http://www.nul.org/opportunityjournal.html<snip>
"Senator Barack Obama has captured the attention of the media, the political establishment and voters as few other politicians - black or white – have done in recent history. With his announcement that he is running for president, Obama, the darker brother, has strutted into the dining room, taken his place at the big table, poured coffee into the cream and is stirring it up. The presence of Senator Obama, whose name we only yesterday couldn’t get straight yet now rolls off the tongues of millions of Americans, will likely change the face of modern politics as we’ve known it.
"In presenting this question, we hope to help lay to rest, once and for all, the notion, tacitly expressed by some who persist in making the query, that we must first confirm that America is ready for change before striving to move to the next level. Such an assumption is, in my view, exactly backwards.
. . .
"If Senator Obama is elected president next year, the answer to the question will obviously be “yes.” But if he’s not, that should not be automatically read to mean that the answer is no, since he could lose for any number of reasons unrelated to race – after all, white men have lost every presidential election since John Adams came in a distant second to George Washington in 1789. A loss would certainly not set a bizarre precedent.
"But win or lose, Senator Obama’s run is a positive development for all Americans, regardless of race, gender, or political affiliation. While neither I nor the National Urban League is endorsing any political candidate, it is clear that, like all of the presidential contenders in both parties, Senator Obama brings a unique set of talents and perspectives to the field that will make the contest richer and more robust. And, at the same time, we hope that he will clear space at the table for future black political leaders, just as Shirley Chisholm, Dick Gregory, Jesse Jackson, Douglas Wilder, Alan Keyes, Al Sharpton, Carol Moseley Braun, and others cleared and saved this space for him. We don’t know whether America is ready for a black president. But the only way to find out is to put it out there. Because we, too are America and I believe that our America can be trusted with the choice."
--- Editor's Note
National Urban League's Opportunity Journal Magazine
Spring 2007