On January 20th, 2009, Rev. Lowery welcomed Barack Obama to the presidency with a speech and prayer. Here's an excerpt that stood out the most:
"We ask you to help us work for that day when black will not be asked to give back, when brown can stick around, when yellow will be mellow, when the red man can get ahead, man, and when white will embrace what is right."
I could not find any information of where this statement originally came from, so I will speak on the different views including my own on his speech. This comment stirred a lot of controversy over whether the statement above was racist toward Caucasians. Was the reverend right for making this statement? What does he really mean by this statement? Should we read this message literally or figuratively? Well, I was reading some blogs and many people feel like this statement was pointing the finger at Caucasians for not doing what is thought to be right. People that share this viewpoint believe that as a whole Americans should learn to do what is right and not just the ones who were pointed out. I noticed that most of the people who thought this comment was racist were Caucasian. The other viewpoint of this situation is that the comment is not racist and he was just singing the lyrics of an old song. They feel that if Caucasians know in their heart they have not done something wrong, then they should not be offended by this comment. My viewpoint is totally out of the box and does not agree with either side because I would rather have a conversation with this man in order to clarify his speech for everyone. I believe being that this man is 87 years old and was president of SCLC he has witnessed plenty of things during the 50s and 60s that none of us born recently could even imagine. Thus, his view comes from a different perspective and he is not going to easily forget the things he has witnessed. That is what I think, but what do you honestly believe?...Please do not be ignorant..think before you write something with no meaning.
P.S. I read most of the viewpoints of this situation on the CNN website.
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I agree with you because I feel that since Rev. Lowery was able to live through the most historical moments, he has a better understanding of what is being said and is able to say that finally change has come. I think the quote is just saying that everyone will have their chance regardless of skin color now that the racial barrier is finally being broken. :-)
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