Ebenezer Baptist Interviews

The people of Hartranft have spoken and picked Barack Obama as their future leader.

The community located in the lower North section of Philadelphia recently held Bible study and community meeting on April 9th at the Ebenezer Baptist Church. The church, located on the corner of 10th and Dauphin Street, gave the people in the community a forum to speak up.

Especially when someone other people often forget they even exist.

The people overwhelmingly support Obama in the Democratic nomination and ultimately the presidency.

“I just think he generates more hope,” John L. Payne said. Payne is the reverend at the church. “Not only for the younger generation, but also for the older generation which I’m part of.”
Hillary Clinton is Obama’s main competition for the Democratic nomination.

While most people within the community did not consider Clinton much, Payne said that he was going back and fourth between the two.

“Well, it was kind of a tough choice because I like Barack Obama and I like Hillary Clinton,” Payne said. “But I think I’m leaning more towards Barack Obama.”

A factor that is being closely looked at with public perception is how the media is treating the candidates. There has been a lot of commentary in recent weeks that the media is much more malicious towards Clinton.

Payne doesn’t feel the same way, especially with the issue of the statements Obama’s former pastor has recently made condemning America.
“Looking at all the hoopla that the media portrayed over the statement that Reverend Wright made,” Payne said. “They really took it out of context. But they used it for their advantage. So you can really say that he was treated unfairly.”

While Payne is open to a Clinton presidency, his congregation is less open for that.

“I’m going to vote for Obama,” Jacqueline Green said. Green is a member of both the community and the church. “I think he will bring to this country what we need which is change. I have heard him say on many occasions that it is coming from the bottom up which I think we need to do rather then top down.”

Green was not alone in her praise for Obama. Tierra Williams, planning to vote in her first presidential election, also has high praise for Obama.

“For me it is more about the fact that I also looked up to Martin Luther King and it seems like Barrack Obama is almost like a modern day version of Martin Luther King,” Williams. “Every time I see a speech from Barrack Obama it’s inspiring.”

Clinton has been projected to win Philadelphia and Pennsylvania in all the opinion polls, especially since Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter and Pennsylvania Ed Rendell both support Clinton. Obama is quickly closing the gap to make Pennsylvania a crucial race to get the nomination.

A Philadelphia Democratic Ward leader, who would only go by the name “Miss L.” is planning on supporting Obama any way she could in Philadelphia.

“I think Obama understands the plight that the inner-city must go through,” Miss L. said. “The presidency is not about color. This is really exciting because he has the opportunity to rewrite history.”


Miss L. also went on to say that she plans on going around the community with a car and a bullhorn to promote Obama.

While the people of Ebenezer Baptist Church have spoken in favor of Obama, it still remains to be seen what the people of the rest of the country will ultimately decide. Whether it is Obama or Clinton, both candidates have a chance to be historic firsts and make crucial domestic changes.