is unacceptable....period. Why is it so hard for people to collectively say that? Have we been conditioned to feel guilt everytime we see people with less than we have? In the same way, are we to feel as though we haven't earned what we have? Are we gift reciepients or did we earn what we have? It seems to me that the idea of equality means all the good spread evenly and all the bad spread to the "rich". Sorry if I was preachy.

[studly hungwell]

Originally posted by Nickdfresh
Obviously he let his feelings known in a previous post. Fifty percent of what passes for racism is actually classism. It has a lot to do with money...

Thank you for paying attention.

[Hyman Roth]

Well....when you say "This behavior is unacceptable"...I'm not sure if you mean committing crime in general, or defending criminal actions because of the class, or race, or whathaveyou, of the perp.

Assuming the former, its tough for people to collectively say its unacceptable because it isn't always unacceptable. Its the job of the judiciary to weight the facts of each case and determine what is and isn't acceptible. When someone gets caught stealing bread because they are starving, for example, I would hope that most judges would be compassionate enough to decide that it is not a crime, the black letter of the law notwithstanding.

[studly hungwell]

Originally posted by Hyman Roth
Well....when you say "This behavior is unacceptable"...I'm not sure if you mean committing crime in general, or defending criminal actions because of the class, or race, or whathaveyou, of the perp.

Assuming the former, its tough for people to collectively say its unacceptable because it isn't always unacceptable. Its the job of the judiciary to weight the facts of each case and determine what is and isn't acceptible. When someone gets caught stealing bread because they are starving, for example, I would hope that most judges would be compassionate enough to decide that it is not a crime, the black letter of the law notwithstanding.

With all due respect, I think you will agree that there is a vast difference between doing 36 in a 35 and taking advantage of the diminished resources of local law enforcement to loot local businesses. I may be asking you to step out on a limb, but, this particular limb is 5 feet thick....don't think it's gonna snap.

[Hyman Roth]

Agreed. The looting was an national embarrassment. I remember seeing one undercover reporter video-taping a low-level law enforcement official looting a Best-Buy in her uniform! I was aghast.

[timmy pooterbut]

comon feel the noise booger/lipps

[timmy pooterbut]

what is the longest and most painful way to commit suicide? please pm with suggestions.

[Unchainme]

You're a Fucking MORON katydid...Fuck off!

[Redballjets88]

Originally posted by FORD
I think you need to cut some bigger eye-holes in your sheets, ELVIS :(

ford you're a puss

[FORD]

You must be drinking the corn squeezin's with kuntydoodle.

[Hyman Roth]

Originally posted by timmy pooterbut
what is the longest and most painful way to commit suicide? please pm with suggestions.


Originally posted by FORD
You must be drinking the corn squeezin's with kuntydoodle.


LMMFAO

[scamper]

Originally posted by FORD
So are there really that many people in this thread that are in complete denial as to what happened in New Orleans? :confused:

Looks like the whore media did their jobs again. BTW, you might have noticed this article came from a real Newspaper....

Didn't mother nature unleash her fury on a town that sits below sea level?

[scamper]

Originally posted by Hyman Roth
And speaking of right and wrong...is it right that people in this country are starving and homeless? Is it right that education is so unaffordable? Capitalism, as efficient as it may be, is based on a whole series of "wrongs". Just my opinion.

You're right, give me all your stuff and I'll tell you who should have it.

[Hyman Roth]

http://a.photos.cx/slippery_slope-41b.jpg

[jhale667]

Originally posted by Hyman Roth
http://a.photos.cx/slippery_slope-41b.jpg

:lol:

And LMAO @ "corn squeezin's"

[vh rides again]

Originally posted by studly hungwell
That could be another thread....that is not the example I used. I assume that you agree that bread and milk were not the only things stolen?

i would be willing to bet that most people in prison are there for drug related charges. i never seen a black man in prison for stealing food or anyone for that matter.

dealing drugs, drug possession, robbery, burgelary, assault, murder. sex offenders. same goes for whites and mexicans.

our prisons are full of drug offenders.

[Hyman Roth]

Good point!!

[FORD]

All the more reason why drugs should be treated as a health problem and not a criminal problem.

After health care reform, naturally.

Of course the corporations wouldn't like that.... prison labor is even "better" than outsourcing.