Obama says America must heal like L.A. after riots

By: North County Times wire services - | Sunday, April 29, 2007 8:24 PM PDT ∞

LOS ANGELES - Reflecting on the "bright spots" that emerged in the "darkness" of the Los Angeles riots, Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama said Sunday there was still hope for healing a nation that, 15 years later, is beset by new problems.

"I want you to know that 15 years after the riots, change is still going to happen because of you," Obama told a crowd of 500 to 600 people at First African Methodist Episcopal Church in South Los Angeles, who applauded so hardily they sometimes nearly drowned out his speech.

Of the riot that engulfed "one of America's greatest cities" in flames, he recalled reading a news story the next day about a pregnant woman who was shot in the abdomen during the chaos, the bullet lodging in the soft tissue of her unborn child's arm. But, the baby was successfully delivered and stitched up, he said.

"Even in the midst of violence and despair, there's always something to be hopeful for," he said.

As president, he promised that the nation would enter a new era, but told parishioners that he would need their support in his campaign for the presidency.

"We are going to usher in a new America, the way that newborn child was ushered in, still healing the scars, but not forgetting where we came from, not blacking out on what had happened but recognizing that we can remove that bullet and stitch up that arm," he said.

Although the riots, which he recalled watching on television, "were of a magnitude that had not been seen for a very long time, there had been a quiet riot taking place not just in Los Angeles but all across the country for a very long time."

"If you traveled to Chicago you would see the same young men on street corners, without hope, without prospects, without a sense of any destiny other than ending up in prison or in a casket," he said.

He said a metaphorical bullet was still lodged in the nation.

"We know what it would require to remove that bullet, the kind of surgery that this country needs to perform," he said.

He said the healing would come "not only by providing health care for every American in this country, not only for every child to have a decent education, not only by ending the senseless war in Iraq, but also by electing as president, Barack Obama."

Midway through his speech, Obama appeared to be caught off-guard by Stevie Wonder's appearance in the front row of the Harvard Boulevard church.

"I've got to take a break because Stevie Wonder is in the house," he said. "I grew up with Stevie Wonder; I love Stevie Wonder," he said to more applause.

Wonder was ushered onto the stage next to Obama, where he sang a song saying in part, "Barack Obama is going to be the next president," as the congregation sang their praises.

Obama appeared at a $2,300 per person fund-raiser at agent Ari Emanuel's home, and a $500 per person fund-raiser at the Hollywood Boulevard nightclub Boulevard3, emceed by Cedric the Entertainer, according to ABC News.

Among the celebrities scheduled to appear were actresses Scarlett Johansson, Jessica Biel, Rosario Dawson and Gabrielle Union, along with actors Adam Brody, Taye Diggs and Hill Harper.

Obama's main opponent in the Democratic race for the presidential nomination, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., was also in Los Angeles Sunday to attend a Bel Air fund-raiser geared toward women professionals, the entertainment trade newspaper Daily Variety reported.

Both Clinton and Obama spoke at the Democratic State Convention in San Diego yesterday. Clinton said withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq would be "the very first thing I will do upon taking office," while Obama reminded delegates that he opposed the Bush administration's decision to start the war, unlike Clinton, who voted in favor of the resolution authorizing use of force.

Obama continues to chip away at Clinton's lead in the race for the nomination, according to an NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll released Wednesday. Clinton topped the survey conducted between April 20-23 with 36 percent. Obama was second with 31 percent, while former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards was third with 20 percent. No other candidate had more than 3 percent. The margin of error was 4.4 percentage points.

In a NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll conducted March 2-5, Clinton led with 40 percent, followed by Obama with 28 percent and Edwards with 15 percent.

The Republican presidential candidates will get their time in the Southern California sun later this week, with frontrunner Rudy Giuliani holding a fund-raiser in Irvine Wednesday. The first G.O.P. debate is set for Thursday at the Ronald W. Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley.

Former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson will speak at the Lincoln Club of Orange County's 45th annual dinner Friday in Newport Beach, in his first major speech since announcing last month he is considering running. Thompson was second behind Giuliani in a Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg Poll and third behind Giuliani and Arizona Sen. John McCain in three other polls taken this month.

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