(ThyBlackMan.com) Race baiting, headline chasing Princeton Professor Cornel West set off a firestorm of outrage among Obama supporters and defenders of hope and change, when he said Obama wasn’t culturally black. West suggested because Obama is more “a white man with black skin,” his policies have done nothing to help poor blacks.
West isn’t the first person to say this. The Congressional Black Caucus and other black liberals have complained Obama has no black agenda and ignored problems plaguing blacks more acutely than whites such as double digit unemployment 16% compared national average of 9%. In some cities like DC and Brooklyn the rate is 30%-50%. Black unemployment is on the verge of being the highest in 25 years.
Only 44% blacks own homes compared to 70% whites; According to “One in 100: Behind Bars in America 2008,” published by the Pew Center on the States, one in nine black men between the ages of 20-34 are in prison compared to one in 30 other men of the same age.
The education achievement gap between blacks and whites is still huge. A 2010 report, “A Call for Change,” conducted by the Council of the Great City Schools, found this massive disparity could be attributed to the fact “black children are twice as likely as whites to live in a home where no parent has a job.” This illustrates how cradle to grave government dependency (Welfare to Medicaid) has led to the breakdown of the black family.
I agree with many that Obama is President of all Americans not just one group. But Obama received more than 95% of the black vote in 2008 and like a good Democrat, he pandered to blacks for their vote, running on the same old promises of better education, jobs, blah, blah and delivering ZERO. If I was one of those black voters who voted for Obama, expecting him to address some of these promises and he didn’t, I’d be pissed off too.
I’d be especially perturbed as a black Obama voter the president launched an Educational Excellence for Hispanics Advisory Commission. Blacks have had the lowest educational outcomes for decades, where is their commission? Obama figures he can keep dismissing problems facing blacks and still carry the “black vote” but Hispanics are the fastest growing minority so he wants to throw them a bone for their vote in 2012 and throw blacks under the bus.
Where is the outrage from the Congressional Black Caucus and black advocacy groups like the NAACP, who are supposed to hold the president accountable for implementing policies that help their black constituents? It appears these groups are letting Obama off the hook because he is the country’s first Black president but if it was President George W. Bush or any other white president, the outrage would never cease. All we hear is silence from our “so called” black leaders. (Ever notice how whites don’t have “white leaders” but blacks are always lumped into one monolithic group.) At least Professor West had the guts to tell the truth.
But the real blame lies with black Americans who keep supporting Obama and Democrats every election cycle while these politicians take their vote for granted, ignoring their concerns. While Republicans need to improve their efforts in appealing to more minority voters, their policies like school choice, advocating marriage and family values better address problems plaguing lower income blacks than Democrats government dependency policies.
If any black American believes Obama has a “black agenda” or cares about blacks until it’s time for his re-election, wake up! Look beyond the man’s skin color, examine his policies; ask yourself have they made my life better or worse; and vote on that.
Written By Crystal Wright
Official website; http://www.conservativeblackchick.com
For more thought provoking articles visit; HipHopRepublican.com.
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amen!
hobama is gwb 2.0
he is a blackish hoax who has been allowed to ignore and impoverish poor blacks more than any wm prez ever!!!…
preach!!!
http://aliciabanks.xanga.com/751600565/a-third-open-letter-to-that-minstrel-tom-joyner-about-that-dick-hobama/?page=4&jump=1521730443&leftcmt=1#1521730443
http://aliciabanks.xanga.com/747668105/i-used-to-love-h-i-m—common-hypocrisies—-on-amnesiacs-and-sellouts-in-dc/
http://aliciabanks.xanga.com/747103873/the-new-american-global-war-crimes-spree-%E2%80%93–hobama%E2%80%99s-international-thug-swagger/
Those feeling the need of a “black agenda” might do well to apply Herman Cain’s lifelong agenda to their own situation; namely, play it straight, tell the truth, and work your tail off until you succeed, and do not tolerate less from your family or from your associates. In a nut shell, it’s “empowerment” rather than “entitlement”. Actually, this would be a fine example of the “American agenda”, and it has been proven to work extremely well when practiced diligently and in good faith, regardless of the race, color, or cultural background of the practitioner. Should he be elected, he would undoubtedly serve as an excellent example and an inspiration to people from the entire spectrum of America. Assuming, of course, that “empowerment” is still more attractive to our citizenry than “entitlement”. Time will tell…
I have a few points I’d like to make:
“Race baiting, headline chasing Princeton Professor Cornel West set off a firestorm of outrage among Obama supporters and defenders of hope and change, when he said Obama wasn’t culturally black.”
1. I disagree with the idea of condemning elders as “race baiters” and “headline chasers” because they speak out for Black people and directly address our concerns. Black Americans have a really bad habit in recent generations of throwing the elders amongst them under the bus and being quick to condemn them. Have some sense of loyalty and an understanding of Black eldership!! If you don’t know, ask your grandma or great grand. Believe me, they grew up with elders among them and weren’t so quick to turn their backs on them! Shame on you!!
2) Cornel West, as far as I’m concerned, doesn’t speak ENOUGH about problems addressing Black people, usually using terms like “poor people” and tossing everyone into that category. I’ve long resented him for that, but I remain patient and see that he is FINALLY calling a spade a spade.
3) It is OBVIOUS that Obama is not “culturally Black” and he pointed to that himself in his books. What is the issue?? Doesn’t sound nice?? It’s his reality, he was raised by Irish parents and grandparents and did not have Black people in his life to shape his Black identity, unfortunately. I’m sure he couldn’t have cared less about that anyway, he had another agenda – one of the rich elite.
4) What exactly do you MEAN by “hope and change”?? You’ve been lulled into using these idealist, propaganda terms that in the long run mean NOTHING and DO NOT SPEAK TO real policies that will keep the Black population afloat. Plain and simple! I am SO TIRED of Americans talking in code about “hope and change”. Let’s talk about reality! What are you going to do policy wise to address the needs of the constituents that helped to put you in power?? Forget “hope and change”, let’s talk REAL POLICIES!!
I CANNOT believe the level of ignorance and dullness we’ve been reduced to. We have no political savvy anymore, no wonder he doesn’t feel the need to address us. Because he knows he doesn’t have to, and we’ll continue to praise him and won’t hold him accountable or demand excellence of him! He knows this, he knows we no longer have any standards politically, and so he does nothing and look: you STILL praise him and deride those who speak out against his lack of a Black agenda!!
5) I am not voting for him again. I was fooled once, not again. He helped France ILLEGALLY overthrow the president the Sierra Leoneans were pulling for, President Laurent Gbagbo, all to help France maintain their chocolate and coffee exploitation in Sierra Leone. It was an illegal overthrow, and he is COMPLICIT for helping France illegally overthrow this man. The closest American similarity is to the Gore/Bush voter conflict; imagine if Bush got the least votes and clearly exhibited signs of voter fraud, and Venezuela sent their military into the US and told us, “install Bush as your president or we’ll wage war against you”.
THIS IS WHAT FRANCE AND OBAMA/THE US DID TO SIERRA LEONE, SLAUGHTERING HUNDREDS OF THE PEOPLE IN THEIR WAKE.
THEN he ILLEGALLY invades Libya (again with FRANCE), to overthrow President Gadaffi, the ONE AFRICAN PRESIDENT WHO WANTS A UNITED AFRICA, and an independent Africa free of European exploitation. Obama invaded Libya, with the help of FRANCE, armed the people with WEAPONS, and told them to overthrow their president.
AGAIN, the closest similarity to that is, I don’t like Obama, Venezuela wants the US’s resources (we don’t have any, but imagine we do) and knows we don’t want Obama as president anymore, so they begin to bomb the US, killing hundreds/thousands of civilians, and give us all weapons so that we can overthrow Obama and the government. Then Venezuela puts in power a president they’ve chosen who promises to hand over American resources. THIS IS WHAT OBAMA/THE US IS DOING IN LIBYA RIGHT NOW WITH THE HELP OF FRANCE.
You can vote for him if you want to, but know that you will be complicit in the murder and exploitation of thousands of Africans if you do so. It’s time we wake up, as African-Americans/Caribbeans, and stop feigning IGNORANCE, when the truth is being told to you. You know what American/European leaders are doing to Africa.
NOW WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO TO STOP IT???
The thoughtful post by a member of the Black-American clergy raises the question as to “who” appointed individuals like Rev. Sharpton as gatekeepers to the Black community.
The same people who run the country. That’s who. If you listen to Sharpton talk there is an unbroken straight-line between leaders like Martin Luther King, Jr. and others and Rev. Sharpton. Nothing can be further from the truth.
The Ivy League (ruling class) are the ones are running Washington and the nation. Obama surrounding himself with the Ivy League folks is not a break in tradition. That’s the way the game is played.
We are in huge struggle together in a nation in decline.
I appreciate this thoughtful and intelligent analysis of the conversation brewing within our community (and outside of our community) about the President’s “Black Agenda.” I tend to agree with the previous sister’s post that indicates all that the president has inherited. These were issues that developed over time and will take time to address. Where I take particular issue, however, is with the fact that holding the president accountable means that we devleop some kind of litmus test for the president’s “Black agenda.”
As a pastor who does full time, hands-on ministry, in an poverty-ridden, drug-plagued, violence-tolerating community in Baltimore, I am fully aware of all of the issues that plague our people. I did not pledge my support for the president under the delusion that his election would automatically address and turn these issues completely around. I did vote for him being confident that as he developed and proposed policies and promited his budget he would be mindful of these communities and address them…this is not a Black agenda, but an agenda with an eye toward social justice for all Americans.
What dismays me the most about this scut between the West/Smiley and Sharpton camps is that one side is not being reasonable in their efforts to hold the president “accountable”…not to mention the fact that NO ONE appointed them OR Sharpton the gatekeepers of the Black community’s best interests. As I talk to people in my sphere of influence, I find that most people understand that the president has a country to run and that includes issues of around national security, the fragile economy, and obstructionist group of Republican congresspeople in the House (among other things). Most people I talk to are not as concerned about a Black agenda and did not support the president based upon his skin color or party affiliation. They voted for him because he represented concerns and values commensurate with their own.
This whole debate about a Black agenda, in my humble opinion, stems from the fact that the president IS a Black man. Dr. West’s recent comments about the president’s cultural awareness, or lack thereof and Smiley’s overall disdain for the president based on the fact that he was supposed snubbed in the president’s ascent to the presidency have proven to be thinly veiled personal attacks.
I don’t agree with all that the president has done during his tenure as president. Just off the top of my head, I was dismayed when he went along with marginalizing Rev. Wright. I am worried about the fact that unemployment in our communities is double the national average. I am also not happy with the fact that he has chosen to surround himself with a group of Ivy League alum who don’t necessarily give him the best of advice (and this is coming from someone who also attended a top-tier instutution). On the other hand, as I take a look at the broader picture, the fact that he has successfully passed a health care bill that directly benefits many of my congregants; the fact that he has paid particular attention to funding for HBCUs; the fact that he has proven himself a capable Commander in Chief; the fact that he continues to be an effective leader in the face of an openly hostile House of Representatives…all while providing a positive image to which our young people can aspire continue to give me reason to maintain my support for him.
I thank Ms. Wright for her great piece presenting an opposing view void of the personal attacks and unrealistic expectations, however, my own support (and that of many with whom I come into contact) continues to be on the side of POTUS.
Wright’s article underscores the historical and structural disregard for Black voters and Black folks-as-an-ethnic-group in America by the Democrats and, frankly, the political system writ large.
Blacks have been on “auto-vote,” as one writer pointed out recently, as it relates to the Democrats for decades. Obama did not invent this paradigm. He merely stepped into it. It was further complicated by race relations and how power dynamics have been thoroughly influenced by White affirmative action and power.
At another level, Obama to a good number of Blacks represented the culmination of MLK’s dream—which in and of itself is absolutely naïve.
The unemployment rate among Black folks was already epic before Obama was even a known political entity. So, the idea that Obama was going to right all of the wrongs committed against Black folks was absurd from the start.
Most of the people in the West Wing making major decisions about the direction of this nation are White folks and, more specifically, White men. So, what has really changed?
This was borne in article that appeared more than a year ago in the venerable New York Times.
All U.S. presidents are “mascots” for the powerful (Wall Street, corporations, powerful lobbyists, and AIPAC). Obama is not unique in this regard. When Lyndon Johnson was president, he had to contend with Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Civil Rights Movement. Where are the powerful movements today? There are none. People are addicted to gadgets and not paying attention.
Politicians cater to groups that matter and make their voices heard.
But, Black folks have shown they are not prepared to punish politicans and, as a result, are taken for granted.
The mistake that Black folks made is to deal with Obama as an reincarnation of MLK or, even, the nobility of the Civil Rights Movement. Politics is dirty (even in the church) and seldom is a pretty color-by-the-numbers undertaking.
The Ivy League, for example, is the finishing school, as it were, for folks who control the reins of power in the U.S. and around the world. Professor West is fully aware of this. No U.S. president has graduated from a community college.
To be sure, Professor West should have been advised to temper his public criticism of Obama and stick to pertinent issues of public policy within the context of the prevailing political apparatus and power dynamics.
The vilification of West, though, even at the hands of Black pundits at online publications and in the mainstream press is quite interesting. Most of these people are quiet as church mice when it comes to penning columns about the cool lack of regard that prevailing political order—Democrat and Republican—have when it comes to addressing Black issues (also known as an Agenda). Why? Their editors would not allow these kind of columns to see the light of day.
Also, careerism, social and political relationships, and the myth that writers can simply say what they want in the surname of “freedom” undergirds and masks power relationships invisible to the average reader.
We are told, furthermore, by Black leaders such as Rev. Al Sharpton that the question of Black unemployment (nearly double the national average) has to be addressed as an “American” issue. Well, obviously some folks are more American than Black folks. And that’s the issue Blacks have had to contend with pre-Obama and right up to this very day.
Black leaders like Rev. Sharpton go with the flow (i.e., with the folks who have the money) and are “manufactured” by the larger political apparatus. The question is this: to serve whose bidding?
When Obama was running for president, for example, he kicked his longtime pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, to the curb because Wright had made comments that were construed to be “anti-American.” By whom? And yet Obama embraces Rev. Al Sharpton—who has no church, and no organized Black constituency.
Most sane Blacks, aside from feeling good, realize that race relations have not improved in this country and, of course, the best jobs still go to White folks (unless you are a brother in the NBA). And let’s not even discuss the struggles of Black women.
Obama’s election, while monumental, represents to good number of Americans a form of social reparations and, in this sense, it renders any critique of Obama (especially by Black folks) as indefensible. This is the case whether it is “homie” or Cornel West.
Good article…However, I am going to agree to disagree with you. I think that you have some points in regard to the employment rates and other ish…that is going on with the masses in the country [not just Blacks]…and I am Black as well…I believe that people in general have the President on a pedestal that they clearly should have known was impossible regarding the situation that was handed to him [[correct me>>>situations]]. Have Blacks ever been on anyone’s agenda since our ancestors migrated [forced in to slavery] to this country, system, trap. And, when you look at what was passed on to the President alongside everything…you are asking me if I am upset, because unemployment is high in the Black community. It has not changed, it has always been the same. No, I will not act crazy, go on television and demean the President, or judge him. President Obama is smarter than what you think, and trust me he knows where is, what he is doing, and who is in the playing field. ~Team Obama 2012
–It is a reason why your candidate lost in the race. They were not ready to LEAD.
–Think about it.