Roland S. Martin: Obama's "quiet riots" are for real

[Colobo]

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/06/07/martin/index.html

I don't sit in a think tank and write papers and books like D'Souza and these other wholly ignorant conservative bloggers. In fact, most of my time is spent at 1000 E. 87th St., in the heart of Chicago's South Side. That's the headquarters of WVON, where I host a morning talk show. When I ran the Dallas Weekly, it was on the South Side of Dallas on Martin Luther King Drive (Why is it that the black parts of town are always on the south side? Maybe because north means going up and south means going down).

And what Obama spoke of I see every day. I can look out our bay window and see men and women going to work each day, trying to make ends meet, and they often don't. I see women walking their kids to school just to keep them safe, but inevitably, some don't come home, like the 31 students from Chicago Public Schools who have been murdered this year. Oh, I definitely see the urban terrorists -- gang members and drug dealers -- who tear the fabric of the black community apart with their rampant violence.

People shouldn't have to endure "quiet riots." They should be shouting from the rooftops, and we should hear their pleas. See, if someone is stranded on a roof and the tides are rising, if they want to be rescued two things must happen: One, they must make themselves visible for the helicopter to see. Second, the helicopter must lower a line to help them up. The pilot can hook up the belt and do all the work; the individual must be a willing participant.

Obama gave a voice to the voiceless. As he said, they must do their part. They must work hard to escape poverty by going to school, do a good job at work and not be involved in crime.

Let's not treat them as if they are non-existent. If we remain quiet in the face of chronic conditions, shame on us for saying, "God bless America." Because we surely we are not being a blessing to our fellow Americans.

[Erika]

1. Who was it who said 75% of people lead lives of quite desperation?

Obama has effectively tied into that,

[AtomicKitten]

2. CNN did a piece about gun violence in Chicago in the

black community claiming our kids' lives. Our country is imploding.

Obama is talking hard about real issues in America. He has tuned into a real problem. Funny that Faux News chose to frame this as Obama Inciting Riots! being the epic a-holes that they are. But it is Obama that is drawing the crowds like nobody else. Nobody else.

After watching Junior sign away the constitution surrounded by pasty-faced white men applauding him, it is time for a new direction. Please nobody take this offensively, but we need a brother in charge, somebody who doesn't belong to The Pasty-Faced White Men Good Old Boys' Club. His "quiet riot" reference refers to us all in our various stages of discontent to misery.

Obama is fleshing out the hype that at first threatened to be a collapse waiting to happen. He is young, he is really, really bright, and his soulful approach to politics reeks of sincerity. He's playing the game and jumping through hoops, and that should not be held against him; it is the system that is broken.

Gobama.

[Maccagirl]

3. I almost teared up reading that

Shame on the conservatives attacking Barack Obama for telling the truth!

[EST]

4. Obama is an inspiration.

The "pasty faced white men" who represent the kleptocracy against the populace need to take note of another tiny detail-Senator Obama is also half white.