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STATEMENT FROM REV. AL SHARPTON: On Tuesday's speech by Barack Obama
"The speech (Tuesday) by Senator Barack Obama was an important statement on the continuing realities of race and division in America and the quest to move beyond it towards a more fair and open society.
We will not get there by being in denial; there still exist problems and division that I and others in Senator Obama's generation continue to seek to expose. Nor will we get there with statements and language that exacerbate the problems rather than expose them, and lead to "solutions" exhibited by those in past generations on all sides of the race question.
Every generation has had those like Senator Obama who seek to solve them from within government and the corporate community, as well as those outside government and corporate circles who seek to expose the issues and so to drive society to dealing with them. In our time we still must deal with these matters.
Let us not forget that in just the last year we have had to deal with hangman nooses and swastikas. Tens of thousands of people joined us in Jena, Louisiana, to protest racial injustice in the criminal justice system, and even more joined us for a national march in front of the Department of Justice. The trial of Sean Bell, who was killed on the eve of his wedding by New York City police officers, was in session even while Senator Obama made his speech. This reminds us that we can reduce the efforts to attacking those who appear to respond in an intemperate manner about our history, or we can deal with the broader reality that we still have challenges before us that we must solve. Denial of these problems is in no way equivalent to the removal of them.
I would hope that Senators McCain, Clinton and Obama now seek to raise the discussion to solutions rather than to expand the examination and denunciation of surrogates' statements of how they see the problem; if the contest remains at that level the American people are to lose.
I also think we must reappraise the church and the history of social gospel and the prophetic tradition. Martin Luther King, III, and I will be calling leaders to Memphis, Tennessee around the anniversary of the assassination of his father the week of April 2-5.
We will have during that time a Summit meeting of black clergy leaders to talk about what is and what is not the appropriate way to address these matters as we protect the history of the pulpit in being a place that is free to speak truth to power but also by being careful to lead to healing and not to further exacerbation of those situations we seek to resolve."
-- Reverend Al Sharpton, President of National Action Network
source:
Rachel Noerdlinger
Vice President of Communications
Reverend Al Sharpton Media
revalmedia@yahoo.com
Join Rev. Sharpton and Martin Luther King, III, Friday, April 4th: "The Recommitment March" marking the 40th anniversary of the death of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Pls. visit www.nationalactionnetwork.net or email revalmedia@yahoo.com.
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