The Haterade Syndrome

By Khesha Duncan 

I’m SOOOOOOOO heated right now – still, after reading an article in the Redding News Review a couple days ago, titled “Andrew Young explains why he is not supporting Obama,” forwarded to me by one of my many fellow Obama-ers.  So heated, in fact, I’ve just decided to coin a new phrase called “The Haterade Syndrome!” 

For quite awhile now, I have been trying my absolute best to ignore the comments that I’ve been reading and hearing throughout the campaign, from some members of the Congressional Black Caucus and other current black leaders with their assortment of old school reasons for why Senator Barack Obama can’t be President of the United States – yet. 

But what I read this week takes the cake, and is a sad commentary indeed, because Andrew Young has opted to join them.  Young’s ignorant remarks in this piece sound more like those of a high school dropout than a Howard University graduate, saying that Barack can’t be President now because,

“You have to have a protective network around you… Leadership requires suffering. And I would like to see Barack’s children get a little older, see, because they’re going to pick on them.” 

Is he serious?  This from a man who has a Bachelor of Divinity Degree From Hartford Seminary, in Hartford, Connecticut, and is a former Executive Director of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)?  One would want to believe that this combination of education and professional Christianity would give him more depth in his faith than that, but apparently not. 

Granted, I recognize that Mr. Young was one of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s closest protégés and allies, and that he was there (literally) when Dr. King was tragically assassinated.  Nor can I even begin to imagine what it must have felt like, witnessing the murder of his friend, or the significance of its impact on his life from that point on.  And what I’m saying here is not intended to, nor could it, ever minimize any of that. However, to fast forward almost forty years later, and say that Barack Obama can’t be President today because they’re going to pick on his children suggests that he may be living in a time warp.  What Andrew Young seems to be forgetting is that the same concerns and apprehensions he has about Senator Obama running for President in 2007 are the same ones that leaders before him had of he and Dr. King during their civil rights endeavors.  In the 1950s and 60s when the fight was about more basic human freedoms, like being able to enter buildings through the front doors, and sitting in the front seats of city buses, and the right not to be hung from a tree just because you were black, Young and others responded with marches, boycotts, demonstrations, lunch counter sit-ins en masse, and the like – all very appropriate actions for what was happening then.  Their strategies yielded positive results that benefited the collective whole at that time and for the next generation – Barack Obama’s generation. 

But some MAJOR progress has been made since then.  The Civil Rights Act was passed in 1964, integration occurred, and affirmative action was implemented in the early 70s.  The game changed, and it was no longer about where you could shop, eat or use the bathroom.  The questions then became about where we could work, attend college, what neighborhood we could live in, if we could get a bank loan, or run for public office.  And as the doors opened and we walked in, over the course of the next twenty years black folks accomplished, excelled and achieved in all these areas.  Here, it appears, is where the problems with black leadership, and more importantly, the disintegration of black unity began, that we are experiencing today.   

Which brings us to Mr. Young’s next series of comments:

“Barack Obama does not have the support network yet to get to be president.  To put a brother in there by himself is to set him up for crucifixion.” 

Additionally, he said that Hillary Clinton is surrounded by quite a few black advisors while Obama has very few.  Well guess what?  He wouldn’t be by himself if Young and other so-called longtime black leaders would form the support network Young says he doesn’t have.  Here’s an idea.  Instead of droning on and on about why Senator Obama can’t win the Presidency now, why doesn’t he call him up and ask what he can do to assist with his campaign efforts to ensure that he does?  I’ll tell you why; drinkin’ too much haterade!  Sounds juvenile, I know, but I can’t think of another reason why Andrew Young, with his years of experience in the civil rights movement, having been attacked and jailed after protesting for this very right, of a black man to be able to run for President, wouldn’t want to do all he can to help Senator Obama.  After all, whether the playa haters want to acknowledge it or not, there is absolutely no denying that Barack Obama is the most viable African-American candidate this country has ever seen, perhaps with the exception of Dr. King.  But Dr. King wasn’t sent to us to run for President.  His time spent here was meant to serve a different purpose, to move us forward to the next step.  And the one thing we can deduce about history and progress of any kind is best stated in the old adage, “timing is everything.”

Without a doubt, Senator Obama’s time is now.  Barack Obama is currently the ONLY black member of the Senate.  It is important to note that he shares this honor with a very short list of only five in our history; the first, Hiram Rhodes Revels, was elected way back in 1870.  However, this is just his most recent outstanding accomplishment.  Barack Obama has been on this prestigious path since his career’s inception.  A graduate of Columbia University, he took a job in south-side Chicago as a community organizer after just one year of working in corporate America.  This public service experience compelled him to Harvard Law School.  There, in 1990, he was elected the Harvard Law Review’s first black president ever in its entire 104-year history! 

So, when the question is asked, “Is America ready for a black President?” I would contend that, given this historical accomplishment, the question has already been answered with a resounding YES!  Upon earning his law degree from an Ivy League School (magna cum laude, I might add), Barack Obama could have easily returned to corporate America to enjoy a huge salary with lots of company perks.  Instead, he chose to return to Chicago’s south-side to lead voter registration drives and practice civil rights law.  Then after three years of representing discrimination claims, community organizers, and voting rights cases, he went back into the classroom, this time as a teacher.  He was a lecturer and constitutional law scholar at the University of Chicago Law School until his decision to run for the U.S. Senate in 2003. 

Andrew Young’s candid non-support of Senator Obama is particularly ironic to me because there are several pointed similarities between them.  For example, as a civil rights activist in the early 1960s, Young played a key role in the conflicts in Birmingham, Alabama, serving as a mediator between the black and white communities.  Obama has the same talent and track record for mediating effectively between the Democratic and Republican parties as the Senator of Illinois.  In 1970, Andrew Young lost his first race for Congress, but ran again in 1972 and won that race plus two more.  Likewise, Obama had an unsuccessful first run in a House of Representatives race before being reelected to the Senate twice more. 

During Young’s three terms in Congress he was a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, and was involved in several debates regarding foreign relations, including the decision to stop supporting Portuguese attempts to keep their colonies in South Africa.  His effective skills in this area were a major factor in President Jimmy Carter’s decision to appoint Young as the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations in 1977.  His greatest contributions in this critical role were helping to end segregation in Zimbabwe, Rhodesia, and improved U.S. relations with Nigeria.  Senator Obama is also a Congressional Black Caucus Member, and serves as a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, traveling extensively to Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and South Africa, addressing the issues of global terrorism, genocide in Sudan, and current and post-policies regarding the war in Iraq.  

When Andrew Young was Mayor of Atlanta from 1982-1990, he gained national notoriety for the city by encouraging international investment, which improved the Atlanta economy after it was hit hard by recession.  In his book The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream, Senator Obama proposes a series of initiatives similar to Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal Programs implemented during his Presidency after the Great Depression of the 1930s, as a strategy for how we can begin to restore America economically after the Bush Administration vacates. 

So, to hear Mr. Young make statements like that about a candidate whose plethora of qualifications mirror so many of his own, is all the more puzzling and disturbing — especially at an event held IN Atlanta, birthplace of the Civil Rights Movement.  If we can’t count on the black leadership in Atlanta, dubbed The Black Mecca, to support Barack Obama, the wrong precedent gets set, and gives the rest of us very little to hope for in the way of support for him across the rest of Black America.  

Finally, it is difficult and painful to even dignify Young’s last remark with a response:

“Bill is every bit as black as Barack,” he said. “He has probably gone out with more black women than Barack.”

First of all, what the hell does dating black women have to do with running the country effectively?!?  Aside from the notion that if, in fact, Bill did date black women that’s probably who he learned most of his leadership game from (especially how to balance a budget), pretty much absolutely nothing!  It really doesn’t matter anyway because the bottom line is, if and when Bill Clinton was done dating the sistas, he quickly returned home to one of his own when it was time to choose a wife.  That’s just what we need, a black man in Andrew Young’s position bragging about how his white homey friend has probably dated more black women than a real brotha, and issuing him a “black card” with a lifetime membership as a reward to boot!  Mr. Young stated that leadership requires suffering.  I think his comments made here have taken care of a substantial amount of that already, don’t you?  Far more importantly, though, is that Bill Clinton isn’t even Senator Obama’s opponent.  However, Hillary Clinton is; yet, Young failed to share any of his assumptions about her dating history, regarding race or gender.  

Let’s just hope, though, that with any luck — and a lot of prayer, Andrew Young’s foolish remarks won’t take root with the masses.  Let’s hope that the majority of Black Americans are more evolved than we thought, and that we’re intelligent enough to realize that the diversity and uniqueness of Senator Obama’s background and upbringing are just two of many reasons why he’s exactly the perfect candidate who can take us to the next level in 2008.

For those of us who do get it, who have had to assimilate and adapt, whether we like to think about it or not, in order to survive in our predominantly white workplaces, and still remain committed to the cause that made affirmative action necessary in the first place, we have to challenge and educate the rest.  We have to teach others that while Andrew Young was making economic breakthroughs as the Mayor of Atlanta, GA, Barack Obama was at Harvard Law School making record-breaking history as the first black president of the Harvard Law Review.  And how every action he has taken from his undergraduate college career to date has prepared him to become the next great black leader of our time. 

I am so proud to be a Barack Obama supporter.  My #1 reason for supporting him is that I sincerely believe he is the most qualified person for the job.  However, I am also fully aware of what his Presidential candidacy represents for me, black people, and every other member of an ethnic or minority group.  With respect to where we’ve been, how far we’ve come, and how very far we still have to go, Senator Obama really is the chosen one.  The fact that he’s black is a bonus, and yes, it does make me even more proud.
Some unsolicited advice for Andrew Young, Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, and all of the other black leaders who haven’t given Senator Barack Obama the respect and/or support he deserves – stop being part of the problem and become part of his solution!  By not standing together, black people continue to lose, and we have lost way too much already, of which we’re constantly reminded with overwhelming statistics about our continued spiral downward in every area of life by which success is measured. 
Because when Senator Obama becomes President Obama (and he will become President), remember whose support and approval you’re going to need to advance your next agenda.  In the meantime think about this:  when you talk to the press about the Billary duo, or the powerful Clinton machine as if they’re running a Presidential candidate team, the real message you’re sending to everyone is that it takes two Clintons to beat one Obama!  And that, my friends, deserves a tall glass of haterade! 

Peace ya’ll!

-Khesha Duncan

A Compelling Case for Obama

By Patricia Wilson-Smith 

I’m breathless as I write this. Today, I was sent the link to an article that is absolutely amazing in how it describes why Senator Obama is what America needs now:

It was written by a gentleman named Andrew Sullivan for the Atlantic Monthly, and forwarded to me by a woman who claims that it convinced her that Senator Obama is the only choice for President:

http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200712/obama/1

The author eloquently (and at times, verbosely) describes the nuances of our current political climate, and how and why who both Senator Clinton and Senator Obama are makes such a difference in how each will govern if elected.

His angle is rooted in the politics of the Baby Boomer generation – Vietnam, Nixon, and the resulting political factions that grew out of the conflict and upheaval of that time. He paints this vivid picture, and then describes how Senator Obama transcends it all by virtue of his ethnicity, upbringing and age. And he’s right on target.

This article gave me goose bumps. It laid out so much of what I struggle to communicate to others on a daily basis.  I’ve said that this is no longer Hillary Clinton’s time; the author of this article says that Hillary is a product of the divisiveness born out of an era that we must turn away from. I’ve said that Senator Obama is the only candidate with an innate ability to govern all Americans; this author describes how his unique background, his struggle with identity is the one thing that Americans have in common.

I say that he is the only hope for repairing our reputation around the world, and this author spells out in crystal clear terms that Senator Obama, his face, his name, his ability to build concensus, is what we must have if we are to turn the page on the dangerous situation that the Bush Administration has left us in and why. He describes Senator Obama as a political ’saviour’ of sorts, whose time is now not just because of what he’s done as a legislator and in his life before public office, but because of what we face as a nation, and how we’ve come to be regarded around the world. So powerful.

I urge you to read every word of this article. Get out your dictionary though, because the author is extremely precise in the words he chooses, and they’re quite often un-pronounceable and unrecognizable. But if you don’t finish this article with a cemented perspective on what we’re doing and why, then you’re a block of wood. And if you don’t see the need to spread this article to every woman and man you know of voting age to give them the opportunity to understand “from a distance” why we need Senator Obama (see the article for more info on this reference), then you’re doing them an injustice.

Even if you don’t have time to read this article now – send it to everyone you know. Use it to create a campaign of awareness. And then let’s re-ignite the fires under ourselves and bring about the transformation this author talks about.

Personally, I cannot imagine how any Democrat in this nation could read this article and not immediately begin fervently campaigning for the Senator. Andrew Sullivan has done something incredible here. In four pages of printed text, he has made a compelling, and nearly irrefutable argument for electing Senator Obama the next President of the United States.

Please – forward this article. Spread the word.

In Defense of Bill O’Reilly

By Patricia Wilson-Smith

It’s hard being a seeker of truth. Sometimes, when you go looking for it, you’re not comfortable with what you find.

It was an email that I received from a colleague that alerted me to the latest Bill O’Reilly flap. When I read its contents, I was of course incensed. It was Friday, and I was preparing for a trip to South Carolina to canvass for the Obama Campaign.On early Saturday morning, me and two of the members of the Georgia chapter of BWFO here in Georgia boarded a van headed for Columbia, South Carolina.

When we arrived, we met other Obama volunteers at the Columbia field office of Obama for America. After a hard day of walking the streets, passing out campaign materials and talking to registered voters, we spent a happy evening having dinner together at the home of the SC State Chapter Director of BWFO, Yvonne Robinson.

At Yvonne’s insistence, I was seated at the head of a beautifully decorated table in her formal dining room with several other Obama supporters, who all just happened to be black. This is note-worthy because there were over 60 people in attendance, and an equal number of blacks and whites, though there were a few Asians and Hispanics there as well. The dinner chat inevitably turned to the remarks Bill O’Reilly had made about Sylvia’s Restaurant in Harlem during a conversation with NPR Senior Correspondent Juan Williams on his nationally syndicated radio show. Of course, being the opinionated chick that I am, I happily joined in the castigation:

“I can’t believe Bill O’Reilly would say such a thing and think he could get away with it”, said one dinner guest.

“What do you expect – we’re talking about Bill O’Reilly here. He put the ‘R’ in racist”, said another.

“Oh, you better believe I’m gonna get him in my next blog article!” I chimed in gleefully.

And so it went for the rest of the evening. Here and there, people remarking on the irresponsible, blatantly racist comments made by a man who under almost any other circumstance, I would have choked on my own vomit rather than defend. Hmmm. Not the best visual. Sorry.

So we arrive back in Atlanta later that evening, and I drag myself home and fall into bed (walking the streets of Columbia had taken a toll on me). It was the next afternoon before I was rested enough to do a little research so that I could write my scathing rebuke of Bill O’Reilly. I was tingly with anticipation – not since I’d skewered Oprah Winfrey regarding her “I just stopped going” remark had I been so excited about writing a piece.

I read what others had to say about the controversy, in particular the Media Research Council, who are none too happy with Mr. Bill. Then, I ventured onto Bill O’Reilly’s website at http://www.billoreilly.com to listen to the re-play of the interview in question in its entirety.  I was sure by listening to the full segment myself, I would be able to uncover even more nuggets of on-air joy to slam Bill with.

What I found instead stopped me dead in my tracks.

The segment opened with Bill doing a diatribe about prejudice in America, one that appeared to have been brought on by the question of whether or not blacks would rebel if OJ Simpson were convicted of the charges stemming from the alleged robbery in Las Vegas. Bill gave what arguably be considered a thought-provoking analysis of why some blacks inevitably defend other blacks, no matter what the evidence or circumstances. The theory he offered was not an inaccurate one – he said basically that blacks in this country have been so discriminated against and so put upon, that now there are two kinds of us – those who have managed somehow to make the conscious decision not to let a history of ongoing wrongs by a racist society cloud our judgment, and those who just can’t seem to help themselves, a sentiment with which I just can’t disagree.

It was near the beginning of this commentary that he mentioned the trip to Sylvia’s and his dinner with Al Sharpton; and yes, he did in fact remark on how surprised he was that the restaurant was like so many others he had visited in New York, but it ended there until a bit later in the show, and that is where those who would hang Bill out to dry have gotten it wrong.

You see, sometime after making that remark, he introduced Juan Williams, and they began a spirited conversation about race relations in America that included a short discussion of the impact of gangster rap on our collective culture. Bill actually defended African Americans, saying that he didn’t believe that most blacks love gangster rap (I for one, do not), and he defended us further by remarking that he believes that most black people, like white people, are middle of the road when it comes to the extremes of racism, and the moral carnage of some rap music, with its sexist, demeaning lyrics and glorification of violence. Again, not far off base.

Then it happened – the moment that I believe started all of this. His voice raised in excitement, and playing off of the verbal jabs coming from Juan Williams, Bill made the following remark:

“That’s right, that’s right – [and] there wasn’t one person in Sylvia’s screaming M-f-fer, I want more ice-tea!”

I was stunned. I realized immediately that not only had Bill O’Reilly not made a racist comment,  but that what he had actually tried to do was use his trip to Sylvia’s to illustrate how the media’s distortion of blacks could influence what some whites might have expected to find in an all black restaurant. There was no denying it – O’Reilly had actually made the remark in response to the assertion that white America’s view of African Americans has essentially been reduced to the predominant images of blacks in the media – rap videos, perp walks, and a ridiculous spate of reality shows on the par of ‘Flavor of Love’ and ‘Hot Ghetto Mess’. To re-state – Bill O’Reilly was essentially saying that much of White America has been conditioned to believe that all black people are like what they see in rap videos and on reality shows. He was trying to say that nothing could be further from the truth, as evidenced by the fact that during his time at Sylvia’s, there wasn’t a single person behaving like what we see so often on TV.

I believe in my heart that Bill O’Reilly was trying to engage in a responsible discourse about the state of race relations in America by saying what he did, and that those who naturally want to believe differently, pulled out the salacious parts of his dialog, and strung them together and reported on them in a way that would achieve maximum impact. The conversation was an uncomfortable one to listen to to be sure – it’s always difficult when White America insists on telling us why we are the way we are. But I had to admit to myself that heard in the full context of the discussion, there wasn’t a single racist thing about what Bill O’Reilly said, and armed with that knowledge, I had no choice but to defend the man and set the record straight.

So here I am, typing away, feeling robbed, and pondering why this happened, though I think it’s as simple as this – we’re living in the post-Imus era. There are a select number of television and radio personalities out there that have had targets on their backs (some deservedly so) ever since Don Imus proved in his infinite stupidity that justice can in fact be brought to bear on an irresponsible radio talk show host.  And if you’re a black woman, you were forced to endure the discomfort of the whole Imus episode, and no doubt are a bit more sensitive of the remarks that some of these guys make then you might have been before – guys like Shawn Hannity, Neal Boortz, Rush Limbaugh, and yes, Bill O’Reilly. I don’t think any of us could be blamed for a rush to judgment of Mr. O’Reilly without knowing all the facts.

But at least in the case of this latest flap, I’m convinced that lots of people have it wrong, and since I’m convinced of this, it is my duty as a seeker of the truth to stand up and say as much. In a fair and progressive society, it is as important for the socially responsible to stand up and admit when we’re wrong, as it is for us to demand justice when we are right.  And this time, the people who went after Bill O’Reilly were just plain wrong.

I listen to and watch both Bill O’Reilly and Rush Limbaugh whenever I have the opportunity; people often ask me why. The truth of the matter is, I really do seek the truth in all things, not just in what feels comfortable. I personally need to know why there are so many people out there who seem incapable of understanding that this nation has real problems, that there are people who really can’t just ‘help themselves’, and that even with the amazing gains that Blacks in this country have made, there are still those who are caught in a cycle of poverty and hopelessness that can be directly attributed to the lingering affects of slavery. What I’ve discovered in listening to people like O’Reilly and Limbaugh is that their fervent belief in what they espouse is a direct a result of a number of things – 1) their deeply engrained perspectives on the world, 2) their upbringing, combined with their life experiences and yes, 3) their attitudes towards blacks that have in part been shaped by the images that we’ve allowed the media and the entertainment industry to propagate over the years.

We have to bear some of the blame. Since becoming a mother and responsible adult, I cringe at the sight of shows like ‘Flavor of Love’; I flinch when I see a beautiful young black sister, barely dressed, and draped all over a foul-mouthed rapper; and I even seethe a bit at the thought of some black comedians, who at times can’t seem to deliver a single decent joke without using several dozen profane words, only to descend into the same old sexual blathering we’ve heard a million times over. There’s at least one unavoidable truth in what Mr. O’Reilly had to say that day on his radio show, that I fear many black people simply don’t want to hear – that by allowing ourselves to be caricaturized in the media by music videos, reality shows and the like, we’re helping to add to the belief that we’re not much more than what the media insists on portraying us as. This is not to say that the media has not had a heavy hand in crafting our public image; as someone pointed out in response to my recent article on the disappearance of Nailah Franklin, the media wants to sell airtime – that’s it. As long as the media believes that people prefer to see blacks being handcuffed and led out of inner-city drug houses, or cat-fighting each other over a man who is truly the ugliest human being alive, that’s the kind of fare they’ll crank out, and nothing will change. But black people – if they feed it to us, and we consume it, we can’t complain when others consume it as well. Period.

Bill O’Reilly has not won a new fan. I’ve seen too many of his rants and way too many examples of how he’s gotten it so very wrong, the Ludacris debacle being the most glaring example. He doesn’t understand our culture, and he never will. He chooses to jump all over black rappers when there are white actors and rock stars doing drugs, demeaning women, and getting locked up as well. He clearly has it out for the rap industry, and to me that makes him prejudiced. But his tendency towards snap judgments just means we have to be very careful to choose our battles carefully, and fairly. Rail-roading someone into a bogus controversy without knowing and acknowledging all the facts will do nothing to change things, and I fear, could actually make things worse. I hope by standing up and saying that what’s happening right now to Bill O’Reilly is wrong, it will help us cut through the clutter so that we can focus on those times when going after him is the right thing to do.

But I’m sorry. This ain’t it.