Obama Express Rolls Towards Washington D.C., Starts Historic Train Journey With Powerful Speech in Philadelphia

BAMTRACK Rolls To Washington D.C.

No matter how much you disagree with President-elect Barack Obama’s positions, you have to admit that this is a poignant moment in American history. I know tears of joy will flow from my eyes and millions of other people in America on Tuesday. It is no small coincidence that he is being inaugurated one day after the Martin Luther King Jr. public holiday. It is the culmination of the struggles of so many people, both white and black, to end racial injustice in America. Dr. King did not die in vain. His dream has in fact been realized. Barack Obama’s historic win has given hope to many, where there was hopelessness. Here is the text of his speech at the start of his journey by train to Washington D.C. in Philadelphia this morning.

Remarks of President-Elect Barack Obama – As prepared for delivery Inaugural Whistle Stop Tour Philadelphia, Pennsylvania January 17, 2009

We are here to mark the beginning of our journey to Washington. This is fitting because it was here, in this city, that our American journey began. It was here that a group of farmers and lawyers, merchants and soldiers, gathered to declare their independence and lay claim to a destiny that they were being denied.

It was a risky thing, meeting as they did in that summer of 1776. There was no guarantee that their fragile experiment would find success. More than once in those early years did the odds seem insurmountable. More than once did the fishermen, laborers, and craftsmen who called themselves an army face the prospect of defeat.

And yet, they were willing to put all they were and all they had on the line – their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor – for a set of ideals that continue to light the world. That we are equal. That our rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness come not from our laws, but from our maker. And that a government of, by, and for the people can endure. It was these ideals that led us to declare independence, and craft our constitution, producing documents that were imperfect but had within them, like our nation itself, the capacity to be made more perfect.

We are here today not simply to pay tribute to our first patriots but to take up the work that they began. The trials we face are very different now, but severe in their own right. Only a handful of times in our history has a generation been confronted with challenges so vast. An economy that is faltering. Two wars, one that needs to be ended responsibly, one that needs to be waged wisely. A planet that is warming from our unsustainable dependence on oil.

And yet while our problems may be new, what is required to overcome them is not. What is required is the same perseverance and idealism that our founders displayed. What is required is a new declaration of independence, not just in our nation, but in our own lives – from ideology and small thinking, prejudice and bigotry – an appeal not to our easy instincts but to our better angels.

That is the reason I launched my campaign for the presidency nearly two years ago. I did so in the belief that the most fundamental American ideal, that a better life is in store for all those willing to work for it, was slipping out of reach. That Washington was serving the interests of the few, not the many. And that our politics had grown too small for the scale of the challenges we faced.

But I also believed something else. I believed that our future is our choice, and that if we could just recognize ourselves in one another and bring everyone together – Democrats, Republicans, and Independents, north, south, east and west, black, white, Latino, Asian, and Native American, gay and straight, disabled and not – then not only would we restore hope and opportunity in places that yearned for both, but maybe, just maybe, we might perfect our union in the process.

This is what I believed, but you made this belief real. You proved once more that people who love this country can change it. And as I prepare to leave for Washington on a trip that you made possible, know that I will not be traveling alone. I will be taking with me some of the men and women I met along the way, Americans from every corner of this country, whose hopes and heartaches were the core of our cause; whose dreams and struggles have become my own.

Theirs are the voices I will carry with me every day in the White House. Theirs are the stories I will be thinking of when we deliver the changes you elected me to make. When Americans are returning to work and sleeping easier at night knowing their jobs are secure, I will be thinking of people like Mark Dowell, who’s worried his job at Ford will be the next one cut, a devastating prospect with the teenage daughters he has back home.

When affordable health care is no longer something we hope for, but something we can count on, I will be thinking of working moms like Shandra Jackson, who was diagnosed with an illness, and is now burdened with higher medical bills on top of child care for her eleven year-old son.

When we are welcoming back our loved ones from a war in Iraq that we’ve brought to an end, I will be thinking of our brave servicemen and women sacrificing around the world, of veterans like Tony Fischer, who served two tours in Iraq, and all those returning home, unable to find a job.

These are the stories that will drive me in the days ahead. They are different stories, told by men and women whose journeys may seem separate. And yet, what you showed me time and again is that no matter who we are or what we look like, no matter where we come from or what faith we practice, we are a people of common hopes and common dreams, who ask only for what was promised us as Americans – that we might make of our lives what we will and see our children climb higher than we did.

We recognize that such enormous challenges will not be solved quickly. There will be false starts and setbacks, frustrations and disappointments. And we will be called to show patience even as we act with fierce urgency.

But we should never forget that we are the heirs of that first band of patriots, ordinary men and women who refused to give up when it all seemed so improbable; and who somehow believed that they had the power to make the world anew. That is the spirit that we must reclaim today.

For the American Revolution did not end when British guns fell silent. It was never something to be won only on a battlefield or fulfilled only in our founding documents. It was not simply a struggle to break free from empire and declare independence. The American Revolution was – and remains – an ongoing struggle “in the minds and hearts of the people” to live up to our founding creed.

Starting now, let’s take up in our own lives the work of perfecting our union.

Let’s build a government that is responsible to the people, and accept our own responsibilities as citizens to hold our government accountable.

Let’s all of us do our part to rebuild this country.

Let’s make sure this election is not the end of what we do to change America, but the beginning.

Join me in this effort. Join one another in this effort. And together, mindful of our proud history, hopeful for the future, let’s seek a better world in our time. Thank you. Source: McClatchy DC Bureau

Filed under: Bigotry, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Philadelphia, President-elect Barack Obama, Racism, Whistle Stop Speech

Four Cops Fired, Four Others Disciplined in Philadelphia Police Brutality Case

I am sure that the families involved in the beating of four unarmed men must feel a small sense of relief that four of the policemen involved will be fired. I don’t think that solves the problem, but it shows that there is a serious problem within many police departments across the United States. Philadelphia’s police commissioner Charles Ramsey said four others disciplined for their roles in the beatings of three shooting suspects, an encounter that was captured on videotape and drew widespread outrage. The one thing that I am glad happened was that this incident was videotaped by a neutral third party–a news helicopter–so no-one could fudge the details or accuse these men wrongfully. The district attorney should review this matter for criminal prosecution. It seems there is a feeling that cops feel that they have a blank check to do whatever they want to innocent people and walk away unscathed. This is problematic across the United States and that needs to be fixed. There is a sort of brotherhood, if you will, that no-one dares to cross. This needs to be fixed at the federal level.

Another eight officers who had physical contact with the suspects will undergo additional training on the department’s policies concerning the use of force, Commissioner Charles Ramsey said. He said the department made the disciplinary decisions after reviewing frames from enhanced tape of a video shot by a television news helicopter on May 5. The video, shot by WTXF-TV, shows the suspects being pulled from their car on the side of the road and groups of officers kicking, punching and beating the men. A total of 19 officers — 18 city police and one transit officer — were involved.

Ramsey said that two of the officers being fired are relatively new to the force and can be terminated immediately, while two others are being suspended without pay for 30 days with intent to dismiss. Three other officers are being suspended and one sergeant is being demoted. A criminal investigation is continuing.

Police said they had been pursuing the car in connection with a triple shooting. The three men — Brian Hall, 23, Pete Hopkins, 19, and Dwayne Dyches, 24, all of Philadelphia — have been charged with attempted murder and related counts stemming from the shooting. Their attorneys have said they had nothing to do with it. All three of the shooting suspects are black. Ramsey has denied allegations that the beatings were racially motivated and said at least one officer involved is black. It was racially motivated to me because policemen target blacks. You see a car load of black men and they automatically assumed that these men were engaged in criminal behavior. Why are these men charged with attempted murder when, reports that said otherwise? Why aren’t the cops being charged right away? The presumption is that they can do no wrong, but the television videotape shows otherwise. It seems that the law is on their sides, but not the victims, who have been charged. This case will be watched very carefully on many fronts because the police brutality must stop. Too many black men are being accused of crimes that they did not commit and too many are falling victim to police brutality and some have lost their lives–unarmed and innocent. The police cannot continue to feel that they have a blank check to treat people in any manner they choose. Just my thoughts, you be the judge….

Filed under: Brian Hall, Dwayne Dyches, Mayor Nutter, Pete Hopkins, Philadelphia, police brutality