Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson Says God Looked Out for Black Folk Through Slavery!

Your Black World: Barack Obama: The Test Of Black CommUNITY

Barack Obama: The Test of Black CommUNITY
By: Tolu Olorunda
Staff Writer - YourBlackWorld.com

“But we must understand that we are now at a stage of struggle for a People’s Democracy… The mass support of Obama by the national Afro-American movement, especially its progressive sector, will reinvigorate our struggle… We must enter into that mainstream struggle & make our own demands, utilize the pressure of our needs & our numbers. We are almost 50 million people with the 16th GNP in the world... almost 600 Billion dollars a year. We have the muscle and the money. We need to make our move.”

- Renowned Poet and Activist, Amiri Baraka, in a speech earlier this year.

The Black CommUNITY has laid its bed and must now lie in it. To be sure, this author is not particularly pleased with the 95% level of unconditional support from the Black CommUNITY, vis-à-vis Obama’s presidential bid. Nevertheless, Obama’s unpredictable popularity within the Black CommUNITY is a testament to an often glossed over, deep-seated desire/potential for divine unity of the Black CommUNITY. Obama’s candidacy, thankfully, buttressed this reality in unequivocal terms. Many have privately joked, over the past week, about the seeming impossibility of the Black CommUNITY agreeing on any specific agenda, let alone a political one. Some have quipped that the last time such unprecedented levels of support was rendered in favor of anything, O.J. Simpson was on trial for double murder. The comedic value of such statement notwithstanding, its veracity is unquestionable. Having rallied around this man, with unwavering support, let there be no more excuses for our disunity, or inability to remain unified around the ultimate cause: Total liberation.

On at least three key issues, the world will need the assistance of the Black CommUNITY to emerge victorious: AFRICOM, GLOBAL POVERTY and RACIAL INEQUALITY.

On Africom, a militarization and heist of Africa’s natural resources, Obama’s thin record is troubling, at best. Sen. Obama has suggested that, “There will be situations that require the United States to work with its partners in Africa to fight terrorism with lethal force. Having a unified command operating in Africa will facilitate this action.” These “partners” in Africa knew better than to accept the offer to host Africom in their country. If the Black CommUNITY is to avoid being perceived as enablers of the rape and ravish of their brother/sister’s land, it must act now to prevent the germination of this unholy scheme. Inaction is not an option.

On Global Poverty, Sen. Obama has been extremely vague when addressing the plight of the impoverished. Ever since Sen. John Edwards dropped out of the presidential race, the issue of poverty dissipated into a nameless agenda. Edwards’ campaign of highlighting the ranging disparities between the Two Americas, as he called it, swiftly found itself under the rug. With John Edwards’ disappearance, following news of his extramarital deeds. Sen. Obama, having arduously solicited Edwards’s endorsement in the primaries, saw no more use for the man who launched his campaign in Hurricane-stricken New Orleans. Worse than the truncated highlights of poverty in the presidential race, was the narrow-minded belief that poverty in the U.S. best represents the world’s trauma. But long before folks in the U.S. were losing their jobs, humanity was at a loss for words, with people in Haiti, Cuba, Somalia, Ethiopia etc. living on less than a dollar a day. The Black CommUNITY must see to it that the struggle to put an end to global destitution is addressed within the next 48 months.

Racial Inequality has been, regrettably, sidelined in the course of the 2008 presidential bid. One esteemed newspaper would, upon Obama’s victory, declare racism a “myth.” The Black CommUNITY is, however, not amused. For a people who have suffered the brutal tyranny of oppression for centuries, such uninformed inferences are only a sobering reminder of the daunting task ahead. In the course of Obama’s presidency, there will be those who would seek to use a Black presidency as the avenue to make claims that Blacks have overcome every impediment put in way of their progress. The appropriate response should be to confront such challenges to our humanity head-on, but to also keep in remembrance our duty to achieve racial equality for every faction of society whose livelihood is daily suppressed by the egomaniacal appetite of big money corporations. We must side with our Latin-American brothers/sisters, and encourage them to fight, even harder, for the God-given right to a livable wage. We must, as well, consider the dignity of our Arab brethren as sacrosanct. Any and all attempts to dismiss their integrity should be forcefully admonished. The beauty of the Black CommUNITY lies in its inherent ability to fight on behalf of those who once oppressed it.

If President-Elect Obama’s recent appointments are any signal, it is clear that our unity is the only strategy capable of guaranteeing stability in the next 4 years. If we end up, 4 years from now, in worse shape than we are now, the blame must be squarely placed on our shoulders. Mass organizing, unrivaled in human history, seems to be the only solution for the dilapidated levels of humanity in which our people are presently entrenched. It would be a shame, a damn shame, if our judgment is clouded by the emotional pull of a Black presidency. Change certainly doesn’t come by wishing or hoping – the civil rights movement taught us that. It is written in one of the holy books, that “Faith without works is dead.” The neo-liberal fan base has displayed, following Obama’s victory, a sheer unwillingness to question, let alone to criticize, let alone to condemn any policies of an Obama administration, deemed deleterious to the internationally disenfranchised society. BlackCommentator.com Editorial Board member and Columnist, Dr. Lenore Daniels, expressed concern about this in her Election Special column, stating: “The day after, the Black Philadelphians on Chilton Avenue are still smiling. Still shouting Obama, Obama! It’s still incredible. An African American in the White House! In the meantime, President-elect Obama offers Congressman Rohm Emmanuel (D-Ill) the position of White House Chief of Staff. Pro-Israel, pro-war, Emmanuel! And the Left, waving a victory flag, says it will offer criticism - starting in January!” There’s no doubt that our work is challenging and confronting. However, if the Black CommUNITY was capable of transporting a relatively unknown Senator to the highest seat of the land, let there be no excuses for our negligence to do likewise in matters concerning, Social Justice, Economic Independence and Racial Equality. In the words of a departed civil rights hero, “Can we do it? We can do it, we shall do it!”

Reprinted From Black Commentator

Your Black World: The Obama '08 Phenomenon

The Obama '08 Phenomenon: What Have We Learned?
By: BAR executive editor Glen Ford

"This generation will have to learn from damn near scratch what a real social movement looks like."

Without question, the nation has experienced an election of historical significance, for reasons that go beyond the obvious "first Black" aspect of race. This has also been the most-hyped presidential campaign in U.S. history, if for no other reason than the simple fact that every presidential campaign is more hyped than the last, since hype is what corporate media sells. But what has the experience taught us?

We have learned that a large and decisive national minority of whites can be persuaded to vote for a certain kind of Black man for president if that Black man possesses the following characteristics:

A family history that includes no African American lineage, and is thereby untainted by the negative cultural baggage associated with North American slave descendants. (This is similar to the special white dispensation afforded in past generations to Afro-Caribbean baseball players.)

An eagerness to embrace racist political icons such as Ronald Reagan, while vociferously denying that white racism is and has been "endemic" to America. This man must also be willing to without hesitation denounce, repudiate and otherwise vilify other Black individuals - even those who have been personally dear to him - at the first sign of white displeasure with that person.

A compulsion to telegraph whites that he shares their disdain for Blacks as a group. This specially endowed individual must be prepared to castigate Blacks in every arena of life, from incompetent child-rearing (the cruelty of fried chicken breakfasts) to failures of Black manhood (acting like "boys" rather than responsible adults), the shame of Black female promiscuity (stopping black girls from having babies out of wedlock is "the single biggest thing that we could do to reduce inner-city poverty") and Blacks' collective lack of good hygiene ("You know what would be a good economic development plan for our community would be if we make sure folks weren't throwing their garbage out of their cars"). But the Black man who would woo white presidential votes must have the smarts and discipline to never, never, never subject whites to such egregious, blanket group criticisms.

"This specially endowed individual must be prepared to castigate Blacks in every arena of life."

He must possess an imagination fertile enough to declare that Blacks have already come "90 percent of the way" towards racial equality - a statement without statistical validity based on any social or economic indexes, but one which assures whites that their long suffering at the hands of bothersome Black complainers is nearly over. This Black president-to-be must implicitly promise that his own election will provide the missing ten percent, and bring the race issue definitively to a close.

We have learned that whites took the candidate's words to heart, en masse. A CBS/New York Times poll taken one week before the election showed that 68 percent of whites believe that Blacks and whites "have about an equal chance of getting ahead" in American society. This fantastic conclusion was clearly inspired by Barack Obama's singular success, since less than half of whites gave that answer in July. Even more astonishingly, 43 percent of Blacks said the same thing -a response unlike any ever recorded in the history of professional polling, and totally divorced from Black realities. We have learned that Obama-L'aid kills healthy Black brain cells.

We have learned that Black politicians and activist-poseurs have an infinite capacity to celebrate not having engaged in struggle with Power, and that the Black masses can be made drunk by the prospect of vicariously (through Obama) coming to power. Having failed to make even the mildest of demands on Obama in return for unquestioning support, Black misleadership vowed they would press for firm commitments on issues of importance to African Americans once Obama had passed the final hurdle. (White progressives who were similarly self-neutered during the campaign also promise to begin acting like real people's advocates, any day now...just you wait and see.) We have already learned that "Progressives for Obama" of all ethnicities, who failed to put pressure on the candidate early on, when it might have made a difference, are full of crap.

"Sixty-eight percent of whites believe that Blacks and whites "have about an equal chance of getting ahead" in American society."

We have learned that even in failure and collapse, the Lords of Capital are smart enough to know they desperately need a new face, and are willing to bankroll the Black man who can provide it. During this election cycle we learned that capital can switch its party allegiances in an instant, first vetting and then jump-starting the Black candidate who would become the biggest campaign spender in U.S. election history, by far. In 2008, the Democrats became the party of Big Capital, whose choice was Barack Obama. We have learned that capital is never blind to color, when it can be used to capital's advantage.

We have learned that this generation will have to learn from damn near scratch what a real social movement looks like - which will be doubly hard, since they have been misled to believe that this year's frenzied electioneering was actually a "movement." Now it is over, and one Black man is moving - into the White House, having never promised his Black supporters a single thing of significance. But of course, hardly anyone Black made any demands of Obama.

Some folks never learn that Power concedes nothing without a demand.

BAR executive editor Glen Ford can be contacted at Glen.Ford@BlackAgendaReport.comThis e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Originally Appeared In Black Agenda Report

Your Black World: Many Blacks Remain Sceptical Of Obama On Race

WASHINGTON (AFP) — Despite Barack Obama's message of change and hope, fears persist in the black community about what his election as president could mean for the legacy of racism in America.

Namely, that it might mean nothing at all.

"America is still one of the most segregated countries by race and by class in the industrialized world," said Dedrick Muhammad, research associate at the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington, a think tank for social justice.

Muhammad pointed to research showing that black Americans remain far behind the rest of the country economically, with median wealth one-tenth of that in white America, and one in three black children born into poverty.

Like most black Americans, Muhammad supports Obama's historic bid to become America's first black president.

However, he said the Illinois senator's campaign tactic of largely avoiding discussion of race in his campaign has "driven me crazy."

"What saddens me today is that we don't talk about black-white inequality," he said. "I see in Obama a winning strategy, but it is sad to me."

For the 47-year-old son of a white American mother and black Kenyan father to gain the lead he currently holds over his Republican rival John McCain, Obama has had to tip-toe around any potential racial controversy, analysts say.

"Obama has very carefully avoided discussing race except when he had to," said Gary Weaver, an author and professor of cross-cultural studies at American University, noting Obama made just one major policy address on race during the campaign.

"I think there genuinely are people who are afraid that somehow an African-American as president would destroy the purity of the country," he said.

But even Obama's relative silence has not muted the issue. Weaver pointed to numerous attempts by his opponents to raise the topic of race, some of them blatant, others covert.

"There are enough coded messages coming out from the Republican side," said Weaver, ranging from mentions of his "urban" agenda that contrast with images of mainly white rural America, to assertions of "socialism" in his economic policy that implicitly tie him to foreigners.

"These coded messages subtly get across the issue of race," said Weaver.

Despite America's attempts to move past racial prejudice, research has shown that racial bias lingers in the United States, 40 years after the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.

A recent study by San Diego State University and the University of Chicago on politics and racial attitudes suggested that "ethnicity and national identity may play a larger role than often realized in how political candidates are perceived."

"A black candidate is implicitly conceived of as being less American than a white candidate," it said.

Prominent African-Americans have said they understand Obama's need to keep the black community at arm's length in order to win.

But they say that kind of dance leaves many unanswered questions about Obama's commitment to black issues in terms of poverty, employment opportunities and substandard education, if he does win on November 4.

"To me it sounds more like the African-American community is a kind of hidden mistress. Everybody assumes an affair is going on but nobody is quite sure," said Joy Zarembka, author of "The Pigment of Your Imagination: Mixed Race in a Global Society."

Zarembka said the new emphasis by Obama supporters on the buzzword "post-racial" ignores the importance of the black community, and she is concerned that an Obama victory could eliminate policies that aim to give minorities a better chance at employment and education.

"I have great concerns about an affirmative action policy that moves forward in a race-neutral way," she said.

John Johnson, political action chair of the Virginia State conference of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), said he has heard those types of concerns, but believes Obama presents a new narrative on blacks in American society.

"There is an opportunity to uplift the race. The role model potential is outstanding," he said, adding that an Obama victory could have a wider effect on accepting diversity in America.

"I think it will have an impact on making all of America more comfortable with all Americans."

Lena Williams, 58, author of "It's the Little Things: Everyday Interactions That Anger, Annoy, and Divide the Races," said that when she volunteered for the Obama campaign, the younger and more enthusiastic supporters asked why she was so "mellow."

"America has a way of breaking your heart," she answered. "It makes you very cautious."

From AFP

Tim Wise on White Privilege

This was written by my friend and respected colleague, Tim Wise. Tim, along with Father Michael Pfleger, both happen to be white males who actually get it. They both have my eternal respect.

This is Your Nation on White Privilege
By Tim Wise
9/13/08

For those who still can’t grasp the concept of white privilege, or who are constantly looking for some easy-to-understand examples of it, perhaps this list will help.

White privilege is when you can get pregnant at seventeen like Bristol Palin and everyone is quick to insist that your life and that of your family is a personal matter, and that no one has a right to judge you or your parents, because “every family has challenges,” even as black and Latino families with similar “challenges” are regularly typified as irresponsible, pathological and arbiters of social decay.

White privilege is when you can call yourself a “fuckin’ redneck,” like Bristol Palin’s boyfriend does, and talk about how if anyone messes with you, you'll “kick their fuckin' ass,” and talk about how you like to “shoot shit” for fun, and still be viewed as a responsible, all-American boy (and a great son-in-law to be) rather than a thug.

White privilege is when you can attend four different colleges in six years like Sarah Palin did (one of which you basically failed out of, then returned to after making up some coursework at a community college), and no one questions your intelligence or commitment to achievement, whereas a person of color who did this would be viewed as unfit for college, and probably someone who only got in in the first place because of affirmative action.

White privilege is when you can claim that being mayor of a town smaller than most medium-sized colleges, and then Governor of a state with about the same number of people as the lower fifth of the island of Manhattan, makes you ready to potentially be president, and people don’t all piss on themselves with laughter, while being a black U.S. Senator, two-term state Senator, and constitutional law scholar, means you’re “untested.”

White privilege is being able to say that you support the words “under God” in the pledge of allegiance because “if it was good enough for the founding fathers, it’s good enough for me,” and not be immediately disqualified from holding office--since, after all, the pledge was written in the late 1800s and the “under God” part wasn’t added until the 1950s--while believing that reading accused criminals and terrorists their rights (because, ya know, the Constitution, which you used to teach at a prestigious law school requires it), is a dangerous and silly idea only supported by mushy liberals.

White privilege is being able to be a gun enthusiast and not make people immediately scared of you.

White privilege is being able to have a husband who was a member of an extremist political party that wants your state to secede from the Union, and whose motto was “Alaska first,” and no one questions your patriotism or that of your family, while if you're black and your spouse merely fails to come to a 9/11 memorial so she can be home with her kids on the first day of school, people immediately think she’s being disrespectful.

White privilege is being able to make fun of community organizers and the work they do--like, among other things, fight for the right of women to vote, or for civil rights, or the 8-hour workday, or an end to child labor--and people think you’re being pithy and tough, but if you merely question the experience of a small town mayor and 18-month governor with no foreign policy expertise beyond a class she took in college--you’re somehow being mean, or even sexist.

White privilege is being able to convince white women who don’t even agree with you on any substantive issue to vote for you and your running mate anyway, because all of a sudden your presence on the ticket has inspired confidence in these same white women, and made them give your party a “second look.”

White privilege is being able to fire people who didn’t support your political campaigns and not be accused of abusing your power or being a typical politician who engages in favoritism, while being black and merely knowing some folks from the old-line political machines in Chicago means you must be corrupt.

White privilege is being able to attend churches over the years whose pastors say that people who voted for John Kerry or merely criticize George W. Bush are going to hell, and that the U.S. is an explicitly Christian nation and the job of Christians is to bring Christian theological principles into government, and who bring in speakers who say the conflict in the Middle East is God’s punishment on Jews for rejecting Jesus, and everyone can still think you’re just a good church-going Christian, but if you’re black and friends with a black pastor who has noted (as have Colin Powell and the U.S. Department of Defense) that terrorist attacks are often the result of U.S. foreign policy and who talks about the history of racism and its effect on black people, you’re an extremist who probably hates America.

White privilege is not knowing what the Bush Doctrine is when asked by a reporter, and then people get angry at the reporter for asking you such a “trick question,” while being black and merely refusing to give one-word answers to the queries of Bill O’Reilly means you’re dodging the question, or trying to seem overly intellectual and nuanced.

White privilege is being able to claim your experience as a POW has anything at all to do with your fitness for president, while being black and experiencing racism is, as Sarah Palin has referred to it a “light” burden.

And finally, white privilege is the only thing that could possibly allow someone to become president when he has voted with George W. Bush 90 percent of the time, even as unemployment is skyrocketing, people are losing their homes, inflation is rising, and the U.S. is increasingly isolated from world opinion, just because white voters aren’t sure about that whole “change” thing. Ya know, it’s just too vague and ill-defined, unlike, say, four more years of the same, which is very concrete and certain.

White privilege is, in short, the problem.

Your Black World: Nikki Tinker Vs. Steven Cohen: Double Standard Prevails

By: Tolu Olorunda

The sectarian conflict between Tennessean congressional candidates - Nikki Tinker and Rep. Steve Cohen - has reached new and unprecedented lows. In a series of tit for tat and war-like attacks, one side seems to be crying foul at the very existence of the other. Nikki Tinker, a Black Woman, who is running for the Congressional seat of the U.S. House of Representatives, District 9 in Tennessee, - presently filled by Rep. Steven Cohen - has been subjected to a barrage of vitriol and invectives, for doing what every other politician does: Using resourceful ads to outline, illuminate, and sometimes animate the political differences between opponents. Within the last week, two political ads created by the Nikki Tinker for Congress campaign has been criminally scrutinized and held up to a pedestal that is virtually unprecedented in the realm of politics. The first ad - of great dispute - featured a former Memphis County Commissioner, Walter Bailey, exposing a 2005 vote, in which Rep. Stephen Cohen, cast the lone-vote in opposition to a proposition that would have re-named a public park, formerly named after a serial slave-trader and Confederate Army Lieutenant General, Nathan Bedford Forrest. Bailey afterward posed the timely-question; "Who is the real Steve Cohen?" Unfortunately, to some, this was an unforgivable act of "race being injected into the campaign." The logic in that is miserably-tortured and contains no sincerity. The second ad - of equal contention - posed the same question as to the true identity of Rep. Cohen; charging the one-term Senator with 'two-facing' his Black constituency. The ad proclaims; “While he’s in our churches clapping his hands and tapping his feet, he’s the only senator who thought our kids shouldn’t be allowed to pray in school. Congressman, sometimes apologies just aren’t enough.” The controversy that overwhelmed the ad, seemed to emanate from the use of the word "our" to describe the Black community in Memphis -- with an implicit suggestion that Cohen is therefore, 'other.' In a predictable move, the Cohen Campaign and its supporters whipped-out the ever-friendly Anti-Semitism card to bully and berate Ms. Tinker. Nevertheless, no such Johnny-come-latelies we're as eloquent last week, when Senator John McCain (presumptive Republican Presidential nominee) and his campaign used code-words of explicit nature, to describe Barack Obama (presumptive Democratic Presidential nominee) as "foreign" and "different."

Following Tinker's recent successes in the polls, there has been a decipherable coalition of online Magazines and Mainstream Newspapers in the interest of destroying the credibility and candor of the African-American congressional contender. Online prints have accused her of everything from "playing the race card" (whatever that is) to hateful, vile, nasty and Anti-Semitic rhetoric against her Jewish opponent. Strangely, all such attacks come with no substantive proof that validates the strong charges. On his MSNBC show yesterday, Keith Olbermann - the liberal pundit - called Nikki Tinker the "Worst person in the world," for what he deemed, "a very disturbing meaning" packaged in the aforementioned ads. Unfortunately - and I might be wrong - I don't recall Olbermann displaying the same amount of emotional-fortitude in defense of Harold Ford Jr last year, when Ford underwent a similar experience, in which a Republican Party-sponsored ad, featured a naked white woman, claiming to have met the then-unmarried Senator at a "Playboy Party." The infamous ad wrapped-up with the same woman, beckoning the Senator, saying, "Harold, call me."

It is pretty apparent that Rep. Stephen Cohen is aware of his shortcomings and his inability to satisfy his predominantly Black constituency. As he noted in 1996, "It is impossible for a person who is not African American to get a large vote in the African American community . . . against a substantial candidate. The fact is, I am white, and it doesn't seem to matter what you do." It is also unequivocally clear, that Cohen is both ambiguous about his chances in this election, and threatened by the compelling-nature of Ms. Tinker. This inferiority complex is what has driven Cohen - and his campaign - to hurl blatant untruths at the Tinker Campaign -- with the hope that frivolous distractions would overwhelm this congressional-race, and ensure that issues of material-value are obscured and abandoned. Nikki Tinker, in all her foibles, has been an audacious and relentless combatant of inner-city crime and violence. With a strong record that delineates that commitment, it comes as no surprise, that rather than debate Tinker on the issues of delicate concern to Black folk, Stephen Cohen would rather mis-characterize his opponent, and malign her with the single-most indelible and toxic labeling an individual of African descent can be tagged by: Anti-Semitism (Just as Min. Louis Farrakhan).

While Rep. Cohen is content with subjecting the past to a fiery furnace, one must be accutely aware of his overt history of political-opportunism and race-exploitation. The Blue-Dog Democrat from Tennessee has consistently bathed in the muddy waters of George Bush, and was unabashed in putting up a picture of himself and the president on his website. With a long and winded history of staunchly opposing the Armenian Genocide, one is left to marvel at the level of audacity and gull, with which Mr. Cohen has slammed his dominating Congressional rival on issues of human rights. One must also be reminded of the crocodile tears shed by Rep. Cohen, after his numerous unsuccessful and ineffable attempts, towards being the "first white member" of the Congressional Black Caucus; at which in an embittered tone, he subsequently stated; “I think they’re real happy I’m not going to join… It’s their caucus and they do things their way. You don’t force your way in. You need to be invited.” More recently, is the transparently politically-calculated move by Rep. Cohen, to propose a bill that would apologize for the enslavement of Africans in America, and promote “reconciliation, justice, and harmony for all of its citizens.” Although the bill was passed, it was however, widely seen as a strategically set up move - like a well laced alley-oop - in time for August 6 Primary Election Run-off against his African-American opponent. Upon its passage and ascertained insignificance, many believed, that perhaps to persuade his Black constituency, and prove that, at the very least, he is willing to propose flattering-but-feeble legislations in time for the next Congressional election cycle, Cohen had once again engaged in the old game of political-expediency.

Whether Nikki Tinker is pronounced the victor, or Rep. Cohen bullies his way back to the top, one thing is for certain: politicians would do anything to win; even if it means spitting in the face of their constituency.