President Obama sang the lyrics to "Amazing Grace" and brought the congregation to its feet to sing with him.
AMAZING ... GRACE! This is one of the emotional highpoints of eulogy delivered by President Barack Obama for the Rev. Clementa Pinckney, who was one of the nine people who was killed by white supremacist Dylann Roof. The eulogy itself was one of the president's best speeches. He was in front of a friendly audience and he drew from the cadence and spirit of other black orators who had their training on the pulpit. At first glance, even though the eulogy might appear to have nothing to do with Asian America, it has everything to do with being an American and that's why I am writing about it in Views From The Edge. It would be difficult to not say something about this singular powerful moment in history because of what it means to race relations, all people of color and to America's future. Even die-hard Republicans have to admit that it was a moment to remember. If you missed it because you were at work or the gym, this MSNBC video captures ... that ... moment.
The Rev. Clementa Pickney
The audience was nodding in agreement, "Amening" to the President's statements, punctuating his every phrase. Besides race relations, talked about gun control, faith, forgiveness - and grace. Boy, did he talk about grace.
I can't remember any other president soaring like Obama did, moving into song and singing a cappella the old spiritual "Amazing Grace." I don't think any other president could have pulled it off. It seemed so spontaneous but, you know it had to be planned and when the president reached that point in his speech, it was up to him to take it down that road, or not. It was a daring ploy, but it was so natural, so fitting and not at all fake or insincere. He was obviously feeling it ... in the moment. He paused, and repeated "Amazing Grace!" He looked down to his notes, paused for a good 25 seconds as if he was pondering, "Should I do it? Should I do it?" He went for it! When he sang his first note, the ministers behind him realized what he was doing - a technique they probably all employed in their sermons - and they were laughing and applauding in joy. The entire congregation stood up with him and joined the president in those inspirational lyrics. It was a daring decision to take it to the next level. The incredible moment will go down in history. Simply, amazing.
Obama praises Haley during eulogy for the Rev. Pinckney; what to say to defenders of the controversial flag
Gov. Nikki Haley's political stock has risen since she took a stand to remove the flag from state grounds.
“FOR TOO LONG we were blind to the pain that the Confederate flag stirred in too many of our citizens," said President Obama at the funeral for the Rev. Clementa Pinckney, one of the nine people killed by the gunman Dylann Roof. "It’s true, a flag did not cause these murders. But as people from all walks of life, Republicans and Democrats now acknowledge — including Gov. Haley, whose recent eloquence on the subject is worthy of praise — we all have to acknowledge the flag has always represented more than just ancestral pride." South Carolina's Gov. Nikki Haley's politics is not - to put it mildly - my cup of tea. If I was a resident of South Carolina I most likely would not vote for her. So, I find myself in the uncomfortable position of agreeing with her when she came to the belated realization that the Confederate flag is too divisive and needed to come down from in front of the state capitol after a Confederate flag-loving loony shot and killed nine members of a black church. And I find myself siding with her when she is being attacked for being an Indian American.
When Haley announced her change of position on the flag last Monday, she knew she would be drawing the wrath of many of her constituents, who still think the pre-Civil War South was a land of gentility and charm and "old times there are not forgotten."
“I’d really like to like Nikki Haley since she is a Republican, but on the other hand, she’s an immigrant and does not understand America’s history,” conservative firebrand Ann Coulter told the host of a Fox TV show.
Haley's parents are Indian Sikhs who came to the United States before she was born in Bamberg, S.C. Yup! She's American through-and-through; educated in South Carolina schools where they teach southern history like the Gospel.
Coulter continued to show her ignorance: “Anyone who knows the first thing about military history knows that there is no greater army that ever took the field than the Confederate Army.”
Does Coulter know who won the war? What history is she studying?
Here is what the Vice President of Confederacy said was the cornerstone of the secessionist government."Our new government is founded upon exactly the opposite idea; its foundations are laid, its cornerstone rests, upon the great truth that the Negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery, subordination to the superior race, is his natural and normal condition," Vice President of the Confederacy Alexander H. Stephens said. "This, our new government, is the first, in the history of the world, based upon this great physical, philosophical and moral truth."
That pretty clearly states what the Confederacy - and that darn flag - is all about. The South Carolina legislature still must vote on the issue of the flag's removal from state grounds. Two-thirds of the lawmakers must approve that action before it can be taken down. “For many - black and white - that flag was a reminder of systemic oppression and racial subjugation," Obama said in his moving eulogy for the Pinckney. "We see that now removing the flag from this state’s Capitol would not be an act of political correctness, it would not be an insult to the valor of Confederate soldiers, it would simply be an acknowledgment that the cause for which they fought, the cause of slavery, was wrong.
'For many - black and white - that flag was a reminder of systemic oppression and racial subjugation.'
- President Barack Obama
It's ridiculous that 150 years later and the Civil War is still being fought. The flag has become a litmus test of sorts for the Republican candidates for president as they are being forced to take a position, one way or the other. It's a lose-lose proposition. Side with the flag and you lose what's left of the moderates in the GOP. Vote against the flag and you lose the radical right that has become the base of the conservative party. Amazon, eBay, Walmart and other chain stores said they would stop selling Confederate paraphernalia, including the flag. It is not against the law to display or own the southern banner, Haley only wants it removed from state grounds as if the state sanctions what it represents. People can still have their Constitutional right of freedom of expression by displaying it on their bumpers, t-shirts and wherever they want.
The popular use of the pro-slavery symbol, the Confederate flag, speaks to the current state of racial inequality in America, particularly. We - as a nation - cannot fully move forward until it rids itself of pro-slavery symbols disguised as historical artifacts and the ideology it represents.
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What would you tell all those folks who believe that the flag is simply a historic symbol of the South's heritage and pride? On the Nightly Show, actor Joe Morgan issues a perfect retort in his monologue as "Papa" Pope, the character he plays on the television series Scandal.
“TODAY we are here in a moment of unity in our state, without ill will, to say it’s time to move the flag from the capitol grounds.” With those words, Republican Gov. Nikki Haley of South Carolina took a step away from her base and another step towards sanity.
The church shootings in S. Carolina continues to send shockwaves throughout the nation. Republican politicians, who owe much of their power in the conservative (nee white) south, have split on the issue the display of the Confederate flag.
UPDATE: July 23, 2015, 11 a.m.. A day after Haley's announcement, In the wake of Walmart, Sears, and eBay’s announcements that they will stop selling goods with Confederate flags printed on them, sales on Amazon of such goods are soaring, with purchases up more than 3,000 percent in the past 24 hours. Go figure.
UPDATE: JULY 23, 2015, 3 p.m. Amazon has announced that it will stop selling any products with the Confederate flag.
Haley, the first and only Sikh elected as a state governor and the second Indian American chief executive, had a change of heart after pressure intensified, not only from the national media, but from her own constituency. Previously, as a politician, she avoided taking a stance one way or the other.
The Confederate flag has become a flash point between those who think that is a sign of the feudal society that depended on slave labor and those who see it as a symbol of past glories. A November poll from Winthrop University in South Carolina found that 73 percent of whites in the state want the flag to remain where it is in front of the state capitol. The same poll reported that 61 percent of blacks want it taken down.
The most common argument for keeping the flag is that it historic and represents southern heritage and pride.
The Confederate flag is still popular in the South.
"It's a symbol of family and my ancestors who defended the state from invasion. It was about standing up to a central government," said Chris Sullivan, who is a member of the Sons of the Confederacy. "The things that our ancestors fought for were not novel and they really are the same issues we have today."
Uh ... but, didn't the South lose the Civil War? Are they proud that their ancestors fought and died for a lifestyle and culture that perpetuated slavery, human bondage and racism? A society that encouraged a oligarchy of the super wealthy and a class of serfs consisting of black slaves and poor whites? Imagine how we would feel if Germany insisted on continuing the use of the Nazi symbol on their flag because it represented their heritage and culture. For me, anyone touting the Confederate flag - on a pole, a t-shirt, belt buckle, a bumper sticker or hat - is saying, "Yeah, I'm racist. People of color are inferior and should be treated as such. Whaddya gonna do 'bout it?" The problem is, there appears to be a resurgence of Confederate pride among young people and people are emboldened to show their feelings that used to be socially unacceptable and their true beliefs out. All that's missing are the white sheets.
Haley agreed with GOP presidential candidate Jeb Bush that the Confederate flag's proper place is in a museum. "On matters of race, South Carolina has a tough history. We all know that," Haley said at a press conference on Monday.
She was joined by the state's two Republican senators. Sen. Lindsey Graham and Sen. Tim Scott along with Republican National Committee Chair Reince Priebus in calling for the Stars & Bars to come down. It will take a two-thirds vote by the state legislature to bring down the flag in front of the state capitol.
It's unfortunate that it took a tragedy that took nine lives before some people were able to see the folly of keeping alive the spirit of the Confederacy - remember, those states sought to rip apart the Union. We have to give Gov. Haley some credit for taking this step, albeit a little too late for the victims at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church.
