Yes. It is another diary about Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) on plagiarism.
No. It's not simply a copycat or another cookie-cutter version of a Deval Patrick or John Edwards or Hillary Clinton or Bill Clinton speech.
"We are the ones we've been waiting for"
Where, oh, where have we heard this before? (See the YouTube video here.)
Well, it is the slogan for the Black AIDS Institute. But that's not it.
On November 19, 2007, Linda Green wrote in the United Methodist News about New York West Area Bishop Violet Fisher:
Her message, "We Are the Ones We Have Been Waiting For," was an echo of two resources with the same name. It is the title of a song by Sweet Honey in the Rock, an African-American acapella group, and of a new release by Alice Walker, an African-American author.
Not convinced?
Well, in April 2007, Thomas Friedman was taken to task for not only misquoting the phrase in his New York Times column but also for not giving proper credit for the source from which it came.
Friedman doesn't quite get the quote right and he doesn't credit the author of the phrase We are the people we have been waiting for. She is the late poet June Jordan. The phrase we are the ones we have been waiting for from 'Poem for South African Women' (1980) was picked up by many graduation speakers ... and others including most notably the singers Sweet Honey in the Rock who made the phrase into a song and Alice Walker who took the phrase as title for her most recent collection of essays (2006).
And just in case you don't think using someone else's words can cost a candidate an election, ask Joe Biden.
More at Obama's Deck of Cards blog.|
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