In Obama's Own Words: For Supporters and Nonsupporters: Part II
For Obama Supporters: Enlightenment
For Clinton Supporters: Encouragement
For McCain Supporters: Ammunition
For all those persons who had neither the time nor the
inclination to read over 480 pages of Barack Obama's first book,
here are some quotations taken from that book, "Dreams from My
Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance", by Barack Obama,
published by Three Rivers Press, New York, New York, Copyright
1995, 2004, paperback edition, ISBN 978-1-4000-8277-3 (Original
edition ISBN 1-4000-8277-3). For your information, in 1995,
Barack Obama was 34 years old.
This "Part II" covers Chapters 9-14 of the book.
[PRELIMINARY NOTE: I have CAPITALIZED WORDS that I want to
emphasize. These words were NOT capitalized by Obama].
Page 193:
Relating to tensions in the black community between color
consciousness between blacks, such as good hair, bad hair; thick
lips or thin; if you're light, you're alright, if you're black,
get back, Obama states:
"Later, I would realize that the position of most black students
in predominantly white colleges was already too tenuous, OUR
IDENTITIES TOO SCRAMBLED, to admit to ourselves that our black
pride remained incomplete. And to admit our doubt and confusion
to whites, to open up our psyches to general examination by those
who had caused so much of the damage in the first place, seemed
ludicrous, itself AN EXPRESSION OF SELF-HATRED--for there seemed
no reason to expect that whites would look at our private
struggles as a mirror into their own souls, rather than yet MORE
EVIDENCE OF BLACK PATHOLOGY."
Page 199:
In writing about his discussions with a Black Muslim named Rafiq,
Obama states:
"In a sense, then, RAFIQ WAS RIGHT when he insisted that, DEEP
DOWN, ALL BLACKS WERE POTENTIAL NATIONALISTS. The anger was
there, bottled up and often turned inward. And as I though about
Ruby and her blue eyes, the teenagers calling each other 'nigger'
and worse, I wondered whether, for now at least Rafiq wasn't also
right in preferring that the anger be redirected; WHETHER A BLACK
POLITICS THAT SUPPRESSED RAGE TOWARD WHITES GENERALLY, or one
that failed to elevate race loyalty above all else, WAS A
POLITICS INADEQUATE TO THE TASK."
Page 211:
After Barack and his white girl friend, that he loved, whom he
had been seeing for almost a year, had seen a play by a black
playwright, they discussed the play, and Obama states:
"After the play was over, my friend started talking about WHY
BLACK PEOPLE WERE SO ANGRY ALL THE TIME. I said it was a matter
of remembering--NOBODY ASKS WHY JEWS REMEMBER THE HOLOCAUST, I
think I said--and she said that's different, and I said it
wasn't, and she said that anger was just a dead end. WE HAD A
BIG FIGHT, RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE THEATER. When we got back to
the car she started crying. She couldn't be black, she said.
She would if she could, but she couldn't. She could only be
herself, and wasn't that enough."
Page 220:
In describing personal attributes he desired, Obama states:
"Yes, I'd seen weakness in other men--Gramps and his
disappointments, Lolo and his compromise. But these men had
become object lessons for me, men I might love but never emulate,
WHITE MEN AND BROWN MEN WHOSE FATES DIDN'T SPEAK TO MY OWN. IT
WAS INTO MY FATHER'S IMAGE, THE BLACK MAN, SON OF AFRICA, THAT
I'D PACKED ALL THE ATTRIBUTES I SOUGHT IN MYSELF, THE ATTRIBUTES
OF MARTIN AND MALCOLM, DUBOIS AND MANDELA."
Page 265:
Relating to the death of his father, Obama's brother Roy told him
about some details about the father's burial that happened in
Kenya, since Obama had not attended the funeral, Obama states the
words of his brother Roy:
"The government wanted a Christian burial. THE FAMILY WANTED A
MUSLIM BURIAL."
Page 282:
After having having discussions with Rev. Wright, Obama states
about Rev. Wright:
"He had grown up in Philadelphia, the son of a Baptist minister.
He had resisted his father's vocation at first, joining the
Marines out of college, DABBLING WITH liquor, ISLAM, AND BLACK
NATIONALISM in the sixties.
Page 284
Having left a meeting with Rev. Wright, Obama was reading a
brochure that he had picked up in the reception area, and
referring to the brochure, Obama states:
"It contained a set of guiding principles--a "BLACK VALUE
SYSTEM"--that the congregation had adopted in 1979. At the top
of the list was a commitment to God, "who will give us the
strength to give up prayerful passivism and BECOME BLACK
CHRISTIAN ACTIVISTS, soldiers for Black freedom and the dignity
of all humankind." Then a commitment to the black community and
black family , education, the work ethic, discipline, and self-
respect."
[and later on ths same page]
"There was one particular passage in Trinity's brochure that
stood out, though, a commandment more self-conscious in its tone,
requiring greater elaboration. "A DISAVOWAL OF THE PURSUIT OF
MIDDLECLASSNESS," the heading read. "While it is permissible to
chase "'middleincomeness' with all our might," the text stated,
those blessed with the talent or good fortune to achieve success
in the American mainstream must AVOID THE PSYCHOLOGICAL
ENTRAPMENT OF BLACK 'MIDDLECLASSNESS' that hypnotizes the
successful brother or sister into believing they are better than
the rest and TEACHES THEM TO THINK IN TERMS OF 'WE' AND 'THEY'
INSTEAD OF 'US'!" "
Bottom of page 286 to top of page 287:
In thinking about faith as discussed by Reverend Philips and
Reverend Wright, Obama states:
"And I would shrug and play the question off, unable to confess
that I COULD NO LONGER DISTINGUISH BETWEEN FAITH AND MERE FOLLY,
between faith and simple endurance; that while I believed in the
sincerity I heard in their voices, I REMAINED A RELUCTANT
SCEPTIC, DOUBTFUL OF MY OWN MOTIVES, WARY OF EXPEDIENT
CONVERSION, having too many quarrels with God to accept a
salvation too easily won."
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