Obama's victory, with roughly double the votes of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, was driven by a stunning 81 percent of the African American vote, according to exit polls.
Coming in trade paper 2008. Featuring Walter Mosley, Gary Phillips, Tananarive Due, Steven Barnes, Wayne Wilson, Lorenzo Carcaterra, Gar Anthony Haywood, Naomi Hirahara, "LA" Banks, Jerry Rodriguez, Mike Gonzales, Alexandra Sokoloff, Annie Nocenti, Mat Johnson, Reed Farrel Coleman, Peter Speigelman, Dosselle Young, Victor LaValle. Edited by CAC & Gary Phillips, Original art by Sean Wang, Shawn Martinbrough, Jeff Fisher, Brian Hurtt
BARACK OBAMA NEW HAMPSHIRE SPEECH TRANSCRIPT:
A few weeks ago, no one imagined that we'd have accomplished what we did here tonight. For most of this campaign, we were far behind, and we always knew our climb would be steep.
But in record numbers, you came out and spoke up for change. And with your voices and your votes, you made it clear that at this moment - in this election - there is something happening in America.
There is something happening when men and women in Des Moines and Davenport; in Lebanon and Concord come out in the snows of January to wait in lines that stretch block after block because they believe in what this country can be.
There is something happening when Americans who are young in age and in spirit - who have never before participated in politics - turn out in numbers we've never seen because they know in their hearts that this time must be different.
There is something happening when people vote not just for the party they belong to but the hopes they hold in common - that whether we are rich or poor; black or white; Latino or Asian; whether we hail from Iowa or New Hampshire, Nevada or South Carolina, we are ready to take this country in a fundamentally new direction. That is what's happening in America right now. Change is what's happening in America.
You can be the new majority who can lead this nation out of a long political darkness - Democrats, Independents and Republicans who are tired of the division and distraction that has clouded Washington; who know that we can disagree without being disagreeable; who understand that if we mobilize our voices to challenge the money and influence that's stood in our way and challenge ourselves to reach for something better, there's no problem we can't solve - no destiny we cannot fulfill.
Our new American majority can end the outrage of unaffordable, unavailable health care in our time. We can bring doctors and patients; workers and businesses, Democrats and Republicans together; and we can tell the drug and insurance industry that while they'll get a seat at the table, they don't get to buy every chair. Not this time. Not now.
Our new majority can end the tax breaks for corporations that ship our jobs overseas and put a middle-class tax cut into the pockets of the working Americans who deserve it.
We can stop sending our children to schools with corridors of shame and start putting them on a pathway to success. We can stop talking about how great teachers are and start rewarding them for their greatness. We can do this with our new majority.
We can harness the ingenuity of farmers and scientists; citizens and entrepreneurs to free this nation from the tyranny of oil and save our planet from a point of no return.
And when I am President, we will end this war in Iraq and bring our troops home; we will finish the job against al Qaeda in Afghanistan; we will care for our veterans; we will restore our moral standing in the world; and we will never use 9/11 as a way to scare up votes, because it is not a tactic to win an election, it is a challenge that should unite America and the world against the common threats of the twenty-first century: terrorism and nuclear weapons; climate change and poverty; genocide and disease.
All of the candidates in this race share these goals. All have good ideas. And all are patriots who serve this country honorably.
But the reason our campaign has always been different is because it's not just about what I will do as President, it's also about what you, the people who love this country, can do to change it.
That's why tonight belongs to you. It belongs to the organizers and the volunteers and the staff who believed in our improbable journey and rallied so many others to join.
We know the battle ahead will be long, but always remember that no matter what obstacles stand in our way, nothing can withstand the power of millions of voices calling for change.
We have been told we cannot do this by a chorus of cynics who will only grow louder and more dissonant in the weeks to come. We've been asked to pause for a reality check. We've been warned against offering the people of this nation false hope.
But in the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope. For when we have faced down impossible odds; when we've been told that we're not ready, or that we shouldn't try, or that we can't, generations of Americans have responded with a simple creed that sums up the spirit of a people.
Yes we can.
It was a creed written into the founding documents that declared the destiny of a nation.
Yes we can.
It was whispered by slaves and abolitionists as they blazed a trail toward freedom through the darkest of nights.
Yes we can.
It was sung by immigrants as they struck out from distant shores and pioneers who pushed westward against an unforgiving wilderness.
Yes we can.
It was the call of workers who organized; women who reached for the ballot; a President who chose the moon as our new frontier; and a King who took us to the mountaintop and pointed the way to the Promised Land.
Yes we can to justice and equality. Yes we can to opportunity and prosperity. Yes we can heal this nation. Yes we can repair this world. Yes we can.
And so tomorrow, as we take this campaign South and West; as we learn that the struggles of the textile worker in Spartanburg are not so different than the plight of the dishwasher in Las Vegas; that the hopes of the little girl who goes to a crumbling school in Dillon are the same as the dreams of the boy who learns on the streets of LA; we will remember that there is something happening in America; that we are not as divided as our politics suggests; that we are one people; we are one nation; and together, we will begin the next great chapter in America's story with three words that will ring from coast to coast; from sea to shining sea - Yes. We. Can.
ENDS
The New York Times December 23, 2007
The most important thing about my book is the way both kids who hate and love to read respond to it. They go crazy! When I first started kids would get rowdy and start heated arguments about who was going to get the limited copies of the self published version that I brought to schools with me to give away for free. Real fights almost happened. Not to mention that I only sold my book on the street for three days and moved a few hundred copies. With that being said I am proud to state that The Marvelous World Saga is built off of quality and not hype. I got my deals because the kids I did readings for loved my book and the press documented that. If it were all hype it would have been dead in the water because hype fades away. I think I have outlived the misnomer The Black H***y P****r.Here is how it all went down…
I knew that if I could get a publisher to witness how kids loved my book there was no way i could not get a major book deal. I had no agent to vouch for me because none would rep me so I could not even get to an editor let alone a publisher. Even if I did i would have been just another author raving about my own book. So, I needed a special outside force to report what was happening in order for a publisher to take my book seriously. That force would be the press so I had to become my own publicist. First of all, the press that I got was a result of me calling people as myself. I used the name Alan Chase on the press release because no one in the publishing world would read it with an author’s name on it. (For more information on this please read this blog) My middle name is really Alan and the email address I used was chase.alan@marvelousworld.net. Get it? Chase Alan @ Marvelous World. You’d never really catch him. lol. I only spoke as this alias when Simon and Schuster and other publishers called to speak to Alan Chase. I need a new alias because of all of this press.
(I actually forgot who Alan Chase was for a second when I got the phone call from Simon and Schuster. Oh and let me mention that the call was placed on behalf of the former Vice Publisher of Simon and Schuster Books for Young readers– the great Elizabeth Law who along with Rubin Pheffer, Justin Chanda, and Tim Ditlow and Rebecca Bullene of Random House made my dream of becoming a published author come true.)
Okay back to the story…
I wanted three pieces of press so I was on a mission to get in a magazine, a newspaper, and myself on TV. After a bunch of hard work I was totally successful. The thing is you have to be smart about it and go after people in the press who have done stories similar to your own. With that being the case I went after a hip hop magazine since my entire path that I was following was that of the independent hip hop artist. I did not think “The Source” or “XXL” would show me immediate love so I looked for one that was a bit newer that might take a chance on me. I went to a magazine shop on 23rd street in NYC and found RIME magazine…
Rime Magazine
I sent the editor an email and I hit pay dirt. The magazine did an excellent review of my book and I am still cool with the writer Sum Patten. That was one down, but that had a long run time so I needed something that would supposedly come out much quicker. So, I went after my local news paper The Star Ledger…
The Star Ledger April 10, 2006
One of my friends told me to go after reporter Carrie Stetler because she did a few stories on hip-hop and this was related. After I spoke to her on the phone in December of ‘05 she was really into it and set up a time to come to my reading at Orange High School in NJ. Mind you, it may take awhile for things to run. I contacted her in Dec ‘05 and the piece ran in April of ‘06. I had to wait, but that was what I needed to help me get ABC News interested…
ABC News June 6, 2006
Image copyright ABC News
I could not think of a better person to contact other than Kemberly Richardson. I took The Star Ledger piece as proof I was worth doing a story on and taped it to the outside of the package I sent to Kemberly. I knew that would get her attention. The package also contained a copy of my book. I also did some more research and figured I should go after the education producer Lila Corn. That helped a lot and Ms. Corn took to me and Ms. Richardson called me personally and said she was going to do my story. They were both angels. Remember, I spoke to them as myself with no alias about my story. Kemberly did my story at Wadleigh Secondary School in Harlem, NY. Please let me take the time to shout out Principal Watts and Amanda Funero–the teacher who let me do the reading. Thank you!!!!
Here is the piece. It was a rough day!
Now this is when super publicist Alan Chase comes into the picture. Not only did I want ABC News to come to my reading I wanted publishers to see the kids go crazy. So I drafted a press release (I will later go into detail how I learned how to write an effective one) and used a web site to locate many of the emails of the people in the publishing industry. I sent out hundreds of emails and only about eight people responded (its a numbers game). The good news was it was someone major from just about every publishing house, including Elizabeth Law, who as I said was they former Vice Publisher of Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers. She came to the reading that ABC News reported on and the rest is history. The truth is that I signed with Simon and Schuster because Elizabeth did come and she even gave me a hug that day. Louis Proof is based on myself and my little brother. His world is my world and his family is my family, so I couldn’t do a deal with just anyone. Elizabeth and now Justin Chanda, Rubin Pheffer, Paul Chrichton, Kate Smyth, Karen Frangipane, Michelle Fadella, Jody Cohen, Jaime Feldman, Kiley Fitzsimons, and all of Simon Schuster are the best . Thank you so much for believing in me! Yes, I love Simon and Schuster but I also love my Random House family! I was also able to do an audio book deal with Random House because both Rebecca Bullene and Tim Ditlow believed in me. I am truly blessed to me with the biggest publishers in the world.
Please forward this blog to anyone trying to do anything creative and wants to get their work out into the world and thinks they may never make it.
