Alice Walker:  An Open Letter to Barack Obama

I would advise you to remember that you did not create the disaster that the world is experiencing, and you alone are not responsible for bringing the world back to balance. A primary responsibility that you do have, however, is to cultivate happiness in your own life. To make a schedule that permits sufficient time of rest and play with your gorgeous wife and lovely daughters.... We are used to seeing men in the White House soon become juiceless and as white-haired as the building; we notice their wives and children looking strained and stressed. They soon have smiles so lacking in joy that they remind us of scissors. This is no way to lead.... From your happy, relaxed state, you can model real success, which is all that so many people in the world really want. They may buy endless cars and houses and furs and gobble up all the attention and space they can manage, or barely manage, but this is because it is not yet clear to them that success is truly an inside job. That it is within the reach of almost everyone.... I would further advise you not to take on other people's enemies. Most damage that others do to us is out of fear, humiliation and pain.... It is understood by all that you are commander in chief of the United States and are sworn to protect our beloved country; this we understand, completely. However, as my mother used to say, quoting a Bible with which I often fought, "hate the sin, but love the sinner." ....finally, it is the soul that must be preserved, if one is to remain a credible leader. All else might be lost; but when the soul dies, the connection to earth, to peoples, to animals, to rivers, to mountain ranges, purple and majestic, also dies.

President-Elect Barack Obama - November 4, 2008
Election Night Victory Speech:  "This Time Must Be Different"

I would not be standing here tonight without the unyielding support of my best friend for the last sixteen years, the rock of our family and the love of my life, our nation's next First Lady, Michelle Obama. Sasha and Malia, I love you both so much.... So let us summon a new spirit of patriotism; of service and responsibility where each of us resolves to pitch in and work harder and look after not only ourselves, but each other. Let us remember that if this financial crisis taught us anything, it's that we cannot have a thriving Wall Street while Main Street suffers - in this country, we rise or fall as one nation; as one people.... America, we have come so far. We have seen so much. But there is so much more to do. So tonight, let us ask ourselves - if our children should live to see the next century; if my daughters should be so lucky to live as long as Ann Nixon Cooper, what change will they see? What progress will we have made?

[Full video and transcripts included]

Alton Maddox:  Obama Stands on Black History in Denver

While [Barack] Obama is clearly an upgrade over [John] McCain, both men are descendants of slaveholders. The political establishment is hedging its bet. McCain is a beneficiary of white supremacy. Obama is a victim of racial prejudice. The two terms are not synonymous, however. Given his experience, Obama is better suited to speak for the underdog.... After the assassination of Dr. [Martin Luther] King, the Civil Rights Movement was derailed. Racial hustlers stepped into the void and led Blacks away from the road to the “Promised Land.” Blacks are now en route to the White House. The “White House” is a euphemism for the “Big House.” These hustlers may achieve this objective in 2009 to the detriment of Dr. King’s vision.

Alton Maddox:  The Struggle Continues for Alton Maddox

The endless list of attorneys who were convicted of engaging in felonious conduct and who have been reinstated to the practice of law include Albert Pirro, husband of former Westchester County District Attorney Jeanine Pirro; Sol Wachtler, former Chief Judge of the New York Court of Appeals; and Michael Dowd, a friend of the Cuomo family.... Three of the four Black attorneys in the Central Park 6 were disbarred. The other attorney was suspended from the practice of law. Disbarred attorney Lynne Stewart was sentenced to prison. She represented the late Adam Abdul-Hakim and Sheik Abdel Rahman.

Alton Maddox:  The Meaning of Obama in the White House

The lesson to be learned is that any favorable overture to Blacks is disfavored in the United States. [Barack] Obama knows enough about presidential politics to realize that the fair treatment of Blacks is its third rail .U.S. presidents have always played the race card.... The ruling class, which is bent on maintaining the status quo, at best, has three tools in its arsenal to keep Obama in check — assassination, impeachment and disbarment. William McKinley was also assassinated in office and Andrew Johnson was impeached. The White House is the hot seat.... Even if Obama decides to flirt with being a sacrificial lamb for advancing Black rights, he will also have to sidestep the separation of powers doctrine and the states’ rights doctrine. Dixiecrats will insist on an expanded role for states’ rights. This is natural for people who love the acquisition of power.

Alton Maddox:  Connecting the Dots and Thinking Outside the Box

This country had to assassinate Malcolm X and Dr. Martin L. King, Jr. and it had to imprison Mumia Abu-Jamal and Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin. Louis Clayton Jones had to be “disbarred” and Amos Wilson had to be silenced. Rev. Jeremiah Wright had to be defrocked in a bill of attainder. Their critical analyses would militate against the dumbing down of a downtrodden people.... Before I was removed from the legal profession in 1990, the New York Post ran editorials demanding that I be disbarred. They argued that if I were left unchecked to do my thing, other Black attorneys would attempt to emulate me. Most Blacks still believe that my conflict with New York is personal. Whites know better. History guides them.

Alton Maddox:  Blacks: Good Character and A Bad Reputation

The public use of the word “nigger” to describe descendants of enslaved Africans constitutes a constitutional tort. “Nigger”is a badge of slavery and its use is subject to vindication under the Thirteenth Amendment. No other group was enslaved in the United States at the time of the Civil War and, therefore, no other group is constitutionally entitled to be free of the badges of slavery.... Because our reputation is at an all-time low in this country, every Black person is a sitting duck and a walking target. Our homes have been reduced to slave quarters. Police raids have become routine. White mobs are also attacking Blacks on their property. This was the problem in Money, Miss., on August 28, 1955. It happened again in Suffolk ounty, N.Y., but with a different result.