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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
If you’ve read any of the past “Commas for Obama” posts, you know that the goal here is to seek out opportunities for dialog for the political edification and reading pleasure of BWFO readers.
And so today, in a new installment of “Commas for Obama: We Pause for Thought”, we present a response to a previous blog entry entitled “Democracy to Aristocracy: Not in My America”. Written by your truly, of course.
If you’re a regular reader, you recall that this article points out the back to back “Bush-Clinton-Bush” presidencies, and discusses the possibility of (cringe) another Clinton in the White House in the context of a new-age aristocracy.
Well – the response to the post was incredible! I received death threats, anonymous, ominous calls to my home in the middle of the night, my tires were slashed, my house was painted with grafitti – okay not really. I did receive several really heated responses to my asssertion that Americans have collectively rolled over and allowed two families to occupy the highest office in the land for nearly a quarter of a century, though. My favorite is the subject of this edition of CFO, and comes from a woman who identifies herself only as GeorgiaCEOToday.
My responses to this reader’s remarks are shown below in bold. To read the original post click here.
————– Original message from GeorgiaCEOToday: ————–
Dear Black Women for Obama:
Patricia, I disagree with you!
There were 65 pages of legal notices from foreclosures last weekend in the AJC. Today, we are on the verge of a recession as jobs are outsourced to India, Russia, China or other places that don’t respect the same human rights, employment, or product quality standards as we do. The dollar is weak. Greenspan suggests that capital be moved out of industrial jobs (GM) and into cutting edge technology which is a hard hit for America’s autoworkers. Instead of feeling sorry for children in Cambodia, you may one day watch as Korea takes pity on our ability to feed American children.
With that, I begin my vehement and angry criticism of your blog Not in My America.
While the Hillary supporters, and certainly the Bush supporters sure can be vicious at times, your candidate, Barack Obama seemed a breath of fresh air in Washington’s politics as usual.
Why then should Barack Obama supporters like you, stoop to the level of demonstrating the same meanness and triviality that Karl Rove is famous for? If that is what you are doing, I can’t be a part of it.
[PAS] Your illustration of the issues that plague our nation is eloquent and thorough, and completely on the mark. Meanness and triviality, though? Comparing me to Karl Rove? That says to me that you completely missed the point of my blog entry.
Was it Rove who came up with the idea that Dukakis was single handedly responsible for releasing hundreds of Black rapists and murderers into the streets of Massachusett’s? Of course it was terrible, but also genius in its ability to play to the fears of millions of white voters by equating Dukakis with Black prisoners.
So now, Patricia, is it you who will play to the fears of black women by equating Hillary with Marie Antoinette, when you state that she is playing “dress up” with the leader of the Republican Party….the same party that attempted to impeach her husband?
[PAS] Rapists and murderers? That’s a pretty dramatic thing to pull out of your hat. The reference to Hillary and George playing dressup is directly related to the point of the article, and nothing more. To assert that I meant it in any other way is quite frankly ludicrous, and to compare me (again) to Karl Rove as if I am some stealth political operative says to me that you’re perspective on things has been clouded by too many years spent in the political fray. It is not my intent in anything that I write to do anything but state my opinion, and in my opinion, the current state that we find ourselves in as a nation is in part due to the way this country has been led over the last several decades, and that includes the Clinton years. I have in no way implied that Hillary is “cozying” up to the Republican Party – you drew that conclusion on your own.
And even if Hillary Clinton and President Bush are playing dress up or footsie together behind closed doors…is that a strong and sensible reason to vote for Obama? What in the world does that have to do with health care, or the WAR for Goodness Sakes??? People are dying!
Even worse, you ask whether our nation is in jeopardy of being hijacked by a political aristocracy!!!!!! Rule by the aristocracy didn’t begin with George H. W. Bush.
Forget that Washington and Jefferson were Vice-President and President 20 years, have you NOT noticed in your entire life, or any history books that there have almost always been wealthy or educated families leading our nation (Roosevelts, Adams, Kennedy’s)? Have you not noticed that if they were not wealthy as children, they almost always were legally or militarily trained before becoming President, to better interpret and enforce our nation’s laws(Lincoln, Clinton, Eisenhower, Jackson)?
Read the Federalist Papers! Rule by a talented and able few has always been the plan. There was much debate from the founders of the nation as to how to create a nation that was not a kingdom.
Anyway, the word “Aristocracy” comes from Aristotle (see Poetics, Politics). In other words, the aristocracy wasn’t invented by George W. Bush but it is a very old idea that those who are best educated and most wise govern the common populace.
[PAS] The problem is not that we are being ruled by wealthy and educated families, the problem is that we have been ruled for almost the last thirty years by the same TWO wealthy and educated families! Do your homework! The foothold these two families has had on the office of the Presidency is UNHEARD OF in HISTORY! The only thing that even comes close is the father-son presidencies of John Adams and John Quincy Adams (24 years apart), and the presidencies of Theodore Roosevelt and Franklin D. Roosevelt (fifth cousins) which were also separated by 25 years!
Also – let’s face it – in terms of their political agendas, there is not a whole lot of difference between any of the Democractic field – so in the end, it comes down to who has the best vision for the country, and who has the best record of displaying good judgment in the face of things like 9/11 and the Iraq War. Hillary loses on both points – Senator Obama wins. It also comes down to who can best work to make the changes that you yourself have pointed out are so desperately needed – again, Senator Obama has a proven record of being able to reach across the aisle to work with legislators and get things done. Hillary’s most infamous attempt at a national initiative (Healthcare Reform) failed in defeat because of she and Bill Clinton’s inability to compromise. This is a matter of record. Look it up.
Also – at no time WHATSOEVER did I say that the aristocracy was created by George W. Bush. Your comments are beginning to border on hysterics – we would have a much more meaningful dialogue about this if you could resist the urge to mis-interpret my statements and put words in my mouth!
Still, despite your wonderful imagination,any friendship between Hillary & Bush has nothing to do with Barack Obama and really is insulting to all the hard work he has put forth to present Democratic ideas that might help our country through this challenging time. This aristocracy…this democracy, this Republic, you besmirch …………not a dictatorship, not the communist party, not an oligarchy…. allows a talented few, even if poor …. rise up through hard work, education and talent to leadership.
King Louis XIV and Marie Antoinette who you patterned George Bush and Hillary after were not examples of aristocracy……………………………… but rather a MONARCHY.
While the dictionary provides various connotations of the word Aristocracy, please look at one of the definitions you provided.
| 4. | a governing body composed of those considered to be the best or most able people in the state. |
Despite that he is not from the Bush or Clinton family, Mr. Obama, an attorney of humble beginnings, certainly seems to have grown up to become one of the best and most able. So is Mr. Edwards, who wasn’t rich, but did gain legal training to govern our society with just laws. So is Bill Richardson, another legally trained Democrat who hardly grew up wealthy.
Listen to their ideas!!!!!
Listen to their ideas!!!!!
[PAS] Again – more hysterics. Spreading the word about Senator Obama’s ideas are what Black Woman For Obama is and has always been about from the beginning. Your rash judgment of this one blog entry shows beyond a shadow of a doubt that you’ve not read anything else I’ve written, which is not a crime, but should be taken into consideration if you’re going to cast aspersions on my writing and opinions. And the imagination thing? That’s the picture I chose for the article driving you crazy I guess, because I never ONCE mentioned that Hillary and George Bush were friends, or playing “footsie” as you put it. The picture is merely a caricaturization meant to illustrate the point of the article, which is the danger of our political process being taken over by a new age aristocracy. Again, If you’d seen or read any of my past blogs, you’d likely be a little less distressed over this one.
See why it is that they have risen to leadership from their humble beginnings. Learn what your candidate wants to do. Autoworkers are striking. Soldiers are dying. Cancer victims have no health care. Children are starving in this country. Veterans have to wait to get medical treatment. Katrina victims are still displaced.
Please do not insult all of these issues or me with trivialities!
Tell us something and inspire us why Barack Obama will fix the issues at hand. This election is too important for a Democrat to talk nonsense. Yes, the last one was important but this may be the last opportunity to steer the train away from the cliff.
[PAS] Again – it has practically become my life’s work of late to tell people what Senator Obama can and will do to fix the many issues at hand. I’ve walked the streets of South Carolina in the blinding heat, going from house to house speaking directly with Hillary supporters, Obama supporters, and people who don’t know WHO they support to understand their very personal concerns and to talk to them about how Senator Obama will address them. Have you canvassed for Hillary? Made any calls? Even licked a stamp? I HAVE to know everything about Senator Obama’s message, because I’m committed like you wouldn’t BELIEVE to seeing him get elected. If you’re insulted by this blog entry, I encourage you to read some of the others – like “Ipods & Sneakers: The Miseducation of Oprah Winfrey”. Or, “Jesse Jackson’s Jaw Jappin’”, or “In Defense of Bill O’Reilly”. I will always, ALWAYS tell it like I see it, even if my opinion isn’t popular – if you don’t agree, that is your perogative. If you’re insulted, that’s your problem.
There is nothing trivial about my take on the issues, and certainly nothing trivial about the idea that we’ve become a society of voters that are too lazy to drill down into the issues to understand them, or the candidates. You’re fooling yourself if you don’t believe that there are lots and lots of people out there who will cast a vote for Hillary Clinton simply because of her association with her husband – it is THOSE people that BWFO seek out and want to educate. Quite frankly, you are not our target demographic – you’re not an Obama supporter, and that’s your right, but I’ve made it my business to find those people who don’t know that there is a better alternative out there and educate them. I encourage you to use whatever forum you have at your disposal to do the same, because after all, this is America, and you can do that. In the meantime, please keep reading my blog entries and voicing your opinion. Without this kind of dialog, it’s very difficult to get to the truth of a matter, and if YOU jumped to ridiculously erroneous conclusions after reading “Democracy to Aristocracy”, others may have as well.
Thanks for helping me set the record straight, and I’m sure I can look forward to your response 
Sincerely,
Patricia Wilson-Smith
By Patricia Wilson-Smith
If by now, you still need a reason for why I started BWFO, you need look no further than the man who was once considered one of the most important black leaders in this country – Reverend Jesse Jackson.
Earlier this week, Reverend Jackson, a self-proclaimed Obama supporter, let slip during a 45-minute one on one interview with a reporter from South Carolina’s “The State” newspaper, that in not responding more strongly to the now well known “Jena 6″ case in Lousiana, Senator Obama was “acting like he’s white”.
I shuddered when I heard this too. I’ll take a moment and let your shudder die down – it’ll be tough though, because it comes in waves doesn’t it?
Yes it does. So as a proud member of Black Women for Obama, and a sworn defender of the Senator, I have to respond. The problem is, when I think about Jesse Jackson’s latest shenanigans, the only thing that comes to my mind is – why? Why is it so easy for a man like Jesse Jackson to let such toxic words fall from his mouth about a man who is our first real hope for a President who, well, isn’t white, and who has done more than what’s necessarily required of him to denounce the horrible situation in Jena, Lousiana?
I’m tempted to end my musings here with a “beats the heck outta me”, and a “thank you and goodnite”, but I can’t, because I’m genuinely puzzled. I’m confused, and yet strangely fascinated by what could have possibly motivated Jesse Jackson to say such a thing. So I am here tonight to offer up some possible theories. I welcome yours (clear throat).
Theory # 1: Jesse Jackson is the king of the political “player haters”; perhaps he simply can’t stand to see another African American man get so close to something that was so unattainable for him. Sounds plausible, but then the man did endorse Senator Obama back in March of this year, so though it’s theory number one, it’s not the strongest.
Theory # 2: He’s a secret agent and under-cover attack dog for the Clintons. This theory has legs, my friends. Jesse Jackson has been a close personal friend of the Clinton’s for years. What if – just work with me for a moment – the Clinton campaign secretly hired Reverend Jackson to pretend to be an endorser of Senator Obama’s, in order to get information about the inner workings of his campaign? And worse yet, what if he was really engaged by the Clintons to spout off at the mouth about the slightest gaffe the Senator might make, in order to bolster support for the Clintons with blacks? I mean THINK ABOUT IT – there are still dyed-in-the-wool Jackson supporters out there who think the man’s mouth is a prayer book. I’m just sayin’.
Theory # 3: The real Jesse Jackson was abducted years ago by alien life forms, who cruelly left us stuck with a talking and remarkably human-like Jesse Jackson doll with a bad micro-chip. Hmmmm.
Theory # 4: (And the more likely theory) Foot-in-Mouth-Syndrome. The glare of the national spotlight, and a tendency to deal with all issues in a trigger-happy, speak-then-think way has once again cast a gloomy cloud over Jesse Jackson’s presumably well-intentioned rainbow.
I mean, are we really surprised? Has Jesse Jackson exactly shown himself to be careful in speech, thought, or action in the past? [Insert resounding 'hell no' here]. This is the same man who made the ‘Hymietown’ remark during a time when he himself was actively campaigning for President. The same man who carried on an extramarital affair while at the same time serving as ’spiritual counselor’ to President Clinton during the Monica Lewinski debacle. The same man who once said he was ’sick and tired of hearing about the Holocaust’. Geesh - Jesse Jackson is a member of the foot-in-mouth Hall of Fame.
Don’t get me wrong, peeps. Jesse Jackson has also done plenty of good work, and has been a tireless stalwart for the black community since the days of the Civil Rights Movement, though it’s been hard to miss the fact that some of his actions over the last several years have seemed more like opportunities to increase his personal visibility and net worth than genuine attempts at working to change the black condition in this country.
That’s what’s so dangerous about his careless remarks – when a man who in almost all other ways, claims to have the best interests of the down-trodden minorities in this country at heart, goes and spouts off at the mouth about anything anytime he wants, it lends credence to the idea that many have that he’s really only ever trying to draw more attention to himself. And in taking his little jab at the Senator, he unknowingly crossed the line from plain old diarrhea of the mouth, to committing what in my mind will go down in history as one of the classic goofs of all time.
See, what-had-happened-was, after Jesse made his little remark, the Obama Campaign disclosed that the Reverend’s very own son, Jesse Jackson Jr., had actually advised the Senator (in part) on what his official response to the Jena 6 case and the trial should be (no – you understood correctly, but go back and read it again if you need to). Yes! It’s true! Our friend Reverend Jackson:
- Inserted himself into the limelight surrounding the Jena 6 case, once again squeezing out a spot in the national spotlight for himself while…
- The Obama Campaign looked to the Jr. Jesse Jackson to help Senator Obama craft an official stance on the Jena 6 case, just in time for…
- Big Daddy Jackson to carelessly tell a reporter that in delivering the very same response that his son helped come up with, Senator Obama was ‘acting too white’.
Too funny. So in essence, Jesse Jackson Sr. thinks Jesse Jackson Jr. acts too white, and what we really have here is a private family matter between a father disillusioned by his son’s sense of his own racial identity, and a son who clearly doesn’t call his Dad on the weekends to tell him how he spends his work week.
My suggestion to Mr. Jackson is that he lay down his weapon (his big mouth), take a deep breath, and figure out how he can keep from destroying any legacy he might have left from his involvement in the Civil Rights Movement. He would do well to start by not attacking the one man who in all his actions and deeds has proven that he has the best interest of all people at heart, especially African Americans and those who are disenfranchised, or have been forgotten by modern day politicians and their heartless brand of politics. He would do well to end by somehow choking back the urge now and forever more to belittle anyone’s actions by saying they’re acting ‘too white’. What the hell does that mean, anyway?
Finally, my fervent wish for Jesse Jackson is that he find a clue at the end of one of his rainbows and drag his politically, socially dated butt into the new millenium and find a way to help deal with this nation’s problems in the context of the new realities in which we find ourselves – one where people no longer refer to others as ‘too black’ or ‘too white’, and one where a black man can really become President of these United States, and is not relegated to just running on a national platform aimed at bolstering his street cred and eliciting the blind faith of black men, women and children in communities nationwide who deserve better. I’m just sayin’.
Pass The Baton
January 1, 2008 in Barack Obama, Commentary, Did You Know?, Issues, Jesse Jackson, Michelle Obama, Politics, Polls, The Campaign Trail | by bfwo | 1 comment
In every relay race that I have watched in my life there remains one fact that is irrefutable. That fact, simply put, is this: The man that starts the race is not the man that crosses the finish line. Truly, it is a very profound statement. The man that starts the race is not the man that crosses the finish line.
The successess and failures of black people in this country have never been a one man show. When we run together, we succeeded; when we do not; we fail. Its really that basic.
I have never been forced to ride on the back of a bus, I’ve never been forced to drink from a water fountain labeled “coloreds” nor have I been forced to attend a school system that was separate but not equal. I am very thankful for that. The runners of that leg of the race, Mary McLeod Bethune, Linda Brown, Ruby Bridges, Martin L King, Jr, and Medgar Evers, to name a few, ran long, ran hard and ran well.
We are now at the threshold of a new leg of the relay that we know as the Civil Rights Movement; a leg that I call the “renaissance of pride and unity”. And the leaders that have gotten us to this point, Jesse Jackson, Andrew Young, Al Sharpton and the others I have not mentioned, have also run long, hard and well. But there comes a point in every leg of a relay race that the baton must be passed to the next runner.
There is no reason why Barack Obama should not have the support of every living black man and woman in this country….. Isn’t an opportunity such as the one before Barack Obama exactly what the Civil Rights Movement was about? Or was blood shed and life loss by people of all colors in vain?
To Jesse, Andrew and Al, I say. Thank you for a job well done. Thank you for your struggle so that I should struggle less. Much gratitude is due you; but the man that starts the race is not the man that crosses the finish line and this race isn’t over…. Pass the baton.