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(09/09/13 5:58pm)
Today, we are launching the North Carolina “One State, One Rate” Campaign. We are calling on the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the nation’s first public university, to grant in-state tuition to undocumented students.
(11/20/08 5:00am)
Standing on the tarmac of the Kigali airport in Rwanda 15 years ago former President Bill Clinton famously said never again. His remarks were in reference to the brutal genocide that killed an estimated 800000 people.The sad reality is that we have failed to learn our lessons. Genocide of unprecedented proportions is taking place half a world away in southern Sudan. It's caused then Senators John McCain and Barack Obama to issue an unprecedented joint statement in late May demanding that the genocide in Darfur be brought to an end.As noted journalist and scholar Samantha Power chronicles in her book" ""A Problem from Hell"" we fail to rationalize the inhuman act of genocide and too often repeat the phrase never again."" It is a phrase that we can not allow another elected official to say again.With an economy in the tank and two wars raging" it's unlikely that President-elect Obama will have much time to bring the genocide to an end. All hope however is not lost.A movement based in large part on the success of the 1980s divestment campaigns against apartheid South Africa has been afloat across college campuses in the last few years. Financial pressures two decades ago helped cause a democratic transition in South Africa in the early 1990s. Nowadays the goal is to force college endowments to divest from companies complicit in the ongoing genocide in Darfur. Specifically the movement is targeting companies such as the China National Petroleum Company and Petronas which are the biggest players in Sudan's oil industry. The goal is to convince people to sell stocks of these blacklisted firms and cause the stock's price to tank. As they feel financial pain these firms will pull out of Sudan and deprive the government of funds.During the last few months Students United for Darfur Awareness Now and others have been asking if our endowment is invested in companies complicit in the Darfur genocide. Fortunately" the answer to that question is no.A while back the board of directors of the investment fund passed a resolution stating that our endowment would not directly hold interest in any entity identified as ""highest offenders"" by the Sudan Divestment task force. The president of the UNC Management Company" Jonathon King has publicly stated that UNC-Chapel Hill's endowment does not currently maintain positions through investments in funds that it directly oversees or can influence.Our endowment's commitment to this issue does not end with a simple statement. It periodically sends letters on a quarterly and semiannual basis to managers whose stock purchases it can influence. Our endowment asks these individuals to consider not investing in companies complicit in the Darfur genocide. We even send letters to fund managers whom we have no chance of influencing.Talk about taking the lead on an issue of critical importance to this University and the global community we live in.Three cheers to the board of directors of the UNC-Chapel Hill Endowment Fund for deciding to take the moral high ground on this issue. For this they deserve our sincere thanks and appreciation.
(11/06/08 5:00am)
You couldn't miss the sights and sounds from Tuesday night. There was the Rev. Jesse Jackson the first credible black nominee for the presidency with tears streaming down his face. There was the crowd that assembled on Franklin Street and spontaneously sang the Star Spangled Banner. There was the young man with a boom box broadcasting Obama's speech to a hushed audience. It was surreal.Once CNN and MSNBC had called Ohio for Obama the thought started to sink in that the Illinois Senator could be declared the 44th President once polls closed in the Pacific Coast at 11pm. Then it hit everyone. The unthinkable became reality. A man with a middle name of Hussein who was born to a Kansan mother and Kenyan father became our President elect. It was a watershed moment in American politics. It was a particularly poignant event for an entire generation who never thought they would see a black man occupy the White House.For senior Kristin Hill's grandfather who served in the Vietnam War having the option to vote for an intelligent person of color was incredibly emotional. Imagine growing up in an era when Fannie Lou Hamer had the courage to challenge Mississippi's all-white delegation to the Democratic National Convention in 1964.Just imagine.Last night Barack Obama introduced the world to Ann Nixon Cooper a 106-year-old woman from Atlanta who lived through the Great Depression and the Civil Rights movement. Cooper was the face to an African-American community that was energized and mobilized as never before. From churches to local radio stations people registered and voted in unprecedented numbers.Between October 2000 and November 2008 about 360000 African-American voters were added to the rolls a gain of more than 37 percent. According to absentee data for this year's election 52 percent of all registered African-American voters cast ballots.We can sit here and talk about e pluribus unum but the reality is that this is a historic day for Americans and for the black community.For those who grew up under a world of Jim Crow and segregation this election was more than just an election. It was the renewal of the American promise. It was a simple promise that was etched by our Declaration of Independence carried through in the words of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr." and continues to shine in the flame of Lady Liberty. It was in the words of Dr. King the renewal of that ""promissory note.""It was the validation that a democracy that elected George W. Bush could undergo a non-violent election and find the courage to dramatically redefine the image of America around the world. It was the realization that political pundits who thought young people didn't vote in high enough numbers were dead wrong. According to estimates by the Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement at Tufts University" young voters turned out in levels not seen since 1972.So when the camera zoomed in and an elder Jesse Jackson was crying you couldn't help but realize that we are now one step closer to Dr. King's dream.
(10/30/08 4:00am)
2008 is the new 1992. Sixteen years ago, a certain politician from Hope, Ark., thought he could win this state. In the closing days of the election, citizens were implored to have the courage to change."" A caravan of buses stopped in Burlington and Durham. The Rev. Jesse Jackson was quoted in The New York Times as saying ""our objective interests are at stake"" in reference to an anticipated high turnout among black voters. If you deleted the word Arkansas, then you might as well be talking about our current election. North Carolina was considered a battleground state in 1992. The parallels between both elections are similar to say the least. An incumbent senator — a graduate of this University — was also facing a tough re-election campaign in 1992. Sen. Terry Sanford's opponent, Lauch Faircloth, painted the ex-Duke President as a dove who voted against President George H.W. Bush's decision to invade Iraq. Faircloth labeled Sen. Sanford as a classic tax-and-spend liberal who was out of touch with North Carolinian voters. Sound familiar? Maybe that's because Kay Hagan has been using the same theme to argue that Sen. Elizabeth Dole is a Kansas resident who has overstayed her guest visa.Economic concerns in 1992 were the dominating concern of voters. James Carville famously hung up a sign at Clinton's campaign headquarters with the phrase it's the economy"" stupid"" to keep everyone focused on pocketbook issues. It turned out that Clinton lost North Carolina by a mere 20"000 votes.Fast forward a decade later and we are experiencing a ‘92 deja vu in a dramatically different North Carolina. In the last 16 years this state has seen dramatic growth. According to Ferrel Guillory a former editorial page editor at The (Raleigh) News & Observer and current UNC journalism professor North Carolina has added 2 million residents since 1992. While not all are voting-age citizens a good chunk of them are.You can thank this state's changing economy. From the growth of Charlotte as a banking hub to the growth of Cary North Carolina has turned from textile manufacturing and agriculture to education health care and finance. Just look at the explosive growth of the Interstate-85 corridor between Charlotte and the Triangle.The move towards a service economy combined with Hispanic immigrants and an influx of Mid-Atlantic and New England residents is increasing the number of Independent- and Democratic-leaning voters. The North Carolina of Jesse Helms is not the North Carolina of today. In the words of Professor Guillory" ""she ain't what she used to be."" Our neighbor to the north" Virginia is undergoing a similar transition. Perhaps come Tuesday we may see an unofficial coming out party for the New South.It's amazing to think of the economic and political change this state has undergone in the last 16 years. If Obama wins the Tar Heel state then you can bet yourself that North Carolina will join Ohio Florida and Pennsylvania as a permanent battleground. This isn't the state that your grandparents grew up in.
(10/29/08 4:00am)
2008 is the new 1992. Sixteen years ago, a certain politician from Hope, Ark., thought he could win this state. In the closing days of the election, citizens were implored to have the courage to change."" A caravan of buses stopped in Burlington and Durham. The Rev. Jesse Jackson was quoted in The New York Times as saying ""our objective interests are at stake"" in reference to an anticipated high turnout among black voters. If you deleted the word Arkansas, then you might as well be talking about our current election. North Carolina was considered a battleground state in 1992. The parallels between both elections are similar to say the least. An incumbent senator — a graduate of this University — was also facing a tough re-election campaign in 1992. Sen. Terry Sanford's opponent, Lauch Faircloth, painted the ex-Duke President as a dove who voted against President George H.W. Bush's decision to invade Iraq. Faircloth labeled Sen. Sanford as a classic tax-and-spend liberal who was out of touch with North Carolinian voters. Sound familiar? Maybe that's because Kay Hagan has been using the same theme to argue that Sen. Elizabeth Dole is a Kansas resident who has overstayed her guest visa.Economic concerns in 1992 were the dominating concern of voters. James Carville famously hung up a sign at Clinton's campaign headquarters with the phrase it's the economy"" stupid"" to keep everyone focused on pocketbook issues. It turned out that Clinton lost North Carolina by a mere 20"000 votes.Fast forward a decade later and we are experiencing a ‘92 deja vu in a dramatically different North Carolina. In the last 16 years this state has seen dramatic growth. According to Ferrel Guillory a former editorial page editor at The (Raleigh) News & Observer and current UNC journalism professor North Carolina has added 2 million residents since 1992. While not all are voting-age citizens a good chunk of them are.You can thank this state's changing economy. From the growth of Charlotte as a banking hub to the growth of Cary North Carolina has turned from textile manufacturing and agriculture to education health care and finance. Just look at the explosive growth of the Interstate-85 corridor between Charlotte and the Triangle.The move towards a service economy combined with Hispanic immigrants and an influx of Mid-Atlantic and New England residents is increasing the number of Independent- and Democratic-leaning voters. The North Carolina of Jesse Helms is not the North Carolina of today. In the words of Professor Guillory" ""she ain't what she used to be."" Our neighbor to the north" Virginia is undergoing a similar transition. Perhaps come Tuesday we may see an unofficial coming out party for the New South.It's amazing to think of the economic and political change this state has undergone in the last 16 years. If Obama wins the Tar Heel state then you can bet yourself that North Carolina will join Ohio Florida and Pennsylvania as a permanent battleground. This isn't the state that your grandparents grew up in.
(10/23/08 4:00am)
What a difference a few months make.A few weeks ago Chapel Hill was out of gas. A gallon of gas was selling for $4. We started talking about peak oil. I started riding my bike more frequently. Those were some tough moments but we worked through them. You can thank the turmoil in the credit markets for lowering your financial pain at the pump.Meanwhile countries who love to harp about America are now facing financial problems of their own that threaten to kick them from power. You can thank commodity markets for that.Oil is sinking to record lows. Last week we saw prices plummet to below $70 a drop of more than 50 percent from a high of $147 per barrel. It's giving OPEC serious heartburn. Politicians have stopped talking about gas-tax holidays and windfall profit taxes. Outside this country anti-American presidents are pontificating a whole lot less. Seen or heard from Hugo Chavez lately? Some economists are claiming that if oil stays below $80 Chavez's government will lack the funds to sustain his spending binge. Sounds like Mr. Chavez won't be able to buy more Russian military hardware. Venezuelan oil which we purchase is the grease that keeps his Bolivarian Revolution running. Caracas now has one of the highest crime rates in Latin America. Inflation is running unchecked. State elections are due in November. Sounds like a recipe for electoral disaster.Bothered to look at Russia? The natural gas and oil linked economic boom has burst. In the last three months the Russian stock market has lost 60 percent of its value. The value of billion-dollar loans taken out by Russian oligarchs is now worth more than their stock holdings. Uh oh. Meanwhile we're given a fuzzy" warm image of Vladimir Putin receiving a baby tiger for his birthday. Talk about diverting the media's attention. Who knew Mr. Macho had a sensitive side?Wondered what's up with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad? He's claiming we're facing the ""end of capitalism"". Last time I checked" our stock markets despite sinking are still humming along. Wachovia (or Wells Fargo) still continues to accept my ATM card and Subway is selling me $5 footlongs. If OPEC fails to stop the bleeding at an emergency meeting this Friday then the Iranian government is going to face serious budgetary problems. The subprime mortgage crisis is impacting countries beyond those who are overly reliant on oil.Iceland nationalized its entire banking sector while Argentina took control of private pension funds. Pakistan is in crisis talks with the International Monetary Fund to secure an emergency loan. European countries are bailing out their own banks.This subprime mortgage crisis has become global. Call it contagion or the recession effect.We can take some comfort in realizing that we have a stronger dollar and cheaper gas. Still if we are beginning to learn a lesson from this crisis it's that no one is immune. Everyone is struggling.The British prime minister is calling for a new financial order modeled on the idea that central banks are powerless to regulate global markets and an international one is needed.It's time we examined what failed and sign on to his proposal.
(10/13/08 4:00am)
""It was kind of a crazy idea.""That's how Premal Shah" the president of Kiva" describes the idea of ""people lending money to people that they've never met.""Imagine that. Because of technological advances in the Internet" it is now possible to deposit 25 bucks and become a banker to the world's poor.Talk about people power.When Muhammad Yunus and the Grameen Bank jointly shared the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 many saw it as a validation of how far microfinance had come.Yunus' idea went one step further when Kiva was seeded in the United States to tap into the cashflow of the developed world.I was first introduced to Kiva when a former high school teacher of mine asked me to join. She seeded her account with a little money and made microloans to entrepreneurs from Africa to Latin America. I thought it was a fly-by-the-night operation until I did some research.Kiva which means harmony or unity in Swahili first gained notoriety in 2007 when New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof profiled his loan to an Afghan baker. former President Bill Clinton has also talked about the group in his book Giving.This past Thursday night the Kiva storm finally hit campus. The Carolina Microfinance Initiative hosted its first Kiva dinner a spin on Nourish International's Hunger Lunch. The Campus Y was bustling and 15 projects worth $500 were seeded that night.Imagine that. Chapel Hill students providing the start up capital to help entrepreneurs expand their businesses and move up the income ladder.Just imagine if our Rams Head or Lenoir dollars went to fund sustainable water projects in Uganda or bicycle repairmen in Romania. At the core of the microfinance movement is recognizing the lack of opportunities some people face. As Ryan Leatham" the general coordinator of the Carolina Microfinance Initiative put it: ""Intellectual capacity and entrepreneurial ability are universal and equal throughout all cultures"" but it is opportunity that separates us."" Microfinance aims to empower people by enabling ideas that directly impact local communities to take root.Anecdotal evidence has backed up those claims by discovering that microfinance directly empowers women and discriminated ethnic groups.Unfortunately" some people seem to believe that microfinance weakens the cause of foreign aid. The truth is that this debate doesn't have to revolve between more foreign aid versus microfinance. The Kiva model is democratizing the foreign aid process much like Barack Obama and Howard Dean used the Web to tap into small campaign contributions.It's enabling more people to become donors which in turn are indirectly pressuring governments to change their foreign aid policies. It's making us as students and voters more informed of what's failing and needs to change. Nowadays you don't have to wait for the House to reauthorize a foreign aid bill or the United Nations to ask for more money. You can take that first step by attending the monthly Kiva dinners CMI is hosting. Editor's note: Pablo Friedmann's column normally appears on Thursdays.
(10/02/08 4:00am)
A few months ago Esquire magazine ran an introspective piece about a cynic's view of the upcoming presidential elections. What made this article all the more ironic was that it was buried underneath a cover photo of Obama as a prophetic savior. We've come to think of modern politics as the antidote to our ills. Whether it's health care or affordable housing or Wall Street bailouts great leaders arise to fix our problems. Or that's the narrative we've come to learn from our history books. When you stop to think of it the notion of others solving problems that are inherently ours to begin with misses the point. We've got to reform ourselves first and foremost before we start asking others to fix our problems. We have a national debt in the trillions of dollars. Yes that's 13 zeros for the non-math majors.If the United States federal government were a private bank then it'd probably be bankrupt by now. The only reason we keep humming along is because foreigners keep buying up our debt. To use the lingua franca of this week's headlines they keep bailing us out. If that doesn't shock you then how about realizing that in 2010 according to census data each young adult aged 18 to 44 will owe approximately $88000 of national debt. If you divide $10 trillion by the number of young people then you'll arrive at 88 Gs. Considering we'll be the ones entering the workforce it's not an exaggeration to assume that we'll be the ones taking ownership of this debt. Let's think about that fact one more time. That's enough for every young person to own a Mercedes SLK300 and have about an additional $40000 to finance their undergraduate education. We've grown up in a consumer-driven society that rewards instant gratification. We've learned to live on borrowed money. In the words of Ralph Byrns a UNC economics professor" ""That bumper sticker that pensioners place on their SUVs about ‘We're out spending our children's inheritance' is" unfortunately" true.""The Chinese and all of Asia understand this point better than we do. They now save ridiculous amounts of their income and we don't. We keep hearing politicians bemoan the Chinese and others for owning our debt. Yet no major political figure berates Americans for living beyond their means. It's time we learned what shared sacrifice really means. Unless we fundamentally learn to save money like our grandparents did" then we are doomed to live in a bankrupt future. Sixty years ago we as a nation learned what shared sacrifice meant. During World War II we saved our hard-earned dollars and bought war bonds. The government instituted a rationing system. In those dark days the spirit of the American people shined through. Our grandparents lived to see six decades of an unprecedented economic boom. This country needs some penitence. It's time we heard some tough love from Obama and McCain. No more rosy pie in the sky estimates. Whoever gets elected will face some of the most difficult challenges this country has faced since the Great Depression. To think that our votes this coming November will instantly solve our problems is to suffer from amnesia. Not only should we vote but dramatically reform our daily lives. No more gas guzzling SUVs or luxury items. It's time we took a line-item veto to our own lives.
(09/25/08 4:00am)
The financial tsunami hit close to home last week. University employees woke up to find Lehman Brothers in bankruptcy and American International Group teetering on the brink of collapse. Workers sent frantic calls to the human resources department wondering if their annuities were about to be axed. Their fears were allayed when Kitty McCollum UNC-system General Administration's vice president for human resources sent out a letter stating that employee annuities were held in a subsidiary — Variable Annuity Life Insurance Company — that was subject to strict regulatory oversight. AIG is required by Texas insurance law to maintain adequate reserves in the event of payouts. UNC staff dodged a major bullet. Needless to say many of your parents' 401(k)s and retirement savings are probably suffering. These are hard times. As we continue to go about our daily lives in Chapel Hill we are watching a tectonic shift unprecedented since the Great Depression take place before our eyes. Home values have dropped to levels not seen since the Great Depression according to the liberal Center for American Progress. Middle class families are seeing built-in equity wiped out. This week we also witnessed the demise of the remaining bulge bracket firms. Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley have become bank holding companies. Merrill Lynch was bought out by Bank of America Bear Stearns was acquired by J.P. Morgan and Brothers went bankrupt.Financial elites no longer talk about the benefits of limited regulation. The bailouts of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac along with AIG have demonstrated that our government will continue to be the lender of last resort. If many of the leading firms on Wall Street hope to survive then they will need the federal government's support to take toxic mortgage-backed securities off their accounting books. The alternative is a financial meltdown caused by a sclerotic tightening of market liquidity. Not a pleasant option.One of the fundamental reasons behind this entire meltdown is that investors believed models that calculated the probability of plummeting mortgages to be next to impossible. After all this hadn't happened since the Great Depression so why would it happen now? They should have followed up on their history. Models developed by Long-Term Capital Management a hedge fund that counted on the advice of two Nobel Prize winners in economics" made disastrous bets on how Russia's debt default would impact market liquidity. The risk of Capital Management's collapse was so significant that it forced the Federal Reserve of New York to organize a buyout. Sound familiar? The U.S. Treasury secretary has proposed an estimated $700 billion plan to take ""bad"" investments off corporations' balance sheets. We are about to subsidize corporations for terrible investment decisions while our parents' retirement savings are going through the gutter. We preach the values of the free market but when push comes to shove we won't let our businesses stomach their own losses.History has shown us that these crises reappear in one form or another every decade around the world. Each time we seem to forget some very simple lessons regarding regulation. It's time we started opening up those textbooks.
(09/17/08 4:00am)
Last week we talked about the Designated Suppliers Program. The reality of the situation is that there is another policy option that both sides have ignored. Change these days seems to be coming from the bottom up not the top down. A tiny company in Brooklyn is revolutionizing the apparel industry. They are doing to T-shirts what fair trade did to coffee and chocolate. In the words of Bill Gates" ""we need a more creative capitalism."" Joe Falcone" the founder of Counter Sourcing seems to have done just that. The firm plows 10 percent of its profits into a living wage fund 6 percent towards improving workers rights and 1 percent towards environmental protection. Yes that's $2.37 for every $14 you spend on a Counter Sourced T-shirt at Student Stores. And because the firm currently works with one factory in Bangladesh you can rest assured that every penny is going to workers that need it. In fact Mr. Falcone has partnered up with a local NGO in Bangladesh called Phulki to fund projects in the local community that factory workers select. And this isn't a fly by the night group. Their executive director is an Ashoka Fellow — a social entrepreneurship program. Talk about local people taking ownership of their future.Wouldn't SAW love to know that the first supplier to ink an order was UNC? Yes our University who they claim is dragging its feet had the honor of taking the lead on this issue in fall of 2006. Wouldn't you the consumer love to know that these T-shirts are competitively priced? Student Stores issues the same markup on these T-shirts as it does for all others. Chances are you probably never bothered to look at the T-shirt tag before buying. That's because Student Stores never bothered to advertise the fair-trade apparel it was selling. They figured we didn't care. Now you have every reason to care. If you think about it Counter Sourcing is a market-driven DSP. The company pays above market wages and empowers workers two of the DSP's underlying goals. It's a solution that doesn't require the administration signing anything.This debate doesn't have to be about SAW versus the administration. It should be about ways we as consumers can creatively impact supply chains so that workers at the bottom live better off. That's a common goal we all share.You can take that first step by silently voting with your pocketbook. That's how Nike caved into pressure during the 1990s and that's how the apparel market will change. It'll show the administration that demand for these products exists. In turn they'll order more fair trade apparel a la DSP and we'll have a wider selection to choose from.If we demand clothing from manufacturers that pay above market wages and reinvest their earnings in local communities then the market will deliver. In this case it has. And we just didn't know about it. Excuses no more. Now you know. The next time you are at Student Stores ask for Counter Sourcing apparel (hint — their tag logo is a circle of rings). They have it. You just gotta ask for it.
(09/10/08 4:00am)
MOLF.I'm talking about the Moeser's Office Liberation Front"" one of the more colorful Facebook groups to pop up last semester. Its sole purpose was to end the ""illegal occupation"" of the chancellor's office by protestors.It never had time to plot a resistance movement. The police arrested the occupiers.Earlier this spring" Student Action with Workers and other allied groups decided to camp out in South Building. They had reached an impasse and wanted the University to adopt the Designated Suppliers Program. The basic gist is that such a program would require colleges to source a percentage of their apparel from approved factories. In order to make the cut employers would have to pay a living wage and respect collective bargaining rights. Sounds like a good plan except that James Moeser said niet. Up until then the campuswide debate over the DSP was heated. The issue became personal — and rightfully so. Both sides however made a series of fact-less claims.SAW claims that the current licensing codes of conduct are union busting. UNC however is a member of two organizations the Fair Labor Association and the Workers Rights Consortium" that monitor factories for compliance on workplace standards. Both groups clearly state that employers ""shall recognize and respect"" the right to freedom of association and collective bargaining. Even more ironic is the fact that foreign factory workers have a right to unionize" whereas N.C. state employees under General Statute 95-98 have no such option. SAW also claims that the University is supporting sweatshop labor. But they fail to provide any evidence that shows how the UNC labor licensing committee failed to follow up on any potential violations. They merely cite one case study about globalization and the race to the bottom.The reality is that UNC Student Stores does source from suppliers that focus on the triple bottom line.SAW isn't the only guilty party here. Some of Chancellor Moeser's statements don't make any sense either.Moeser claimed that Duke University signed onto the DSP with certain preconditions. According to Jim Wilkerson who was present when Tallman Trask III Duke's executive vice president signed the DSP in February 2006 Duke signed the document without any conditions. Some universities however did sign on with a few reservations. The University of Southern California and the University of Miami were a few that did. Their concerns ranged the gamut from defining a living wage to broadening the membership base to include industry representatives.The truth of the matter is that both sides have lost sight of what unites them. Instead of judging who's right and who's wrong both sides ought to focus on improving the lives of workers who make UNC apparel.Where the disagreement among both sides lies is in the means of accomplishing that goal. Believe it or not there is a solution that does not even involve the administration signing anything.See part two next week.
(09/03/08 4:00am)
It was quite a night. Walking into Hamilton Hall late Thursday night a buzz of excited energy overwhelmed the crowded room of Young Democrats. Tar Heels gathered to watch a historic moment as the Democratic Party officially nominated the first African-American candidate for the presidency. More Americans watched his speech than the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics. And what a moment it has become. The symbolism of Sen. Barack Obama's acceptance speech could not go unnoticed. Forty-five years ago" a ""young preacher from Georgia"" gave one of the finest speeches in American history. Its soaring rhetoric and eloquence defined a generation. And now" a senator who was only 2 years old when that speech echoed across the halls of this country leads a major political party. Yet for the hoopla Obama's acceptance speech was just as notable for what it did not say. The senator never once mentioned the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. He simply referred to him as a preacher. Yes a preacher. The honor of deciphering who this anonymous preacher was went to a Georgia congressman who was in his own words" the ""last remaining speaker"" from that famous march on Aug. 28" 1963. We may never know why a man who was at the vanguard of that era was never named. But one thing is certain. The advances in legislation brought on by that preacher allowed a young man from Hawaii born to parents from Kansas and Kenya to shatter an enormous glass ceiling in modern American politics. America was living history. Twelve hours later we woke up to another first. Sen. John McCain had nominated the first female to serve on a Republican Party presidential ticket. And just like that the 24/7 world of cable news and blogs had moved beyond the events of the night before. We barely had time to digest what had just transpired. Instead of talking about the significance of what we were living through we were left talking about teenage pregnancies and vetting processes. Say what? Talk about America's priorities in politics. We don't live these moments twice. History is afoot and it's time we stopped to critically think about how far we have come - and how much further we still have to go.A female candidate is undergoing tremendous scrutiny about whether or not she's maintained a proper work-life balance. An African-American nominee can't even talk about the legacy of race in this country on the anniversary of Rev. King's speech out of fear of losing the votes of white blue-collar workers.We live through these issues on a daily basis and yet we act as if they have no significance. When in reality they have everything to do with the state of American politics.We have a long way to go but the least we could do is start talking about what we're not talking about.