Phenomenal Barack: Final Fulfilment of Martin Luther King’s Dream  

11/4/2008 10:33 am	Obama Photo: Sun News Publishing Tuesday, November 4, 2008 Glory be to God that Senator Barack Obama has done both African-Americans and the black people the world-over proud by his showing in this year’s presidential primaries and the apex poll proper, the first member of the race to reach that height in the two-hundred-and nineteen years the contest has been on in the United States. For his unique achievements he deserves to be praised by all Africans all over the world for bringing the greatest honour to our race through his brilliance, charisma and oratory. His is a gargantuan accomplishment for a man who became a senator only three years ago and was not known by most Americans and the people of the world until January this year when he won the primaries in the state of lowa, where the exercise kicked-off and led all the way to the last one in June. To end the hopes and dreams of Senator (Mrs) Hillary Clinton, wife of the immediate past President Bill Clinton (1993 – 2001) who wanted to be the first woman president of the U.S. and the first former First Lady to rule America. But as much as Obama made it to the presidential election because of his exceptional capabilities this would not have been possible without the efforts and sacrifices of some brave African-American leaders in the last fifty-five years or so. Some of who lost their lives to assassins in their committed struggle to end racial discrimination and segregation and secure voting rights and the right to contest election for black people. So while we celebrate Obama for bringing great honour and glory to our race, it is also an occasion to remember the heroes and heroines of the struggle who have gone and the few of them still alive. Like Dr. Andrew Young, the first African-American U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and Reverend Jesse Jackson, the first African-American to take part in the presidential primaries in the U.S. when he did so in 1988, both protégés of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, a Baptist Reverend gentleman who led the African struggle from 1955 until he was assassinated in the course of the crusade on April 4, 1968. Andrew Young and Jesse Jackson were some of the aides with him on that last campaign when he was shot to death. If Barack Obama is the Joshua who has led the African-Americans to the greatest political achievement, Dr. Luther King Jr. (Tuesday, January 15, 1929 – Saturday, April 4, 1968 ) was the Moses who led them through the wilderness of racial discrimination and segregation into political achievements and human dignity. And it is remarkable that Moses led the Israelites from Egypt through the desert to the banks of the Jordan River over a period of forty years. And that it is the same number of years after the death of Dr. King Jr. that it took Obama to become the first African-American flag bearer of any party during a presidential poll. And Reverend King can also be seen as the John the Baptist who prepared the way for Obama, just as the great Biblical prophet was the one the Lord chose as the forerunner for Jesus Christ, the Messiah. Dr King the great Although the equality of all Americans is envisioned in the Declaration of Independence of July 4, 1776 but this was not the case in reality until the 1950s and 60s as the people of minority races or people of color as they were also called – the Negroes or blacks, the Hispanics (Latin Americans), Arabs and Asians were discriminated against in many ways. It was not until ninety-nine years after the declaration of independence that the first step was taken to grant civil rights to the African-Americans when on March 1, 1875 Congress passed the Civil Rights Act which gave equal rights to the negroes in public accommodation and jury duty. But it was to be short-lived as the Supreme Court eight years later in 1883 invalidated the act. The situation remained bleak for the blacks (or niggers as they were derogatorily called) until Dr. Luther King and his team rose to the challenge in 1955 when a black seamstress Rosa Park in Montgomery, Alabama on December I refused against the segregation ordinance to give up her seat to a white man who entered a bus. Her prosecution led Dr. King and his aides to organize a peaceful protest march in the city and the boycott of buses by African-Americans. A federal court latter declared the law unconstitutional after Dr. King’s team protest marches. With other actions by King and the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NAACP) in other cities across the country, Congress on Monday, April 29, 1957 approved the civil rights bill for voting rights to the blacks. The passive resistance by King and his team continued in different parts of America culminating in the master of them all called the March on Washington D. C. on Thursday, August 29, 1963 in which over two hundred and fifty thousand people ---- blacks, whites, Asians and Arabs participated and where Dr. King delivered his famous “I have a dream” speech on the steps of Abraham Lincoln Memorial which is reproduced below for you today in full. Exactly ten months after the King-led mammoth show in Washington, Congress on Monday, June 29, 1964 passed the omnibus civil rights bill banning discrimination in voting, jobs, public accommodation and public schools and other areas. That same year Dr. King was honored with the Nobel Peace Prize to become the third American and first non—U.S. President to win it after President Theodore Roosevelt in 1906 and President Woodrow Wilson in 1919. Apart from Christopher Columbus, the great 15th century explorer who discovered America and whose birthday October 10 is a public holiday in the U.S. only Dr. King among private Americans has his birthday (January 15) celebrated with a public holiday since 1986. The other Americans so honored with a public holiday are George Washington (born February 22, 1732) the first U.S. president and President Abraham Lincoln (born on February 12, 1809). February 15 is set aside as a public holiday for the two of them known as Presidents’ Day or Washington –Lincoln Day. The earlier achievements of Dr. King and his aides were the election in 1966 of Edward Brooke of Massachusetts as the first African-American in the U.S senate, the election of Carl Stokes in 1967 as the first black mayor in Cleveland and Charles Evers as the first black mayor in Mississippi in 1969. Alarmed by the success of Dr. King and his aides a white man James Earl Ray, an escaped convict, assassinated him on April 4, 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee when he was in the city for a rally. Ray was eventually sentenced to 99 years prison term. To Obama... Despite Happens Today, No Mattter What.... Noni "Only a few things are really important." -- Marie Dressler
NoniJuice4 11/4/2008 6:26 pm	195 Obama to McCain's 76 = Obama needs 76 more. Slow and steady wins the race! Obama 2008!! "Only a few things are really important." -- Marie Dressler
NoniJuice4 11/5/2008 1:50 pm	President Obama's First Step: Reset Expectations Posted Nov 05, 2008 12:15pm EST by Henry Blodget in Newsmakers, Recession, Election Related: ^dji, ^gspc, ^ixic From ClusterStock, Nov. 5, 2008: If President Elect Obama were the incoming CEO of a corporation, he would now be preparing for the first act of his tenure: A massive write-off of the mountains of rotted junk buried on the company's balance sheet and an announcement that recovery will take a long, long time. This flush would clear the way for several years of better than expected results. It would also take advantage of the new leader's one chance to blame the sorry state of the organization on his sorry predecessor. President Obama began this process last night, in his victory speech, when he noted that restoring the country's health might take more than a term. In the next few weeks, he should go well beyond this: * The deficit will be more than $1 trillion a year for several years * The country needs a massive new fiscal stimulus * The housing market will continue to decline through at least 2010 * Interest rates and taxes will eventually have to rise (after the economy stabilizes) * Weak corporations have to be allowed to fail * Millions of homeowners will lose their house * Unemployment will probably rise to 10% * The government simply cannot "bail the country out" -- not because it lacks the will, but because it lacks the power In short, Obama needs to acknowedge reality, erring on the side of overstating the problems and challenges, and he needs to prepare the country for several tough years. Because if he doesn't, within six months of his taking office, the country will have forgotten all about the prior administration and will instead be blaming everything on him. Hmm... "Only a few things are really important." -- Marie Dressler