http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080802/ap_on_el_pr/obama_slavery_reparations Obama opposes reparations for slavery By CHRISTOPHER WILLS, Associated Press Writer Sat Aug 2, 3:01 PM ET SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama opposes offering reparations to the descendants of slaves, putting him at odds with some black groups and leaders. ADVERTISEMENT The man with a serious chance to become the nation's first black president argues that government should instead combat the legacy of slavery by improving schools, health care and the economy for all. "I have said in the past â and I'll repeat again â that the best reparations we can provide are good schools in the inner city and jobs for people who are unemployed," the Illinois Democrat said recently. Some two dozen members of Congress are co-sponsors of legislation to create a commission that would study reparations â that is, payments and programs to make up for the damage done by slavery. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People supports the legislation, too. Cities around the country, including Obama's home of Chicago, have endorsed the idea, and so has a major union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. Obama has worked to be seen as someone who will bring people together, not divide them into various interest groups with checklists of demands. Supporting reparations could undermine that image and make him appear to be pandering to black voters. "Let's not be naive. Sen. Obama is running for president of the United States, and so he is in a constant battle to save his political life," said Kibibi Tyehimba, co-chair of the National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America. "In light of the demographics of this country, I don't think it's realistic to expect him to do anything other than what he's done." But this is not a position Obama adopted just for the presidential campaign. He voiced the same concerns about reparations during his successful run for the Senate in 2004. There's enough flexibility in the term "reparations" that Obama can oppose them and still have plenty of common ground with supporters. The NAACP says reparations could take the form of government programs to help struggling people of all races. Efforts to improve schools in the inner city could also aid students in the mountains of West Virginia, said Hilary Shelton, director of the NAACP's Washington bureau. "The solution could be broad and sweeping," Shelton said. The National Urban League â a group Obama addressed Saturday without mentioning the issue in his speech â avoids the word "reparations" as too vague and highly charged. But the group advocates government action to close the gaps between white America and black America. Urban League President Marc Morial said he expects his members to press Obama on how he intends to close those gaps and what action he would take in the first 100 days of his presidency. "What steps should we take as a nation to alleviate the effects of racial exclusion and racial discrimination?" Morial asked. The House voted this week to apologize for slavery. The resolution, which was approved on a voice vote, does not mention reparations, but past opponents have argued that an apology would increase pressure for concrete action. Obama says an apology would be appropriate but not particularly helpful in improving the lives of black Americans. Reparations could also be a distraction, he said. In a 2004 questionnaire, he told the NAACP, "I fear that reparations would be an excuse for some to say, 'We've paid our debt,' and to avoid the much harder work." Taking questions Sunday at a conference of minority journalists, Obama said he would be willing to talk to American Indian leaders about an apology for the nation's treatment of their people. Pressed for his position on apologizing to blacks or offering reparations, Obama said he was more interested in taking action to help people struggling to get by. Because many of them are minorities, he said, that would help the same people who would stand to benefit from reparations. "If we have a program, for example, of universal health care, that will disproportionately affect people of color, because they're disproportionately uninsured," Obama said. "If we've got an agenda that says every child in America should get â should be able to go to college, regardless of income, that will disproportionately affect people of color, because it's oftentimes our children who can't afford to go to college." One reparations advocate, Vernellia Randall, a law professor at the University of Dayton, bluntly responded: "I think he's dead wrong." She said aid to the poor in general won't close the gaps â poor blacks would still trail poor whites, and middle-class blacks would still lag behind middle-class whites. Instead, assistance must be aimed directly at the people facing the after-effects of slavery and Jim Crow laws, she said. "People say he can't run and get elected if he says those kinds of things," Randall said. "I'm like, well does that mean we're really not ready for a black president?"
Add this to the long list of things that he is on all sides of. Those articles read like they had been drafted at Obama headquarters and probably had been. i guess they realized he stepped in it with the earlier speech and wanted to contain the mess before the sleepy McCain campaign got around to noticing it. I will note that he never actually said he was against reparations. He used Clintonian phraseology to try to be for and against them at the same time. He thought there were "better" ways to accomplish the goal of taking money from people who earned it and giving ot to people who didn't.
he's not for hand outs, he's more for personal responsibility. anyone remember jessie jackson and the cutting of balls?
If Obama says yes to reparations for salvery, he knows this will not go well with many of his white supporters. If he says no to reparations but adds he wants more money for the advancement of black people, than this will please most of his supporters black and white. In my opinion his heart is with the black community mainly, and he has silent resentment to white people, but not hate to white people.
Well, that's just great that he has "silent resentment" but not hate towards the majority of the country. I'm sure this will lead to him being a just President, and equitable in his policy decisions. ROFLMAO!
Gee, here i wa thinking, the "real" issue might be the fact that, he has no policy, no substance, no nuffin-reparations my ass, nobody picked up the intense oxymoron, of a guy speaking about what might be necessary, when speaking (words) are redundant, via this arguement? IE, deeds, not words? Typical politico speak, means ZERO to anyone. Surely. But i dont know, he CAN read a cue card, convincingly, he really is a brilliant orator, it shouldn't be lost on many that most of ancient Rome's greatest politicians/statesman/criminals/warmongering fascists/ were also truly brilliant orators. Carthage was destroyed, effectively, by one mans effective hate speech's, but equally true, there were some truly inadequate ceasars over time-john macain sits squarely in the middle of marginal adequacy, over which nobody actually has any say, by common vote or otherwise. Been windsurfing lately?
My point was not to support Obama. My point of view sees a man who has become very popular because of his youth and hypnotic speeches, but I feel he is motivated by his resentment of white people. So as much as he claims to want unity, he will favor the black agenda. That was my point hapaboy, my opinion.
There is ample evidence to support your conclusion. His own book confirms it. It is full of fairly shocking anti-white rants. Rev. Wright was not an aberration but a reflection of his worldview. Now of course it has become inconvenient. He has managed to put the shoe on the other foot by claiming basically that anyone who oppsoes him is a racist.
Yes, it appears to me Obama has created image of caring for all peoples. And he appears to have set himself up to be a savior of the people, so when he is opposed, yes ,he then can be the victim of racism (by appearance) This is working for him, and I do not doubt he is well aware of how the subtle racism game is to his favor. But by appearance he projects the unifying image, the for all the people image, and this is what draws so many people to him. He needs the white vote, so he has had to take many stands that have disappointed some black leaders...like rev wright, jesse jackson. But its more safe for Obama to oppose some black leaders with his words, becasue they will still vote for him. But to oppose white people will mean he loses their vote. He is playing a very clever game of politics. And to be the first black president is truely motivating for any black man. But what happens if he wins the election? What is his true agenda, and what really inspires him? What does he really believe in? This is what makes me hesitant.