From the Daily Southtown, Jan. 16, 2007, printed the day Barack Obama announced he was going to run for President of the United States. I stick by this as Obama at his best, better even than the speech I saw him make in Denver, accepting the Democratic nomination.
By Lauren FitzPatrick and Gregg Sherrard Blesch
Staff writers
Before Francine Knox entered St. Mark’s Missionary Baptist Church,
the Chicago Heights woman ordered her two daughters to spit out their gum.
The girls — 11-year-old Dominique and 4-year-old Jessica — were instructed to pay close attention to what U.S. Sen. Barack Obama was going to tell them.
“I wanted them to know what Martin Luther King has done. I wanted my girls to hear about the legend and the leader,” Knox said. “But this is about hearing a new message from the senator.”
His lessons weren’t lost on the young.
Gabriel Temple, an 8-year-old from Hazel Crest, the same age as Obama’s elder daughter, Malia, recapped what he heard.
“He said that God was good to him and everybody else,” Gabriel said. “He’s a good man, and that he’s nice.
“And he’s loud.”
He had to be.
Each time the senator returned to the theme of his homily — “What are we doing for others?” — the audience cheered.
“Preach on,” a well-heeled woman hollered out as Obama laid into self-serving politicians.So Illinois’ junior senator kept on a-preachin’ in the name of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday Monday morning.
“Amen.”
“Go on, sir.”
“That’s right.”
Obama’s listeners offered punctuation to a speech in honor of the slain civil rights leader that was more sermon than oration or reflection, with many religious references and intonations.
“(King) was fulfilling a Biblical mandate, and since many of us carry that same Good Book, that means that for us to honor Dr. King and to honor his vision, it’s not enough to celebrate once a year,” Obama said.
Flocks packed the church to hear the celebrated senator regardless of whether he announced his intentions to run for higher office.
“We love you,” ladies screamed before Obama could even open his mouth.
Obama joined the church’s pastor and choir to sing, “We Shall Overcome.”
Greeted on stage by a young troupe of praise singers — an honor right out of his father’s native Kenya — Obama clapped along, grinning.
“Barack, Barack, we’re gonna take him to the top,” chanted two boys from St. Mark’s youth group, while the girls, including 12-year-old Aaliyah Lewis, sang, “Obama, Obama — we love you, we need you, we believe in you.”
Before Obama[0] arrived, the crowd watched grainy footage of civil rights marches and riots. German shepherd dogs attacking defenseless blacks in the streets flickered from mammoth screens above the pulpit.
Now, the man who came to Harvey to honor the memory of King is poised to announce a bid for the highest office in the land.
Mary Snow, of Calumet Park, counts herself among those who would like to see Obama run for president.
“I think it would make a difference in not just this neighborhood, because it’s black, but any neighborhood,” she said. “He goes beyond racial lines. I think Barack Obama is for the human being as a whole. It’s not just black, white, blue, green or gray, he’s for all of us.”
Elizabeth Loggins worries for the man and hopes Obama does not run.
“I hope he stays where he is at,” the Phoenix woman said. “I don’t think America is ready for a female or a minority president. I think somebody would try to kill him. I’m sorry, but I think someone would.”
