In giving his explanation for lifting passages from President Barack Obama’s 2008 acceptance speech into his own without attribution, newly elected Milpitas Mayor Richard Tran cited a lyric by music artist Jay Z — without attribution.

Related Articles Milpitas mayor’s plagiarized speech: Compare transcript to Obama’s Last Friday, Tran admitted to the Milpitas Post he liberally sprinkled his Dec. 13 acceptance speech with phrases Obama used in his election night speech in 2008. Tran said he didn’t view that as plagiarism or intend to mislead anyone; rather, he considered it a way to “honor” the man who inspired him and thought it was “blatantly obvious” the words were Obama’s.

“It is an honor because you know Rosa Parks sat so Martin Luther King could walk, so Obama could run, and so for young leaders and politicians it’s for us to fly,” Tran told the Post on Dec. 16.

Those words closely resemble the ones in the Jay Z remix of Young Jeezy’s 2008 song, “My President,” where Jay Z raps “Rosa Parks sat so Martin Luther could walk, Martin Luther walked so Barack Obama could run, Barack Obama ran so all the children could fly.”

Asked by the Post if he was aware of using Jay Z’s lyric and if so why he didn’t mention it, Tran admitted he was aware and explained why he didn’t think it necessary to attribute.

“For me it was just speaking the truth,” Tran said. “Those are factual statements regardless of who says it, and so I think that’s why I didn’t attribute it and my mentality is not that I’m writing a research paper or essay, which I’ve written with many citations. I’m just speaking freely and providing valuable insight into my thinking,” Tran said. “So me talking about something that Jay Z inspired me, I don’t know who I’m offending or harming, I like to cite songs, I thought it was special words to share.”

Tran said he is often inspired by popular culture, music and the arts.

“This common saying really struck a chord with the career I’ve chosen, which is to advocate for the public, serve the underserved, and represent the underrepresented,” he added. “Milpitas residents will understand I will take the best practices from around the world and will implement them in every way possible to ensure our community’s quality of life is at its best.”

However, Tran noted, from now on he’ll be sure to cite references to words and ideas that aren’t originally his.

“I did a lot of school and I didn’t think in the real world I would have to be so on top of it, like this is not something I would do for turnitin.com, so I thought in the real world I could ease up a bit, but I guess not, and I’ll make sure to be better and do what’s appropriate going forward,” Tran said.

Tran said he wasn’t trying to hide where he got parts of his speeches or other words from.

“Everything I am communicating to the public right now is very special, like my speech. Imitation is the highest form of flattery and President Obama is just my inspiration and my hero,” Tran said.

“And you know in two years if I work hard enough and people believe in me enough to get re-elected, I’m going to look at that 2012 Obama speech from that election. Of course I am going to make it clear this time because I know there are some concerns. I’m really just trying to praise the person that really inspired me to take this step in life,” he added.

Tran said residents would understand and be proud of the work he has planned for the city.

“I’m not here to do politics, I am here to work with the school district and check on the city manager and fight the landfill and I’m going to lower the water utility rate a little bit, as much as I can, and I’m going to build new little roads in the city to help out with traffic so folks can get home to their families. I get politics is a game, so I apologize if I was misleading, but I will start referring more if that helps out.”