Sunday, April 22, 2007

Civil Rights Movement Veterans and Obama

One of my professors said recently that generals are always still stuck in the last war they fought. I find that to be true for the veterans of the Civil Rights movement as well. I am not alone in my sentiment, I am just one of the few that has the courage to speak up since it is perceived to be ungrateful to say anything about Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton.

But I have to do this.

Sharpton et al have repeatedly criticized candidates like Obama for not being more aggressive in their tactics when it comes to addressing issues like the Imus debacle. Obama criticized Imus--like just about everyone else--but according to the CRM vets, he didn't do it with enough force. Then what exactly should he have done? I freely admit that we have a long way to go as far as civil rights go, but we keep forgetting the progress that has been made. A rally isn't necessary anymore every time we face prejudice and instead of criticizing modern leaders for not having one, maybe our CRM vets should just take the time to realize this and bask in the glory of the fact that we don't have to have a rally every time something goes awry to get something done anymore.

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