Manning Civil Rights Speech

USA Today

When Sen. Barack Obama took to the steps of the Clarendon County Courthouse in Manning, S.C., Friday to give a speech on civil rights, the symbolism of the location was as chilling as the unspoken reason for his address.

It was in Clarendon County that a 1948 lawsuit was filed by a black farmer whose children had to walk miles to school while white students were provided free bus transportation. That suit launched a legal campaign that culminated six years later in the Supreme Court's historic Brown v. Board of Education decision that outlawed school segregation.

"It would have been easy for them to stay home. To heed the voices of caution and convenience that said, 'wait,' 'the timing isn't right,' or 'the country just isn't ready.' It would have been easy for them to give in to the fears that no doubt kept them awake some nights," the Illinois senator said of the blacks who went to court to end the racial imbalances in the county's school system.

"Now, I've heard that some folks aren't sure America is ready for an African-American president, so let me be clear," he told his mostly black audience. "I never would have begun this campaign if I weren't confident I could win. But you see, I am not asking anyone to take a chance on me. I am asking you to take a chance on your own aspirations."

...a victory by Obama in the race to become the Democratic nominee would put a black man in position to take the helm of the world's most powerful nation.

...No one should back away from supporting him out of fear that his race might cause others to reject his candidacy — or cause him harm.

Had blacks in Clarendon County been afraid to confront their fears, they would not have made the history that changed this nation for the better.