melissa52677

In caps, because he was yelling:

"THE SILENCE - THE SILENCE OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY WAS DEAFENING. IT WAS DEAFENING. ON JOBS, ON HEALTH CARE, ON ENVIRONMENT, ON ALL THE THINGS THAT MATTER TO THE PEOPLE IN THE NEIGHBORHOODS I GREW UP IN. DEAFENING!

Ladies and gentlemen, THEIR AMERICA IS NOT THE AMERICA I LIVE IN. THEY SEE SOMETHING DIFFERENT THAN I SEE
...
What do you talk about, when you have nothing to say?! What do you talk about when you CANNOT EXPLAIN THE LAST EIGHT YEARS OF FAILURE?! What do you talk about?! What do you talk about?! You talk about the other guy."

Crowd: Giv’em Hell, Joe!

Biden: "Remember what Harry Truman used to say. The crowd would yell, "giv’em hell, Harry." And he’d say, "I’m not gonna to giv’em hell, I’m gonna tell them the truth, and they’re gonna think it’s hell."

This doesn't show all the 'drama' leading up to this point. As each state delegation announced their votes, they proudly gave some votes to Clinton, and then proudly gave the majority to "the next President of the United States, Barack Obama!" Illinois passed. And then when it came to New Hampshire (which Clinton won!), they cast their votes unanimously for Barack Obama. Then Governor Corzine (!) announced that New Jersey was following suit - casting ALL of their votes for Barack Obama. And then New Mexico yielded to Illinois -- Mayor Daley spoke and yielded to New York. And this video is what happened next.

I have to confess that even after last night, I was still apprehensive about how this would go. It was healing for me to have Hillary Clinton be THE person who called to suspend the rules and make Obama the nominee. For someone who appreciates meaning and symbolism and forgiveness, that was amazing, and I was bawling. Haha. And I was nearly late for class!

Tonight a black man will be nominated as the Democratic Party's candidate for the President of the United States. Tomorrow Barack Obama will accept the nomination on the 45th anniversary of this landmark speech.

"I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.'

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning, 'My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring.'

And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!

Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado!

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California!

But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee!

Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, 'Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!'"

I was reading some old posts trying to find when I wrote about something. I really should go through and add tags some day, but that seems like a lot of work. (And I don't use LJ Search because I don't want my journal coming up that easily on Google.) Anyway, I came across this meme, and decided to do it again. :)

Book Meme (with the following Rules):

1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open it to page 161.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the sentence in your journal along with these instructions.
5. Don't search around and look for the coolest book you can find. Use what's actually next to you.

"Shall we dig it up?"
-from How To Write Your Own Life Story: The Classic Guide for the Nonprofessional Writer by Lois Daniel

*I'm not reading this book, my mom just gave it back to me after I'd given it to her years ago.

Wow. Got some interesting news in my inbox today from Dennis Hayes of the NAACP.

For three years, Target had refused to answer the NAACP survey on diversity practices and economic empowerment policies for African Americans and other minorities.

Together, we took them to task. Thousands of you signed onto the NAACP's petitions to tell Target to Answer the Question. And thanks to your efforts, I'm pleased to announce that this year Target will do just that. Target has agreed to answer the 2009 Economic Reciprocity Initiative Survey.
...
We are serious about holding companies accountable for respecting the value of African American consumers, and we applaud Target's decision to participate in the 2009 Economic Reciprocity Initiative.

My special thanks to all of you for making this victory possible. With your continued support, I know there will be any more.

I couldn't find any mention of it yet at the NAACP website, but I am very pleased to say the least.

Previous entries on this topic:
Petition: http://melissa52677.livejournal.com/634531.html 11.20.2007
My email: http://melissa52677.livejournal.com/634867.html 11.20.2007
Target's response to my email: http://melissa52677.livejournal.com/635887.html 11.26.2007

Got my Rolling Stone in the mail today (after seeing Obama's smiling mug on store shelves for the last week). This is Jann's interview with the Senator:

Rolling Stone: A Conversation With Barack Obama
The Candidate Talks About The Youth Vote, What's On His iPod and His Top Three Priorities As President

I just want to say what an extra delight it is that our future president KNOWS MUSIC.  Obvs that's not a prerequisite for competent governance, but all the artists he mentions and the way he talks about them and when he discusses artist development and the relationship between pop culture and society and the fact that he still listens to old favorites but also is in touch with new voices -- it says a LOT about him as a person (to someone like myself who identifies way too much with High Fidelity).

I really thought that once the Democratic Primary was over, I'd be back to posting all the time.  But so far I haven't had much time or energy to reflect on other things.  I suppose I am decompressing.

The Iowa State Democratic Convention was postponed due to the flooding, but I'll have to miss the rescheduled date (June 28) because I will be in Colorado for my cousin's wedding.  I was looking forward to standing up for Obama one last time, but I WILL be volunteering for him in the general election, and I did get to participate a lot already.  Plus, I'm not passing up this chance to visit the Front Range.

I don't have much going on these days.  Workin' at BN (primarily in the Cafe, but also a couple shifts cashiering); Thursday night Bible studies; trying to attend weekend services regularly.

I'll be (re)starting the paralegal program at Kaplan in August, but that's a while from now still.