Barack Obama: Nation "Cannot Afford to Ignore" Race

By Margaret Lyons in News on Mar 18, 2008 4:56PM

Barack Obama delivered a long, passionate speech earlier today, addressing Trinity United's Reverend Jeremiah Wright's controversial comments but also talking about race and racism in America.

I have already condemned, in unequivocal terms, the statements of Reverend Wright that have caused such controversy. For some, nagging questions remain. Did I know him to be an occasionally fierce critic of American domestic and foreign policy? Of course. Did I ever hear him make remarks that could be considered controversial while I sat in church? Yes. Did I strongly disagree with many of his political views? Absolutely – just as I’m sure many of you have heard remarks from your pastors, priests, or rabbis with which you strongly disagreed.
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I can no more disown him than I can disown the black community. I can no more disown him than I can my white grandmother – a woman who helped raise me, a woman who sacrificed again and again for me, a woman who loves me as much as she loves anything in this world, but a woman who once confessed her fear of black men who passed by her on the street, and who on more than one occasion has uttered racial or ethnic stereotypes that made me cringe.

Give those speech writers a raise.[full text of the speech]