Now if an individual decides that his pic belongs on the wall beside Dr. King’s, then that individual makes sense to me. Anyone who feels like this is blaspheming, is severly disrespecting the real grass-roots Black people who risked life, and limb during the movement, and got none of the publicity that King got for it. A photo of King represents the movement, not a man who took his pants down and cheated on his wife, like every other man. Okay? It’s about the cause.

That is what Barack Obama is an icon for. His name, his skin color, his face represents the dues paid by a lot of people over a period of nearly 150 years after the Emancipation Proclamation. The man is the leader of the free world, not some loud-mouthed preacher trying to get on. And therein lies the problem isn’t it? Barack handled his business, without waiting on ANY of those fake archetype 60’s civil rights leader throwbacks to give him their seal of approval, and he still aint.

They got mad about the Jeremiah Wright thing. Have you gone to YouTube and seen that animated clown preach? Are you freakin’ serious? Jesse wanted to cut his balls off. Sharpton cried for chair-time with him. But why would he? For what reason? What reason would any thinking person have for sitting down with Al Sharpton? A preacher-with-a-perm? Are you freakin’ serious?!?!?!? Barack did not go “through them” to get to the Oval Office, which proves my point…..they….are….useless.

The brother is up there trying to run an entire nation, and we have Black people having a fit, ’cause he aint slang no government cheese at us yet. No Barack is not a true civil rights leader, he’s the President of the United States. He actually means something.

Hit me.

Think about this… We (Black folks) assumed that as a Black man he would do more for us. But in hindsight, I do not recall him making a pledge, a campaign promise or a statement saying he would be a civil rights leader. I do see him working tirelessly and doing his best to keep the campaign promises he did in fact make. My question is, where are the civil rights leaders of today?

I would have drawn a more defined comparison between what ‘non-political, non-elected officials’ can do in terms of civil rights vs what our elected officials can do. And what exactly was offered as proof or evidence of why Obama shouldn’t be considered a civil rights leader? Merely pointing out that he typically reminds us that he is the President of all Americans, not only Black Americans? I think you would need to cite more specific examples. Maybe some policy decisions or vetoes made or that should have been made. In the end, the whole term “civil rights leader” should be obsolete. It has outlived its effectiveness in describing specific activities and is used with a much broader stroke now—even as Dr. Watkins pointed out. I believe we should ask the question about whether or not a person is an effective activist or agent of change for black Americans and black causes (which still will include its impact on the rest of the country).

Further, to make the leap that the woman who wanted to put Obama’s pic along side MLK & Jesus was evidence of this mass hysteria that black folks see him as the new messiah, is much too careless. This is the same argument that the white media uses to discredit Obama merely on race. My take on the woman was simply her pride in what she perceived as a honorable recognition of our 1st black president. No more, no less. Now it’s true that some folks went overboard during and after the elections but that was just the overwhelming excitement of history being made.

In the end, give the black populace credit that we know Obama can only do what these white folks in power will let him do. Meanwhile, we are just happy that he is such a thorn in their side.