And Stephanie Tubbs could drown in my crack.
Yes, she is still numero uno on my hit list.
From the Huff Post:
Barack Obama's endorsement of a white incumbent facing a black primary challenger has disappointed some members of the Congressional Black Caucus, who are wondering whether he will support them in their primaries.
Last month, the Illinois senator surprised many political observers by endorsing centrist Rep. John Barrow (D-Ga.) in Tuesday's primary against state Sen. Regina Thomas.
Read the whole story here.
My Response:
Are these the same Lilly-livered colored cowards of the CBC who by and large refused to step out and strongly support the primary candidacy of Barack Obama?
Are these the same triangulating, self-serving Negroes who bet on the white woman from Arkansas when there was an actual viable candidate of color who differed negligibly in policy?!!!
IS THIS THE SAME CBC WHO DID NOT WANT TO MAKE RACE AN ISSUE IN THE PRIMARIES?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Really? Is it now? you know what? I'm tired of us pretending there has ever been some kind of broad swath of racial solidarity in the black community. black preachers undermined King, black folks shot Malcolm, and black slaves turned in runaways regularly. This man owes these weak willed politicians NOTHING!!!! I am so glad he won without them because now he is not beholden to any of them. He gets to choose who he will support, just like most of them chose.
They don't get to play the "brother where art thou" card now. Oh no, my "brothers and sisters". Call Bill and Hillary and ask them for an endorsement. I'm sure they owe you one.
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
I lived to see it
This night is not about Hillary losing her quest for the nomination. This night is not about the corpse that is John McCain practicing his Toastmaster speaking project on C-Span.
This is about a man who made possible the improbable. This is about the best this country, indeed, this world has to offer. This is about reclaiming the American spirit of ingenuity, intellect and vision.
This is about Barack Obama and those of us whose hopes and dreams he embodies.
This is about a man who bested lifelong politicians and entrenched machines and every "ism" known to man.
This is about tomorrow, today.
This election is about us, and this moment is about the man who delivered to those of us who believe an opportunity to hope and matter again.
Thank you, Barack and Michelle.
This is about a man who made possible the improbable. This is about the best this country, indeed, this world has to offer. This is about reclaiming the American spirit of ingenuity, intellect and vision.
This is about Barack Obama and those of us whose hopes and dreams he embodies.
This is about a man who bested lifelong politicians and entrenched machines and every "ism" known to man.
This is about tomorrow, today.
This election is about us, and this moment is about the man who delivered to those of us who believe an opportunity to hope and matter again.
Thank you, Barack and Michelle.
Friday, May 23, 2008
To Sir, With Love
Dear Friend,
If you'd like to share your thoughts with DNC Chairman Gov. Howard Dean, fill out this form at Democrats.org:http://www.democrats.org/page/petition/chairman/fcnsny
Thanks!
My take:
Mr. Dean:I like to think myself more eloquent, but in this matter I find that direct works best. Should the Democratic party allow Sen. Clinton to destroy this party, I will actively campaign to divest this party of its most faithful constintuency - African-American voters. This from a woman who has voted in EVERY election, big and small since she voted for Bill Clinton in her first contest.
Sen. Clinton has undermined, marginalized, disrespected and outright diminished black voters in this campaign. She is allowed to run, but this is my party too, sir. I'm one of those locals who talks policy with my neighbors, volunteers at polling sites and encourages participation. Do not take lightly my commitment to this endeavor.
After today's news cycle with a begrudgingly apologetic Hillary Clinton explaining away her reference to "assasination", I should hope you would do everything possible to retain the integrity of this party. If you do not, this party will never get another dime or ounce of energy from me. And I will not stop there. I will actively campaign against this party.
Black voters - all voters - deserve greater leadership from this party. The Clintons may well be a dynasty, but Hillary is not bigger than the party. In fact, without the party - and its black voters - there are no Clintons. Mayhaps that is what you should be telling Sen. Clinton right about now.
If you'd like to share your thoughts with DNC Chairman Gov. Howard Dean, fill out this form at Democrats.org:http://www.democrats.org/page/petition/chairman/fcnsny
Thanks!
My take:
Mr. Dean:I like to think myself more eloquent, but in this matter I find that direct works best. Should the Democratic party allow Sen. Clinton to destroy this party, I will actively campaign to divest this party of its most faithful constintuency - African-American voters. This from a woman who has voted in EVERY election, big and small since she voted for Bill Clinton in her first contest.
Sen. Clinton has undermined, marginalized, disrespected and outright diminished black voters in this campaign. She is allowed to run, but this is my party too, sir. I'm one of those locals who talks policy with my neighbors, volunteers at polling sites and encourages participation. Do not take lightly my commitment to this endeavor.
After today's news cycle with a begrudgingly apologetic Hillary Clinton explaining away her reference to "assasination", I should hope you would do everything possible to retain the integrity of this party. If you do not, this party will never get another dime or ounce of energy from me. And I will not stop there. I will actively campaign against this party.
Black voters - all voters - deserve greater leadership from this party. The Clintons may well be a dynasty, but Hillary is not bigger than the party. In fact, without the party - and its black voters - there are no Clintons. Mayhaps that is what you should be telling Sen. Clinton right about now.
Monday, May 12, 2008
Don't talk about it, be about it
That's what I did.
I phonebanked, raised money, canvassed, blogged and all-around did all I could to get out the NC vote for Barack Obama.
Leading up to the contest I was under a self-imposed media ban. I could not take it. If one more white guy told me about the intricate workings of the African American's voter's mind I was going to put a hit out on somebody. So, it was best that I turn it off.
But, now the real race is on and I've got some stuff to get off my chest.
Let's start with the Mammy Bitch Award. Yes, I said it, but don't be mad at me for calling it, be mad at Stephanie Tubbs Jones for making it true.
I understand that for some of the black "leaders", the safe bet seemed to be with the white woman. I did not call anyone out for being a traitor or any such foolishness *cough* Maxine Waters *cough*, because I have respect for colored people as individuals. But, Stubby and all those gums went too damn far. Every time I turned around there she was, allowing herself to be trotted out as the "black supporter" with all those black gums and loud guffaws and inane chatter and ridiculous soundbites. She made me want to pick cotton and shuck corn. She did it all - from repeating, verbatim, the Clinton spin regardless of how ridiculous it sounded to muttering, in all seriousness, jewels like, "I'm gonna ride with Hillary to the end! That's what politics is about, having your friends' back!"
No, you dumb bitch, politics is actually about the will of the people. You know, those minions who made you relevant. I don't know what HIllary promised you in exchange for your dignity and your soul, but I hope it's worth it for you. I would caution, however, that they say one can never come home again because it's true.
Whew. I'm feeling better already.
Now, let's talk about "bitter" and Hillary's base.
Apparently you can't tell the truth in American politics. Obama did not create the idea that poor, uneducated, disenfranchised citizens tend to be more religiously devout and distrustful of "high-faluting" concepts and those who espouse them. In fact, that little nugget of truth has made the Republican party the Republican party. These are the voters who rely more on "gut" feelings than reasoned logic, thus, they have been more susceptible to the political leaders who convince them to vote against their own personal best interests.
Their existence is pretty well-documented. Obama did not create them. Quiet as it's kept he comes from them - why do people keep forgetting his white grandparents? So, there was no malice in the statement, only an example of his understanding of that part of the electorate.
HRC, on the other hand, has called her supporters everything but the Klan, but she is considered more viable by "blue collar workers." To date, she has noted her supporters are "less educated", "low wage earners" and my favorite "low class, hardworking whites". Cause, you know, us coloreds ain't never done a lick of hard work. Thus, the building of the white house and the industrial revolution, but I digress. The fact that these folks don't mind a woman who went to blue blood schools, married up and has amassed a fortune in excess of $100 million condescending to them can ONLY be attributed to the fact that she is white.
Which is cool. People can vote on whatever basis they want.
But, I find it important to point out that the white vote is an endangered species. We have maybe two more elections before the white vote becomes the minority vote. At that time does the Democratic party really want to be known as the party of poor, uneducated whites? We now stand at a juncture in history that allows us, for once, to get out front ahead of change. In an increasingly diverse, multi-cultural country with diverse interests but one common interest - the security and viability of America - doesn't it seem odd to anyone else that HRC would hang her hopes on a dying constituency?
And while I'm at I feel it necessary to say I never hated Hillary.
I wasn't going to vote for her, but I did not hate her.
But then she went and did what is, for me, the unforgivable.
No, it's not that she wrote-off the black vote or allowed Bill to condescend to us, even as he tried to bully us into voting for her.
It's not that she made the old school mistake of underestimating the black guy.
It's not even that she lied about her experience and overstated her record.
Nope, Hillary shot the shit with me when she voted against the hope that America has changed for the better.
See, Hillary's campaign makes perfect sense if we were still the emotionally-driven, divided electorate of the past.
Hillary took a hard, jaundiced look at America and figured we would need a woman President to ease us into a black President. She figured she could play the numbers, blues against reds, educated against uneducated, black against white, and build the kind of numbers that have always been amassed - enough to win.
She never accounted for the American people growing wise to political pandering, the destructiveness of racial politics and our distaste for disingenuiness.
She did not count on an electorate that has, finally, gotten hip to the divide and conquer strategies of the past.
That is, to me, unforgivable. And that's why I will not vote - as much as it pains me - before I will vote for HRC, for anything, ever.
I phonebanked, raised money, canvassed, blogged and all-around did all I could to get out the NC vote for Barack Obama.
Leading up to the contest I was under a self-imposed media ban. I could not take it. If one more white guy told me about the intricate workings of the African American's voter's mind I was going to put a hit out on somebody. So, it was best that I turn it off.
But, now the real race is on and I've got some stuff to get off my chest.
Let's start with the Mammy Bitch Award. Yes, I said it, but don't be mad at me for calling it, be mad at Stephanie Tubbs Jones for making it true.
I understand that for some of the black "leaders", the safe bet seemed to be with the white woman. I did not call anyone out for being a traitor or any such foolishness *cough* Maxine Waters *cough*, because I have respect for colored people as individuals. But, Stubby and all those gums went too damn far. Every time I turned around there she was, allowing herself to be trotted out as the "black supporter" with all those black gums and loud guffaws and inane chatter and ridiculous soundbites. She made me want to pick cotton and shuck corn. She did it all - from repeating, verbatim, the Clinton spin regardless of how ridiculous it sounded to muttering, in all seriousness, jewels like, "I'm gonna ride with Hillary to the end! That's what politics is about, having your friends' back!"
No, you dumb bitch, politics is actually about the will of the people. You know, those minions who made you relevant. I don't know what HIllary promised you in exchange for your dignity and your soul, but I hope it's worth it for you. I would caution, however, that they say one can never come home again because it's true.
Whew. I'm feeling better already.
Now, let's talk about "bitter" and Hillary's base.
Apparently you can't tell the truth in American politics. Obama did not create the idea that poor, uneducated, disenfranchised citizens tend to be more religiously devout and distrustful of "high-faluting" concepts and those who espouse them. In fact, that little nugget of truth has made the Republican party the Republican party. These are the voters who rely more on "gut" feelings than reasoned logic, thus, they have been more susceptible to the political leaders who convince them to vote against their own personal best interests.
Their existence is pretty well-documented. Obama did not create them. Quiet as it's kept he comes from them - why do people keep forgetting his white grandparents? So, there was no malice in the statement, only an example of his understanding of that part of the electorate.
HRC, on the other hand, has called her supporters everything but the Klan, but she is considered more viable by "blue collar workers." To date, she has noted her supporters are "less educated", "low wage earners" and my favorite "low class, hardworking whites". Cause, you know, us coloreds ain't never done a lick of hard work. Thus, the building of the white house and the industrial revolution, but I digress. The fact that these folks don't mind a woman who went to blue blood schools, married up and has amassed a fortune in excess of $100 million condescending to them can ONLY be attributed to the fact that she is white.
Which is cool. People can vote on whatever basis they want.
But, I find it important to point out that the white vote is an endangered species. We have maybe two more elections before the white vote becomes the minority vote. At that time does the Democratic party really want to be known as the party of poor, uneducated whites? We now stand at a juncture in history that allows us, for once, to get out front ahead of change. In an increasingly diverse, multi-cultural country with diverse interests but one common interest - the security and viability of America - doesn't it seem odd to anyone else that HRC would hang her hopes on a dying constituency?
And while I'm at I feel it necessary to say I never hated Hillary.
I wasn't going to vote for her, but I did not hate her.
But then she went and did what is, for me, the unforgivable.
No, it's not that she wrote-off the black vote or allowed Bill to condescend to us, even as he tried to bully us into voting for her.
It's not that she made the old school mistake of underestimating the black guy.
It's not even that she lied about her experience and overstated her record.
Nope, Hillary shot the shit with me when she voted against the hope that America has changed for the better.
See, Hillary's campaign makes perfect sense if we were still the emotionally-driven, divided electorate of the past.
Hillary took a hard, jaundiced look at America and figured we would need a woman President to ease us into a black President. She figured she could play the numbers, blues against reds, educated against uneducated, black against white, and build the kind of numbers that have always been amassed - enough to win.
She never accounted for the American people growing wise to political pandering, the destructiveness of racial politics and our distaste for disingenuiness.
She did not count on an electorate that has, finally, gotten hip to the divide and conquer strategies of the past.
That is, to me, unforgivable. And that's why I will not vote - as much as it pains me - before I will vote for HRC, for anything, ever.
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Check the visual
Who in their right mind thinks 70 year old, pin armed, cancer riddled John McCain stands a chance against Barack Obama?The Republicans don't. Only 22% of REPUBLICANS believe John McCain can beat Barack Obama.I mean, seriously, McCain literally - no jokes - doesn't stand the greatest chance of PHYSICALLY running a presidential race, much less a full term. Have you SEEN John McCain?
Look at your granddaddy and subtract five years of usefulness and add a track record of bad health and that's John McCain.Then see Barack skip up on stage all long limbs and casually slim stance, wrinkle free skin and robust basketball playing. Then put his naturally tanned, healthy, tall, slim, attractive self beside John McCain and his notoriously bad temper in a national debate and call the political coroner.
Look at your granddaddy and subtract five years of usefulness and add a track record of bad health and that's John McCain.Then see Barack skip up on stage all long limbs and casually slim stance, wrinkle free skin and robust basketball playing. Then put his naturally tanned, healthy, tall, slim, attractive self beside John McCain and his notoriously bad temper in a national debate and call the political coroner.
Sunday, March 2, 2008
A sign of brilliance is counting brilliant people among your friends
This is a brilliant eye witness account of one internet friend's voting experience in OH.
I have permission to share!
credit scottish_like.
1.
I have to leave town this week for poetry gigs out of state, so today seemed like a good time to try out the Board of Elections early voting option. I’ve never voted outside of designated voting days before, so I’m looking forward to putting on my “I voted!” sticker three days before everyone else. I drive downtown, put 45 minutes on the meter, and head over to the BOE to vote. It’s history any way this election goes – even on the Republican side, as far as I’m concerned – so it’s an exciting time. The sun is out and the cold is biting, but playfully so.
Then I see the voting line.
The voting line-that-is-a-mosh-pit is, literally, the longest line I’ve ever stood in for anything: coveted concert tickets, new roller coaster rides, the DMV…all pale in comparison to this line. When I see this line at 9:30 on a cold Saturday morning I immediately begin to hope, not for change in Washington, but that the meter maids will be lenient. This is the kind of line that kills cellphones and makes lifetime friends out of complete strangers. I am reasonably sure I saw a man propose to a woman in line at one spot, and after about fifty yards of shuffling feet and cracking knees, they’d had a wedding ceremony. By the time they reach the registration table they’ll be able to turn in divorce paperwork with their ballots.
In my search for the end of the line I run into a family that I help at my day job at the public library. They stand at a coveted midpoint in the line, well into the building and warm. We shake hands, exchange greetings. As I step away to continue looking for the end of the line, the mother of the clan waves her hand at me to join them in line where they are. I beg off politely and keep moving. You don’t ditch history.
The line snakes through every crevice of the building, then back outside, then back in. I got into line twenty feet from the registration table, but ended up being shuffled back out the doors and around the back of the building, into an alley. Election workers walk the line, imploring people not to leave, to stick with the cause, assuring everyone they would get to vote. Thirty minutes in line and the cold is setting in firm. The line is moving at a good clip, but it isn’t shrinking. People keep getting in line despite the fact that it puts them in an alley behind the building standing on ice patches in some spots. The line has become a magical thing, what the Cheetos-adled denizens who play Dungeons & Dragons would call a +10 Pitcher of Unending Democracy.
The building across the street has three aerial antennas on its roof, like Calgary crosses at noon. I’ve driven by that building my whole life and never before noticed them. I try not to read too much into the vision.
2.
There are the typical characters you’d expect to find in a line like this: the joker with the most obvious punch line ever (“Can we stand in line? Yes we can!”); the hyperactive five year old who is cute for twenty minutes but becomes grating at twenty minutes and one second.
Two bodies behind me is the catch of the day: The Entitled. He is the one that, when faced with a line of committed voters stretching around a municipal building on a Saturday morning in a historic election cries “This is bullshit!” The Entitled is used to walking in and out of his own polls on his own steam, conveniently, without issue. The Entitled is arguing with a woman in front of him about his right to loudly give political commentary framed mostly with curses about standing in line. The Entitled has no class. You don’t curse history.
An unmarked car with a horn on its roof blasts the soundtrack of the Obama-infused video that overtook the internet, “Yes We Can”. It plays it over and over. And over. And over. After a while it switches to the theme from “Rocky”, then “Eye of the Tiger”. Apparently YouTube and Rocky Balboa are to be the coffee and donuts that election workers have been suggesting we’d receive, like lollipops handed out after a doctor’s visit. The snacks would never materialize. Sly must be a Republican.
I can’t believe I came anywhere near this building without my PSP.
3.
All of the buttons, signs and banners in sight are either local politicos or Obama’s. Not a Clinton sign in sight. Did she write off Columbus? Not have the money to spread until Tuesday? Was there a democratic gang fight before I showed up and the loser’s side had to take their signs home? I look for bruises and cuts, but none are to be found.
4.
If Obama’s black support in Columbus mirrors what it has in most of the country, Clinton’s lost this town hands-down. The line is predominantly black, like we’re Detroit or something, and it’s something to see. A plaque on the wall notes that the building has seen over 6.3 million visitors on its steps in the one hundred years it’s been there. I think we broke the record today just in black folks.
Barack Obama has done something that no politician at his level has done for a great many years: they have made the black vote feel important again. Please understand that I am not saying voting is unimportant to black people or that a candidate has never benefited from our vote. I am saying that, at the presidential level, the black vote is typically courted briefly, then bypassed, and quickly so. In most cases it is written off completely, with little or no attempt to address our existence, let alone our issues.
Contrast that tradition with the educational results of this election. Ask a hundred black people on the street what percentage of black voters Obama and Clinton have received in this election and you’ll find well over half of them know a rough idea (a ratio of approximately 80/10 respectively). Ask this same group of people what percentage of black voters John McCain has, or any Republican for that matter, and you’d be hard-pressed to get your number of respondents in double digits. It certainly isn’t because black people don’t vote Republican. It is because they do so in numbers so small they’re hardly worth talking about. Republicans and talking news heads know this, and the lessons to be derived from the pie charts that are afforded the Obama/Clinton contest are never drawn for McCain and his ilk.
By contrast, Obama has not only garnered the black vote; he has created a substantially larger black voting block than has ever existed. And while there are a number of reasons why that has occurred, the more important thing to note is the behavior of politicians and leaders now that this group exists. The black vote has become increasingly powerful this election in size and direction, more powerful than ever before most say…and Obama is, almost without fail, netting it in numbers never before seen even by strong black runners of the past.
In no other quarter than black leadership are the implications of this phenomenon more interesting. To look back on the interviews, quotes and platforms of many black so-called leaders a year ago is, in some cases, jarring. My personal favorite is a Minister Louis Farrakhan CNN clip done in early 2007, in which he’s asked about Obama (then not the powerful symbol that he is now).
Farrakhan: I like him very much. I’m not saying that I’m going to vote for him, but I like him. Because he’s fresh.
CNN: Do you think that Barack Obama is the answer to George Bush?
Farrakhan: No. I think he’s capable of being an answer, but who will provide him with the money so he can contend with Mrs. Clinton and her big bank? Or Giuliani and McCain and their growing bank? So the people that bankroll you, they’re the ones that ultimately call the tune.
CNN: So what are you saying?
Farrakhan: I’m saying no matter who sits in the White House, if you don’t uproot the structure that corrupts them you still don’t have a president. You have a figurehead.
CNN: Do you think Barack Obama can do that?
Farrakhan: No. Absolutely not. He knows some of the ugliness of politics ‘cause he’s been in it long enough. But the real wickedness of the face of politics…you’re looking right into the very face of Satan himself. And Satan doesn’t intend to be uprooted by an upstart from Chicago. Or Mrs. Clinton from New York.
This isn’t the worst rail to be found. Far worse things were said by other black leaders, even just a few months ago, when Hillary still had a shot. But I find Farrakhan’s statement one of the most compelling as a snapshot of black leadership at the time because it is shot straight, devoid of typical political mongering and reasonable. It contains hope, yet remains pragmatic. It is critical, yet fair for its time. It is a great barometer to measure the sentiment of its time.
And yet it almost seems unfair to pick on all of the fence-riding black leaders of a year ago (or less, if you ask Representative Lewis). No one could have predicted the groundswell of support that Obama would receive from all corners of our society. No one could foresee that Obama would become the political “Teflon Don”, or that he would generate record levels of funding from everyday people, or pick up 80 percent and more of the black vote with or without direct black leadership’s support. If anything, black leadership’s overall distance from him early in the campaign while the support from voters was building is telling, and should be looked at as a Socratic moment for the black community. We should now ask the question, “What makes you our leader?” We should take away from that dynamic – and its cousin, the mutating platform of political convention fast-approaching from the future – that maybe black leadership status should require more than a suit and tie, more than titles and television appearances. Maybe it should require check-ups of their knowledge of the issues of the day or written tests about what they did for black people last summer or a report card of their voting records. We should take away from this “fairy tale”, to use Bill Clinton’s words, that leadership that does not know what its supporters know or believe or desire is a poor leader. That, and that every great fairy tale has some seed of truth.
I had to add the words “Barack Obama” to the spell check dictionary in my software to get rid of the swarm of red snakes throughout this recollection. Change is on the horizon indeed.
5.
You’d think a polling place with a line like this only has a couple of booths, but that’s not the case. There are about twenty machines in the voting room proper, and staff at all corners logging people in to vote. No one is being turned away from voting, and even ID is not required. People have simply been moved to participate in the political process at never-before-seen levels, and no matter the outcome of the race, that’s something we should all be proud of.
6.
I get to my car at 11:30, almost two hours to the minute after parking it on Sixth Street. I can see the orange slip of a parking ticket flapping in the breeze, tucked firmly under my driver’s side windshield wiper. I pull it out and check the time on the ticket. 11:03. If I’d gotten to my car twenty minutes sooner I’d have gotten away scot-free, with my democracy and my wallet intact. I sigh and get in the car, then chuckle. I think about all of the people who died without ever having experienced the right to vote for centuries, and people who still live today in places with laws that disallow voting for some communities. I think about the people who were beaten or kicked or spat upon in marches, some that were threatened by police if they didn’t turn around and march away, all to build a case for voting rights. A parking ticket is a small price to pay for the right to vote. I take the voting sticker off of my shirt and I place it on the parking ticket. I figure it’ll be something for the people at the DMV to talk about for ten seconds when I mail it in.
Besides: if I ever meet Barack Obama, whether he becomes president or not, he can afford to give me my twenty bucks back.
I have permission to share!
credit scottish_like.
1.
I have to leave town this week for poetry gigs out of state, so today seemed like a good time to try out the Board of Elections early voting option. I’ve never voted outside of designated voting days before, so I’m looking forward to putting on my “I voted!” sticker three days before everyone else. I drive downtown, put 45 minutes on the meter, and head over to the BOE to vote. It’s history any way this election goes – even on the Republican side, as far as I’m concerned – so it’s an exciting time. The sun is out and the cold is biting, but playfully so.
Then I see the voting line.
The voting line-that-is-a-mosh-pit is, literally, the longest line I’ve ever stood in for anything: coveted concert tickets, new roller coaster rides, the DMV…all pale in comparison to this line. When I see this line at 9:30 on a cold Saturday morning I immediately begin to hope, not for change in Washington, but that the meter maids will be lenient. This is the kind of line that kills cellphones and makes lifetime friends out of complete strangers. I am reasonably sure I saw a man propose to a woman in line at one spot, and after about fifty yards of shuffling feet and cracking knees, they’d had a wedding ceremony. By the time they reach the registration table they’ll be able to turn in divorce paperwork with their ballots.
In my search for the end of the line I run into a family that I help at my day job at the public library. They stand at a coveted midpoint in the line, well into the building and warm. We shake hands, exchange greetings. As I step away to continue looking for the end of the line, the mother of the clan waves her hand at me to join them in line where they are. I beg off politely and keep moving. You don’t ditch history.
The line snakes through every crevice of the building, then back outside, then back in. I got into line twenty feet from the registration table, but ended up being shuffled back out the doors and around the back of the building, into an alley. Election workers walk the line, imploring people not to leave, to stick with the cause, assuring everyone they would get to vote. Thirty minutes in line and the cold is setting in firm. The line is moving at a good clip, but it isn’t shrinking. People keep getting in line despite the fact that it puts them in an alley behind the building standing on ice patches in some spots. The line has become a magical thing, what the Cheetos-adled denizens who play Dungeons & Dragons would call a +10 Pitcher of Unending Democracy.
The building across the street has three aerial antennas on its roof, like Calgary crosses at noon. I’ve driven by that building my whole life and never before noticed them. I try not to read too much into the vision.
2.
There are the typical characters you’d expect to find in a line like this: the joker with the most obvious punch line ever (“Can we stand in line? Yes we can!”); the hyperactive five year old who is cute for twenty minutes but becomes grating at twenty minutes and one second.
Two bodies behind me is the catch of the day: The Entitled. He is the one that, when faced with a line of committed voters stretching around a municipal building on a Saturday morning in a historic election cries “This is bullshit!” The Entitled is used to walking in and out of his own polls on his own steam, conveniently, without issue. The Entitled is arguing with a woman in front of him about his right to loudly give political commentary framed mostly with curses about standing in line. The Entitled has no class. You don’t curse history.
An unmarked car with a horn on its roof blasts the soundtrack of the Obama-infused video that overtook the internet, “Yes We Can”. It plays it over and over. And over. And over. After a while it switches to the theme from “Rocky”, then “Eye of the Tiger”. Apparently YouTube and Rocky Balboa are to be the coffee and donuts that election workers have been suggesting we’d receive, like lollipops handed out after a doctor’s visit. The snacks would never materialize. Sly must be a Republican.
I can’t believe I came anywhere near this building without my PSP.
3.
All of the buttons, signs and banners in sight are either local politicos or Obama’s. Not a Clinton sign in sight. Did she write off Columbus? Not have the money to spread until Tuesday? Was there a democratic gang fight before I showed up and the loser’s side had to take their signs home? I look for bruises and cuts, but none are to be found.
4.
If Obama’s black support in Columbus mirrors what it has in most of the country, Clinton’s lost this town hands-down. The line is predominantly black, like we’re Detroit or something, and it’s something to see. A plaque on the wall notes that the building has seen over 6.3 million visitors on its steps in the one hundred years it’s been there. I think we broke the record today just in black folks.
Barack Obama has done something that no politician at his level has done for a great many years: they have made the black vote feel important again. Please understand that I am not saying voting is unimportant to black people or that a candidate has never benefited from our vote. I am saying that, at the presidential level, the black vote is typically courted briefly, then bypassed, and quickly so. In most cases it is written off completely, with little or no attempt to address our existence, let alone our issues.
Contrast that tradition with the educational results of this election. Ask a hundred black people on the street what percentage of black voters Obama and Clinton have received in this election and you’ll find well over half of them know a rough idea (a ratio of approximately 80/10 respectively). Ask this same group of people what percentage of black voters John McCain has, or any Republican for that matter, and you’d be hard-pressed to get your number of respondents in double digits. It certainly isn’t because black people don’t vote Republican. It is because they do so in numbers so small they’re hardly worth talking about. Republicans and talking news heads know this, and the lessons to be derived from the pie charts that are afforded the Obama/Clinton contest are never drawn for McCain and his ilk.
By contrast, Obama has not only garnered the black vote; he has created a substantially larger black voting block than has ever existed. And while there are a number of reasons why that has occurred, the more important thing to note is the behavior of politicians and leaders now that this group exists. The black vote has become increasingly powerful this election in size and direction, more powerful than ever before most say…and Obama is, almost without fail, netting it in numbers never before seen even by strong black runners of the past.
In no other quarter than black leadership are the implications of this phenomenon more interesting. To look back on the interviews, quotes and platforms of many black so-called leaders a year ago is, in some cases, jarring. My personal favorite is a Minister Louis Farrakhan CNN clip done in early 2007, in which he’s asked about Obama (then not the powerful symbol that he is now).
Farrakhan: I like him very much. I’m not saying that I’m going to vote for him, but I like him. Because he’s fresh.
CNN: Do you think that Barack Obama is the answer to George Bush?
Farrakhan: No. I think he’s capable of being an answer, but who will provide him with the money so he can contend with Mrs. Clinton and her big bank? Or Giuliani and McCain and their growing bank? So the people that bankroll you, they’re the ones that ultimately call the tune.
CNN: So what are you saying?
Farrakhan: I’m saying no matter who sits in the White House, if you don’t uproot the structure that corrupts them you still don’t have a president. You have a figurehead.
CNN: Do you think Barack Obama can do that?
Farrakhan: No. Absolutely not. He knows some of the ugliness of politics ‘cause he’s been in it long enough. But the real wickedness of the face of politics…you’re looking right into the very face of Satan himself. And Satan doesn’t intend to be uprooted by an upstart from Chicago. Or Mrs. Clinton from New York.
This isn’t the worst rail to be found. Far worse things were said by other black leaders, even just a few months ago, when Hillary still had a shot. But I find Farrakhan’s statement one of the most compelling as a snapshot of black leadership at the time because it is shot straight, devoid of typical political mongering and reasonable. It contains hope, yet remains pragmatic. It is critical, yet fair for its time. It is a great barometer to measure the sentiment of its time.
And yet it almost seems unfair to pick on all of the fence-riding black leaders of a year ago (or less, if you ask Representative Lewis). No one could have predicted the groundswell of support that Obama would receive from all corners of our society. No one could foresee that Obama would become the political “Teflon Don”, or that he would generate record levels of funding from everyday people, or pick up 80 percent and more of the black vote with or without direct black leadership’s support. If anything, black leadership’s overall distance from him early in the campaign while the support from voters was building is telling, and should be looked at as a Socratic moment for the black community. We should now ask the question, “What makes you our leader?” We should take away from that dynamic – and its cousin, the mutating platform of political convention fast-approaching from the future – that maybe black leadership status should require more than a suit and tie, more than titles and television appearances. Maybe it should require check-ups of their knowledge of the issues of the day or written tests about what they did for black people last summer or a report card of their voting records. We should take away from this “fairy tale”, to use Bill Clinton’s words, that leadership that does not know what its supporters know or believe or desire is a poor leader. That, and that every great fairy tale has some seed of truth.
I had to add the words “Barack Obama” to the spell check dictionary in my software to get rid of the swarm of red snakes throughout this recollection. Change is on the horizon indeed.
5.
You’d think a polling place with a line like this only has a couple of booths, but that’s not the case. There are about twenty machines in the voting room proper, and staff at all corners logging people in to vote. No one is being turned away from voting, and even ID is not required. People have simply been moved to participate in the political process at never-before-seen levels, and no matter the outcome of the race, that’s something we should all be proud of.
6.
I get to my car at 11:30, almost two hours to the minute after parking it on Sixth Street. I can see the orange slip of a parking ticket flapping in the breeze, tucked firmly under my driver’s side windshield wiper. I pull it out and check the time on the ticket. 11:03. If I’d gotten to my car twenty minutes sooner I’d have gotten away scot-free, with my democracy and my wallet intact. I sigh and get in the car, then chuckle. I think about all of the people who died without ever having experienced the right to vote for centuries, and people who still live today in places with laws that disallow voting for some communities. I think about the people who were beaten or kicked or spat upon in marches, some that were threatened by police if they didn’t turn around and march away, all to build a case for voting rights. A parking ticket is a small price to pay for the right to vote. I take the voting sticker off of my shirt and I place it on the parking ticket. I figure it’ll be something for the people at the DMV to talk about for ten seconds when I mail it in.
Besides: if I ever meet Barack Obama, whether he becomes president or not, he can afford to give me my twenty bucks back.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
The zen of defeat
If I were a better person I would feel sorry for HRC.
"If" being the operative word.
I am just petty enough to enjoy watching her implosion.
Not that it's all a function of my failure as a person, Hillary has made it difficult to feel sorry for her.
First, she painted herself as the indomitable snowwoman, perhaps rightfully so. But once one comes to view you as comprised of iron and will and not much else it becomes difficult to connect to them emotionally. We assume you do not have any emotions. This could well be a trap of being a woman on the big stage but I think it is just as much the fault of Hillary as a person. Other powerful women have somehow managed to appear both human and strong.
And then Hillary did the unforgiveable, according to my admittedly arbitrary standards: she underestimated her opponent.
Now, i'm sure pundits and historians will suggest that had nothing to do with Barack's race but all about his inexperience.
Bullshit.
I smell it, I call it.
HRC and camp know the working class, blue collar America that is all about racial equality in theory...not so much in practice. To say that knowledge in no way colored their perception of Barack's electability is foolish.
Hillary's campaign hung a significent part of her inevitability on a racist America not changing her stripes.
So you will have to forgive me if her miscalculation, and what that miscalculation says about my country, does not inspire in me pity for her position.
As she is fond of saying, she'll be alright after this election win or lose.
America's well-being isn't so guarenteed.
We deserve Barack Obama as much as we need him.
"If" being the operative word.
I am just petty enough to enjoy watching her implosion.
Not that it's all a function of my failure as a person, Hillary has made it difficult to feel sorry for her.
First, she painted herself as the indomitable snowwoman, perhaps rightfully so. But once one comes to view you as comprised of iron and will and not much else it becomes difficult to connect to them emotionally. We assume you do not have any emotions. This could well be a trap of being a woman on the big stage but I think it is just as much the fault of Hillary as a person. Other powerful women have somehow managed to appear both human and strong.
And then Hillary did the unforgiveable, according to my admittedly arbitrary standards: she underestimated her opponent.
Now, i'm sure pundits and historians will suggest that had nothing to do with Barack's race but all about his inexperience.
Bullshit.
I smell it, I call it.
HRC and camp know the working class, blue collar America that is all about racial equality in theory...not so much in practice. To say that knowledge in no way colored their perception of Barack's electability is foolish.
Hillary's campaign hung a significent part of her inevitability on a racist America not changing her stripes.
So you will have to forgive me if her miscalculation, and what that miscalculation says about my country, does not inspire in me pity for her position.
As she is fond of saying, she'll be alright after this election win or lose.
America's well-being isn't so guarenteed.
We deserve Barack Obama as much as we need him.
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
For about twenty seconds TN was too close to call. In the end it looks like it goes to Clinton. but it's close enough - they're talking less than 1 percent here folks - that Obama still picks up a significent amount of delegates. And the fact that it use to be comfortably in her column and he split it in half is still quite impressive.
He gets IL and I believe she took MA.
*pours some more wine*
He gets IL and I believe she took MA.
*pours some more wine*
And so the games begin.
First call of the night is an easy victory for Barack in GA.
All of the wonks want you to know that 43% of the Klan put away their robes long enough to vote for Chicken Obama George. /eyeroll
He carried almost 90% of the black vote in GA. Thank God. I was beginning to want negroes back into slavery -- all this self-defeating, ignorant hate for Obama was nauseating.
Now, apparently, we see if the Latinos are desperate enough to be white that they'll continue to eschew the candidate of color. Some anchor from telemundo was on MSNBC earlier and he's the only one I've heard say, flat out, that Latinos will not much "vote for an Afro-American" because he, presumably, may grow an afro that obscures their view from the border?
Whatever.
Good times!
All of the wonks want you to know that 43% of the Klan put away their robes long enough to vote for Chicken Obama George. /eyeroll
He carried almost 90% of the black vote in GA. Thank God. I was beginning to want negroes back into slavery -- all this self-defeating, ignorant hate for Obama was nauseating.
Now, apparently, we see if the Latinos are desperate enough to be white that they'll continue to eschew the candidate of color. Some anchor from telemundo was on MSNBC earlier and he's the only one I've heard say, flat out, that Latinos will not much "vote for an Afro-American" because he, presumably, may grow an afro that obscures their view from the border?
Whatever.
Good times!
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
The speech had already been written
Damn my full-time job and full-time school career! Because of all this real life stuff I was unable to hop-on immediately to share my realization about Ted Kennedy's emotional support for Barack Obama yesterday.
I spoke on the historic nature of the moment - Camelot, with all it's magic and prestige and unassailable political clout being willingly handed over to a black man. It was more than emotional and powerful, it was, I believe history will bear, the flag that announced the last lap of generational change in our political life.
Caroline and Patrick rounded out the picture of family solidarity but it was Ted Kennedy who drew on the emotional connection so many of us feel for the Kennedys that struck a chord with me. There is the obvious symbolism - a silver-haired, aging white man from the Northeast beside a young, spry, black Man with a trans-global heritage - but I saw something else as Teddy shook with passion about Barack.
This is the speech, perhaps, he'd hoped to one day give for JFK, Jr.
The emotional undercurrent of his support for Barack is the type normally resolved for the beloved children or tolerated in-laws in a family very cognizant of their legacy. It was like seeing an uncle groom his nephew to take over the family business.
Only this family business is American politics and Barack, white momma not withstanding, ain't exactly part of the family.
Really, could you not have seen the same intensity of emotion had Obama been replaced by JFK, JR?
Though he denied often any desire to run for political office it is no secret that almost everyone with fond memories of Camelot expected JFK, JR. to grow into an elected official.
And while we will never know what could have been it seems safe to assume that JFK, Jr. would have been the beneficiary of all the magic the Kennedy family can offer: an elder statesman hitting the campaign trail to work decades old relationships in his favor, a spotlight shy Caroline willing to emerge from the shadows to compare him to her father, Patrick serving as emcee for a crowd of rabid young voters thirsty for the kind of vision and inspiration that defined JFK and Bobby's legacy.
Only the candidate is black and his being black was never mentioned.
A pretty good day to be American.
I spoke on the historic nature of the moment - Camelot, with all it's magic and prestige and unassailable political clout being willingly handed over to a black man. It was more than emotional and powerful, it was, I believe history will bear, the flag that announced the last lap of generational change in our political life.
Caroline and Patrick rounded out the picture of family solidarity but it was Ted Kennedy who drew on the emotional connection so many of us feel for the Kennedys that struck a chord with me. There is the obvious symbolism - a silver-haired, aging white man from the Northeast beside a young, spry, black Man with a trans-global heritage - but I saw something else as Teddy shook with passion about Barack.
This is the speech, perhaps, he'd hoped to one day give for JFK, Jr.
The emotional undercurrent of his support for Barack is the type normally resolved for the beloved children or tolerated in-laws in a family very cognizant of their legacy. It was like seeing an uncle groom his nephew to take over the family business.
Only this family business is American politics and Barack, white momma not withstanding, ain't exactly part of the family.
Really, could you not have seen the same intensity of emotion had Obama been replaced by JFK, JR?
Though he denied often any desire to run for political office it is no secret that almost everyone with fond memories of Camelot expected JFK, JR. to grow into an elected official.
And while we will never know what could have been it seems safe to assume that JFK, Jr. would have been the beneficiary of all the magic the Kennedy family can offer: an elder statesman hitting the campaign trail to work decades old relationships in his favor, a spotlight shy Caroline willing to emerge from the shadows to compare him to her father, Patrick serving as emcee for a crowd of rabid young voters thirsty for the kind of vision and inspiration that defined JFK and Bobby's legacy.
Only the candidate is black and his being black was never mentioned.
A pretty good day to be American.
My folk, my folk
It has taken a much more disciplined writer than myself to expound upon the real "fairy tale" in this Democratic race: Bill Clinton's supposed savior status within the black community.
Now, y'all, I know how some of us feel about a "good" job and we remember fondly the 90s as a time when you could tell your boss to kiss your black ass because you knew another "good" job right down the road. But time may have made your memory fuzzy, much in the way crack makes a whore disillusioned about her sex appeal. So consider this Clinton Re-hab:
The Clinton Fallacy: Did blacks really make big economic gains during the '90s?
By Melissa Harris-Lacewell
Posted Thursday, Jan. 24, 2008, at 12:46 PM ET
Hillary Clinton's campaign deployed President Bill Clinton in South Carolina for the specific purpose of delivering the black vote, aiming to remind African-Americans of the good times when Clinton was president. Which raises the question: Why do so many people think the Clinton years were good times for black America?
A hopeful African-American electorate was at the core of Bill Clinton's successful bids for the presidency. In many ways, the scandal-marred, deeply partisan years of the Clinton administration proved disappointing in the face of such early optimism.
Welfare reform, the growth of black imprisonment, and the public abandonment of progressive African-Americans like Lani Guinier are some of the most memorable racial disappointments of those years. Even through these disappointments, African-Americans were among Clinton's strongest supporters because many believed Clinton's era was an economic boon.
But there is evidence that Clinton's unmatched popularity among blacks confused many about the true economic impact of his presidency. In a 2005 article I co-authored in the Journal of Black Studies, I analyzed five national surveys from 1984 through 2000. The data show that nearly a third of black Americans held false understandings of black economic conditions during the Clinton years.
By the time Clinton left office, many African-Americans incorrectly believed that blacks were doing better economically than whites. In the '80s, barely 5 percent of blacks believed blacks were economically better off than whites. By 2000, nearly 30 percent of African-American respondents believed that blacks were doing better economically than whites.
This belief is simply wrong.
Rest here:http://www.slate.com/id/2182745/
Now, y'all, I know how some of us feel about a "good" job and we remember fondly the 90s as a time when you could tell your boss to kiss your black ass because you knew another "good" job right down the road. But time may have made your memory fuzzy, much in the way crack makes a whore disillusioned about her sex appeal. So consider this Clinton Re-hab:
The Clinton Fallacy: Did blacks really make big economic gains during the '90s?
By Melissa Harris-Lacewell
Posted Thursday, Jan. 24, 2008, at 12:46 PM ET
Hillary Clinton's campaign deployed President Bill Clinton in South Carolina for the specific purpose of delivering the black vote, aiming to remind African-Americans of the good times when Clinton was president. Which raises the question: Why do so many people think the Clinton years were good times for black America?
A hopeful African-American electorate was at the core of Bill Clinton's successful bids for the presidency. In many ways, the scandal-marred, deeply partisan years of the Clinton administration proved disappointing in the face of such early optimism.
Welfare reform, the growth of black imprisonment, and the public abandonment of progressive African-Americans like Lani Guinier are some of the most memorable racial disappointments of those years. Even through these disappointments, African-Americans were among Clinton's strongest supporters because many believed Clinton's era was an economic boon.
But there is evidence that Clinton's unmatched popularity among blacks confused many about the true economic impact of his presidency. In a 2005 article I co-authored in the Journal of Black Studies, I analyzed five national surveys from 1984 through 2000. The data show that nearly a third of black Americans held false understandings of black economic conditions during the Clinton years.
By the time Clinton left office, many African-Americans incorrectly believed that blacks were doing better economically than whites. In the '80s, barely 5 percent of blacks believed blacks were economically better off than whites. By 2000, nearly 30 percent of African-American respondents believed that blacks were doing better economically than whites.
This belief is simply wrong.
Rest here:http://www.slate.com/id/2182745/
Monday, January 28, 2008
Camelot Comes To Harlem
I grew up listening to my Mother wax poetic about how altruistic the Kennedy's are.
My grandmother had three commerative plates on the wall, hung in a place of honor: White Jesus, Martin and Kennedy.
They are not southern or southern baptist or black but the genuiness of their spirit has, for numberous reasons, spoken to our community for generations now.
So as I sit here today and hear the Kennedy family effectively hand over the torch of their legacy to Barack Obama I am afraid that I may be dreaming.
Win or lose, this man not only looks presidential today - he looks like great American history in the making.
And who would know what that looks like better than a Kennedy?
Live stream: http://www.cnn.com/video/live/live.html?stream=stream1
My grandmother had three commerative plates on the wall, hung in a place of honor: White Jesus, Martin and Kennedy.
They are not southern or southern baptist or black but the genuiness of their spirit has, for numberous reasons, spoken to our community for generations now.
So as I sit here today and hear the Kennedy family effectively hand over the torch of their legacy to Barack Obama I am afraid that I may be dreaming.
Win or lose, this man not only looks presidential today - he looks like great American history in the making.
And who would know what that looks like better than a Kennedy?
Live stream: http://www.cnn.com/video/live/live.html?stream=stream1
Friday, January 25, 2008
This is my Party and I'll Kick Your Ass if I want to!
In this election cycle minorities, women and working class Americans with democratic leanings should be ecstatic. Instead, far too many of us have been marginalized, insulted, condescended to and dismissed...by our own Democratic Party. I cannot speak for anyone beyond myself, a young African-American female who has voted in every election big and small since she was 18 years old, but I imagine I am not the only one tired of being caricatured as an idiot, regardless of who I support.
I am an Obama supporter but that is not what this petition is about. This is about our party not recognizing itself as such. For 40 years the black voter has helped keep the Democrats viable and in exchange we have gotten the leading party statesman wagging his finger at us for daring to think for ourselves.
We have watched elders like Mr. Rangel sell his political clout, ostensibly on our behalf, in exchange for a seat at the table of another Clinton White House.
CNN reduced black female voters in S.C. to nothing more than cliches of race and sex, overlooking our ability to think as mothers, daughters, sisters, entrepreneurs, students, activists or Americans.
Gloria Steinman suggested that black female voters should ignore the history of racism within the feminist community and forgive her for a poorly written and ill-advised op-ed in the New York Times.
Through this all the Democratic Party has allowed its strongest, most faithful constituency to be treated like an after thought. I cannot be certain what smarts more: their silence in this storm of hatred and race-baiting or the clear assumption that we can be brought back into the fold in time for the general election.
I am tired of this. And I am betting that I am not the only one.
By signing this petition you can send a message to the Democratic Party: the black vote is not to be taken for granted. Neither is it to be bargain-rated.
Should this party and its candidates continue to treat us this way, your signature says you will revolt.
It is a new day in American politics. The Democrats are not the only show in town. And I do not hate a vote for McCain or an Independent candidate nearly as much as I hate being treated like the help at my own Party.
If you feel similarly please sign here and spread the word.
I am an Obama supporter but that is not what this petition is about. This is about our party not recognizing itself as such. For 40 years the black voter has helped keep the Democrats viable and in exchange we have gotten the leading party statesman wagging his finger at us for daring to think for ourselves.
We have watched elders like Mr. Rangel sell his political clout, ostensibly on our behalf, in exchange for a seat at the table of another Clinton White House.
CNN reduced black female voters in S.C. to nothing more than cliches of race and sex, overlooking our ability to think as mothers, daughters, sisters, entrepreneurs, students, activists or Americans.
Gloria Steinman suggested that black female voters should ignore the history of racism within the feminist community and forgive her for a poorly written and ill-advised op-ed in the New York Times.
Through this all the Democratic Party has allowed its strongest, most faithful constituency to be treated like an after thought. I cannot be certain what smarts more: their silence in this storm of hatred and race-baiting or the clear assumption that we can be brought back into the fold in time for the general election.
I am tired of this. And I am betting that I am not the only one.
By signing this petition you can send a message to the Democratic Party: the black vote is not to be taken for granted. Neither is it to be bargain-rated.
Should this party and its candidates continue to treat us this way, your signature says you will revolt.
It is a new day in American politics. The Democrats are not the only show in town. And I do not hate a vote for McCain or an Independent candidate nearly as much as I hate being treated like the help at my own Party.
If you feel similarly please sign here and spread the word.
Thursday, January 17, 2008
I know you are but what am I?
If I had said it once I have said it two trillion times – there is no such thing as the “black community”.
That is not to say that black Americans do not share a great many social and cultural markers. We do. However, in the world of politics it would be a mistake to think we all share the same left-leaning principalities. We run the gamut from small business owners deathly afraid of mandatory minimum wage increases to green citizens who wants our government to tackle the issues of global warming.
We are not a monolith.
Neither are we children.
In light of the Clinton’s latest guerilla political attacks I find it necessary to assert both of these simple truths.
The 90s were great for America in general and for black Americans in particular. President Bill Clinton became for many of the face of that relative prosperity. Then there is his obvious love of a round ass and soul food. Add all of that up and you get a community happy to, for once, have a president with whom they can identify. We even crowned him, with a wink and smile, our first “black” President.
It would seem Bill didn’t get the wink. Neither did he or Hillary get the notice about black Americans not being foolish children in need of chastising. That is the latest ploy of the Clinton camp as they run against a dynamic, talented, qualified challenger in Barack Obama, you know, the guy who could actually be America’s first black president.
First, Hillary made it clear that civil rights would be nothing without a benevolent white president. She says MLK was great and all but it was Lyndon B. Johnson who made the real difference. From there a shrieking Bill wagged his finger at us and told us not to fall for the slick talking Obama campaign. It would seem we should just trust him on this matter – Barack means us no good for Mr. Clinton certainly provided no logical reasons for why we should not elect him. It would seem his word should be enough?
Then they rolled out one of the wealthiest black Americans, Bob Johnson, to speak that “colored talk” to South Carolina voters. He was also, presumably, charged with painting the Illinois Senator with the crack dealing brush that made his company, BET, one of the financially successful coon shows ever created. Again, black Americans were expected not to ask questions, not to demand substantive proof of any of these claims. We are only to look to the great white hopes and their shiny lawn jockey for direction. “Rest your simple little minds” they seem to be saying to us.
“Screw you buddy” is my eloquent response.
Bob Johnson no more speaks for me than Michael Jordan speaks for the child laborers who make the shoes bearing his name. Even if our community was a monolith Bob Johnson would not be one of us. He left our community long ago, deciding to exploit our images for his own personal gain. Now, that is his right and privilege as an American. As an economics student I can appreciate his hustle. But as a black American I reserve the right to revoke his “black spokesperson” card. When BET Uncut hit the airwaves Bob Johnson ceased to be relevant, if he ever was.
Then there is Bill. While our community is not a block of nameless, faceless sameness we do have some similarities. One of which is the drunk uncle. You know him – Rufus, Leroy, Little Man. He used to be a star running back in high school. Maybe he joined the military and has some benefits thanks to the shrapnel still lodged in his skull. He use to be good looking, had a lot of potential. The ladies loved him, money followed him. He was stylish, the life of the party.
But time has not been kind to your drunk uncle. His mojo don’t pull like it use to. The liquor has left hanging jowls and bitter tirades in its wake. He’s still welcome at the cook-out but people pull the kids closer and hide their purses. He is almost always the last one to leave, reluctant to relinquish this, his last shot at an audience.
Mr. Clinton you are the drunk uncle and while we entertain you no one is much listening to what you have to say. We see you for what you are – an aging statesman who has, perhaps, found Viagra not to be the wonder drug it claims? You are overstaying your welcome and destroying the legacy you had a shot at building. You sound shrill and desperate and condescending. Black America needs your tirade on fairytales about as much as you need to believe in another one. Your chance at Camelot ended with a thick-thighed girl and a stained dress. The only decent thing to do would be to leave before we pack up the potato salad.
And then there is Hillary Clinton. You may be qualified for president. Indeed, I think you are. In another time you may have cake-walked your way into history. But your plans met up with destiny. While you may still win, you are going to have to earn it. You will also have to earn the “black vote”, if there is indeed such a thing. The way to do that does not include telling us how to think. Neither should it include refusing to respect Barack Obama as the worthy candidate he is.
You meet equals with bigger guns. You outwork them. You outhustle them. You out politic them. You disparage those you find beneath you.
It would seem you don’t think the senator worthy of your best fought campaign. That is unfortunate. Because one of those other things that seems to run through black communities is our capacity for forgiveness, our ability to see beyond the very race thinking we are so often accused of to see a person as an individual. You had that chance until you refused to extend to us the same courtesy.
We are not a monolith.
We are not children.
We are not bargaining tools.
We are not sheep to be shepharded at the whims of a benevolent leader.
We are Americans.
We are voters.
And I dare to speak for this “black community” of which so many are fond of imagining when I say we look forward to divesting you of all these misconceptions in the voting booth.
That is not to say that black Americans do not share a great many social and cultural markers. We do. However, in the world of politics it would be a mistake to think we all share the same left-leaning principalities. We run the gamut from small business owners deathly afraid of mandatory minimum wage increases to green citizens who wants our government to tackle the issues of global warming.
We are not a monolith.
Neither are we children.
In light of the Clinton’s latest guerilla political attacks I find it necessary to assert both of these simple truths.
The 90s were great for America in general and for black Americans in particular. President Bill Clinton became for many of the face of that relative prosperity. Then there is his obvious love of a round ass and soul food. Add all of that up and you get a community happy to, for once, have a president with whom they can identify. We even crowned him, with a wink and smile, our first “black” President.
It would seem Bill didn’t get the wink. Neither did he or Hillary get the notice about black Americans not being foolish children in need of chastising. That is the latest ploy of the Clinton camp as they run against a dynamic, talented, qualified challenger in Barack Obama, you know, the guy who could actually be America’s first black president.
First, Hillary made it clear that civil rights would be nothing without a benevolent white president. She says MLK was great and all but it was Lyndon B. Johnson who made the real difference. From there a shrieking Bill wagged his finger at us and told us not to fall for the slick talking Obama campaign. It would seem we should just trust him on this matter – Barack means us no good for Mr. Clinton certainly provided no logical reasons for why we should not elect him. It would seem his word should be enough?
Then they rolled out one of the wealthiest black Americans, Bob Johnson, to speak that “colored talk” to South Carolina voters. He was also, presumably, charged with painting the Illinois Senator with the crack dealing brush that made his company, BET, one of the financially successful coon shows ever created. Again, black Americans were expected not to ask questions, not to demand substantive proof of any of these claims. We are only to look to the great white hopes and their shiny lawn jockey for direction. “Rest your simple little minds” they seem to be saying to us.
“Screw you buddy” is my eloquent response.
Bob Johnson no more speaks for me than Michael Jordan speaks for the child laborers who make the shoes bearing his name. Even if our community was a monolith Bob Johnson would not be one of us. He left our community long ago, deciding to exploit our images for his own personal gain. Now, that is his right and privilege as an American. As an economics student I can appreciate his hustle. But as a black American I reserve the right to revoke his “black spokesperson” card. When BET Uncut hit the airwaves Bob Johnson ceased to be relevant, if he ever was.
Then there is Bill. While our community is not a block of nameless, faceless sameness we do have some similarities. One of which is the drunk uncle. You know him – Rufus, Leroy, Little Man. He used to be a star running back in high school. Maybe he joined the military and has some benefits thanks to the shrapnel still lodged in his skull. He use to be good looking, had a lot of potential. The ladies loved him, money followed him. He was stylish, the life of the party.
But time has not been kind to your drunk uncle. His mojo don’t pull like it use to. The liquor has left hanging jowls and bitter tirades in its wake. He’s still welcome at the cook-out but people pull the kids closer and hide their purses. He is almost always the last one to leave, reluctant to relinquish this, his last shot at an audience.
Mr. Clinton you are the drunk uncle and while we entertain you no one is much listening to what you have to say. We see you for what you are – an aging statesman who has, perhaps, found Viagra not to be the wonder drug it claims? You are overstaying your welcome and destroying the legacy you had a shot at building. You sound shrill and desperate and condescending. Black America needs your tirade on fairytales about as much as you need to believe in another one. Your chance at Camelot ended with a thick-thighed girl and a stained dress. The only decent thing to do would be to leave before we pack up the potato salad.
And then there is Hillary Clinton. You may be qualified for president. Indeed, I think you are. In another time you may have cake-walked your way into history. But your plans met up with destiny. While you may still win, you are going to have to earn it. You will also have to earn the “black vote”, if there is indeed such a thing. The way to do that does not include telling us how to think. Neither should it include refusing to respect Barack Obama as the worthy candidate he is.
You meet equals with bigger guns. You outwork them. You outhustle them. You out politic them. You disparage those you find beneath you.
It would seem you don’t think the senator worthy of your best fought campaign. That is unfortunate. Because one of those other things that seems to run through black communities is our capacity for forgiveness, our ability to see beyond the very race thinking we are so often accused of to see a person as an individual. You had that chance until you refused to extend to us the same courtesy.
We are not a monolith.
We are not children.
We are not bargaining tools.
We are not sheep to be shepharded at the whims of a benevolent leader.
We are Americans.
We are voters.
And I dare to speak for this “black community” of which so many are fond of imagining when I say we look forward to divesting you of all these misconceptions in the voting booth.
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