Morgen Richmond released several YouTube clips of a speech given by then State Senator Barack Obama speaking at the University of Chicago during a Martin Luther King Jr. Day Memorial Service. During the speech he said, âRich people are all for nonviolence. Why wouldnât they be? Theyâve got what they want.â
Here is the transcript for the video above:
The philosophy of nonviolence only makes sense if the powerful can be made to recognize themselves in the powerless. It only makes sense if the powerless can be made to recognize themselves in the powerful. You know, the principle of empathy gives broader meaning, by the way, to Dr. Kingâs philosophy of nonviolence. I donât know if youâve noticed, but rich people are all for nonviolence. Why wouldnât they be? Theyâve got what they want. They want to make sure people donât take their stuff. But the principle of empathy recognizes that there are more subtle forms of violence to which we are answerable. The spirit of empathy condemns not only the use of firehoses and attack dogs to keep people down but also accountants and tax loopholes to keep people down. Iâm not saying that what Enron executives did to their employees is the moral equivalent of what Bull Connor did to black folks, but Iâll tell you what, the employees at Enron feel violated. When a company town sees its plant closing because some distant executives made some decision despite the wage concessions, despite the tax breaks, and they see their entire economy collapsing, they feel violence . . .
This follows The Daily Caller surfacing a 2007 speech where President Obama cheered on his then pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright and said the Feds donât care about New Orleans (following Hurricane Katrina).
