11/8/07
President?
Obama speaks at Courthouse; praises civil rights
By Jerriod Grizzle

Jerriod Grizzle/Manning Times

Presidential hopeful Barack Obama greets supporters after a speech at the Clarendon County Courthouse Friday.

Throngs of people gathered at the Clarendon County Courthouse in Manning Friday to hear presidential hopeful Barack Obama speak on education and civil rights.

According to Obama aides, the crowd numbered 1,200 people, 25 percent of Manning’s population.

Introduced by former S.C. Supreme Court Chief Justice Ernest Finney, he called Obama a great hope for America.

“For those of you who would listen to an old man who is retired, I endorse his candidacy,” he said. “The journey the senator has taken shows so much about why America needs him and what he has to offer.”

Finney, 76, is a civil rights leader and attorney who was one of the state’s first black lawmakers. He was elected to the S.C. Supreme Court in 1984.

Obama praised civil rights leaders in South Carolina and the courage of the group that fought against segregation more than 50 years ago.

Clarendon’s courthouse was where the lawsuit, Briggs v. Elliott, was filed in the 1950s. The lawsuit was the first of four suits that would lead the fight in the Supreme Court banning racial segregation in U.S. public schools.

Obama recognized Beatrice Rivers and other civil rights leaders in Clarendon County for their role in the movement saying that it was because of their work that he was here.

“I know I stand on their shoulders,” the Illinois senator told the crowd. “It would have been easy for them to stay home. To heed the voices of caution and convenience that said ‘the time isn’t right’ would have been easy for them to give in to their fears that kept them up at night.”

“Things are better,” he said. “Better is not good enough.”

He said that America fails to acknowledge its economic situations.

“America is still blind to the poverty in our midst and we still tolerate Jena justice for some and Scooter Libby justice for others,” Obama said.

He said that race relations were better than they were, but said that the dreams of civil rights activists remained unfulfilled in what he called “South Carolina’s corridor of shame.”

Obama also spoke strongly about education.

“Dilapidated schools still attest to an unequal education for blacks,” he said. “We’re going to reform the ‘No Child Left Behind Act,’ by not leaving the funding for the program behind.”

South Carolina has the highest drop out rate in America Obama noted. One in four students drop out before their senior year.

Obama said that for every $1 spent on education the nation gets $7 back in success of young people once they graduate.

“We’re going to rebuild the schools and put the prisons out of business,” he said. “We need to treat every child like our own and nurture them so they can compete.”

One of the main problems Obama said that South Carolina school systems had was the lack of parental support for students. He said that when he is elected he would urge parents to partner with him to raise the education standards.

“I’m sick of the status quo. We need the partnership of each and every parent to change the system. Make a pact with me,” he said.

Obama spoke on his presidential race and his struggle to get where he is.

“I’m a commoner like you. I grew up with just a mother, who worked hard and long into the night to give us everything we had,” he said. “I hear people say America isn’t ready for a black president. But I say we are!” he shouted.

He then added a plea: “Don’t talk yourself out of it,” he said. “If we said we can’t do something, we’d still have segregated schools.”

He said that in his mind he has no doubt that he is going to win.

“Let me tell you something,” he said. “I would not have begun this campaign if I was not confident that I could win it,” he said.

The audience, which had been somewhat reserved, started applauding, louder and louder, and many people rose to their feet to give him a standing ovation.

“I’m not running to be vice president,” he continued as the ovation continued. “I’m not running to get my name in the paper,” he said.

Obama said that his campaign had been a struggle at times, telling a story of one of his first rallies generating only a few participants.

“My aides and I went to a church to speak in the basement. The week before I had passed out flyers. Only 20 people showed up,” he said.

Obama said he was ready to give up, even telling his aides they could go home, until he saw a group of children outside with nothing to play with except rocks.

“I thought to myself, what is going to happen to those children if I give up,” he said.

One by one his aides stayed.

Obama said that as he was about to leave, he got another moment of inspiration that gave him a slogan that he has used in his campaign ever since.

“An older woman stepped in the basement of the church and started chanting ‘Fire it up, ready to go!’ I couldn’t believe that an older church lady took the spotlight from me but I found myself and my aides chanting along with her,” he said lightheartedly.

Obama told the crowd that he knew then that a single vote could change America.

“If it changed a room it could also change a city, it could change a state and if it could change a state it can change a nation,” he said enthusiastically.

Obama ended by chanting ‘Fire it up, ready to go!’ The crowd joined in briefly echoing back his comments.

Beatrice Rivers, civil rights activist, called Obama’s speech inspiring and said that he would make a great president.

“It brought it all back,” she said. “We still haven’t changed to the point that we should.