“Am I allowed to be offended?”
Outrage is erupting over the inauguration benedictionby Rev. Joseph Lowery, an 87-year-old civil rights pioneer, for askingGod to help mankind work for a day when “white would embrace what isright.”
Lowery, known for co-founding the Southern ChristianLeadership Conference with Martin Luther King Jr., opened with a quotefrom the “Black National Anthem.” He then asked God to encourageAmerica to make “choices on the side of love, not hate, on the side ofinclusion not exclusion, tolerance not intolerance” after PresidentBarack Obama took the presidential oath.
Then he ended his prayer with, “Lord, in the memory of all thesaints who from their labors rest, and in the joy of a new beginning,we ask you to help us work for that day when black will not be asked toget back, when brown can stick around – when yellow will be mellow –when the red man can get ahead, man – and when white will embrace whatis right.”
Obama reacted to the benediction with a smile.
The crowd cheered and boomed with a loud “Amen.”