[Het Parool, The Netherlands]

La Stampa, Italy

At Parade of Blacks,

Boos for Hillary and

Applause for Obama

“When Hillary rises to speak, it’s impossible not to notice the difference in the square; applause arrives, but it’s cold and short. Then people begin to leave. Hillary remains the best candidate, but the collective emotions are with Obama.”

Translated By Adrian Trevisan

January 22, 2008

Italy - La Stampa - Original Article (Italian)

At celebrations for Martin Luther King, there were boos for Hillary Clinton and standing ovations for Barack Obama. The crowd of thousands of Afro-Americans who filled the square in front of the South Carolina Assembly greeted the two challengers for the Democratic Presidential nomination. The crowd was transformed into a barometer of the electorate that will head to the polls on Saturday for the last primary before Super Tuesday. When “Martin Luther King Day” arrives, in every city in America, everyone - African-American and not - takes to the streets for a march in honor of the Reverend King, a symbol of the battle against segregation. And this year all eyes are on Columbia, stronghold of Southern nostalgia and theater for this bitter presidential duel. Obama raised the stakes against Bill Clinton on the TV screens of ABC WATCH  by calling him “a partisan husband” and no longer “everyone’s leader” because of his “troubling” positions taken in favor of Hillary and his “unfounded attacks against me.”

The march began in front of the Zion Baptist Church, where hundreds of worshippers left a mass in memory of Reverend King, who was assassinated in Memphis in 1968 WATCH . They then donned “Obama for President” T-shirts and pins with the images of Obama and King, and carried signs with “Barack’n’Roll” and “No Clinton Dynasty” written on them. The march begins when a group of young recruits with the blue jackets of the “Buffalo Soldiers,” descendents of the first Afro-Americans who served in the U.S. Army’s Ninth Cavalry Regiment, line up behind a banner that calls for better health care for all, calling it “a civil right.” A moment before the Parade’s elderly marshal, wearing a northern [Civil War] hat on his head, gives the signal to begin. Obama emerges from a nearby building surrounded by scores of bodyguards. “O-bama, O-bama” chants the crowd.

The memorial march is in reality a pro-Obama rally, but when the front of the parade is in sight of the Capitol, fans of Hillary appear out of nowhere. There are a few dozen of them, and they are very noisy and well organized. They are young Afro-Americans, mostly girls, guided at a distance by White 40-somethings. They plant themselves in front of the TV cameras with “Hillary for President” signs, aiming to be seen in living rooms across America. The followers of Obama seem taken by surprise and there are a few moments of tension, but when the parade arrives in front of the Capital building, the differences disappear amid common cries of “Shame,” condemning the Confederate flags that flutter above the square. For Afro-Americans it represents slavery, but Assembly members have decided to hoist it anyway, making South Carolina a national exception. One need not look far to understand who supports this: camped around the edges of the square are nostalgics in Southern uniforms holding racist signs and even a plastic miniature-sculpture of a Black man locked inside an outhouse.

“Pull down that flag,” shouts from the stage Floyd Keith - a charismatic Afro-American leader from Indianapolis, before turning the stage over to the presidential candidates, who were called on to begin the last week of the campaign South Carolina. The ceremonial betrays the political balance: Obama enters the stage with John Edwards, while Hillary enters alone. And when Obama leaves, he gives her a brief wave and instead gives Edwards a long embrace. They speak from the stage for ten minutes each. Obama invokes the “morality deficit” that is splitting America. Edwards, who was born here, begins by invoking Obama and calls for combating poverty. With both the crowd responds warmly, but when its Hillary’s turn, the room goes chilly.

But the former First Lady is at her best in difficult moments: She summarizes the legacy of King, cites the Bible, condemns local incidents of racism and promises to “listen to those who have no voice” with unrivaled effectiveness. It’s impossible not to notice the difference in the square; applause arrives, but it’s cold and short. Then people begin to leave. Hillary remains the best candidate, but the collective emotions are with Obama.

Click Here for Italian Version

[Posted 1:00am, Jan. 26]