Ok, Were Family right, so can we talk? OK, so Barack Obama was heckled and accused of not focusing on black issues recently. Obama appeared in St. Petersburg, Florida and was interrupted when 3 black men stood up, put up a banner that said, "What about the black community, Obama?" and hollered, What about the black community? Ok folks they did break the decorum, and Barack, rightfully told them they would have time to ask questions after the speech was over, and they did.
They asked why he was not focusing on issues like the sub-prime mortgage crisis, Jena Six, Sean Bell and "the numerous attacks that are made against the African-American community." Obama responded twofold: telling the hecklers that he had, in fact, been focused on these issues and explaining that there would never be 100% continuity between his agenda and that of the voters.
"Listen, I was a civil rights lawyer," Obama said. "I passed the first racial profiling legislation in Illinois.
I passed some of the toughest death penalty reform legislation in Illinois.
That doesn't mean I am always going to satisfy the way you want these issues framed... which gives you the option of voting for somebody else, it gives you the option of running for office yourself, those are all options.
Did Barack Obama have say all that? Did he have to say, "which gives you the option of voting for somebody else."
AAPP: I wonder why Barack went there on the brothers? why did he have to give the riot act on voting to the brothers? Was Jesse Jackson right, but just said it the wrong way? Is Barack having issues with black men, or is it a tight rope he is walking on? Candidly, i don't think he needed to go there on the brothers. More HERE
Your thoughts, was Obama wrong? Were the demonstrators wrong, or were they both off base?
1 comment:
He's right! He's passed legislation aimed at helping Black people before and that should show us where his heart is.
If we're not convinced that he is better than John McCain, then we can stay home, vote for John McCain or vote for Ralph Nader, (whose candidacy gave the election to George W. Bush in 2000).
Obama has proposed increasing AmericaCorps from 750,000 to 2.5 Million, with the express purpose of rebuilding inner-city housing. Does he need to say he's going to create a BLACK AmericaCorps with the purpose of rebuilding BLACK housing, or are we all capable of understanding that 1,750.000 new jobs would inevitably provide some new jobs for Black people, and rehabbing inner-city low-income housing would inevitably provide more decent housing for Black people?
Except for Hillary Clinton, there is a tradition in America of not saying specifically, by color, the people who will be helped by any particular program. Rather, the program states its goals and the economic class of people to be helped, and you have to asked yourself whether you fit within that economic class.
Clinton never openly stated that the increased EIC (Earned Income Tax Credit)was to help Black people, but it did put money back in Black people's pockets.
So, if Black people cannot simply ask themselves, "Am I of the class whose members would benefit from the proposal being made?" rather than googling the word "Black" to see if Obama has been mentioning Black people, then that is our intellectual failing, not Obama's political failing.
When McCain says he's going to help Oil companies, off shore driller, Iraq contractors, reduce the capital gains tax on corporations and wealth individuals, and etc., he doesn't preceed the designation of each of those groups by the word "white." Just look at who's in the groups and you know who he intends to help.
We've got to be more sophisticated. If a candidate proposes to help everyone with five or more bathrooms in his home, he's not talking mostly about helping Black people. most of whom do not have five or more bathrooms. If Obama proposes to install at least one bathroom in every home, he's not directing his pitch toward wealthy white people, who already have more than two bathrooms.
In politics, if you can't read between the lines, you're functionally illiterate.
Post a Comment