I haven’t been in the mood for writing and am still recovering from Obama’s comments last Friday. The depth and seriousness of the comments y’all left were impressive. We even heard from a thoughtful member of Obama’s church. I haven’t reached a final decision but I will probably just sit this one out. I cannot feign enthusiasm. I just don’t have the energy. Rikyrah, I heard you loud and clear and remain unconvinced. Andrea, you smelled bullsh*t over two weeks ago and told us so, thanks.
Yeah well, I heard he messed up again ont he news didn’t listen much into it. It’s whatever may the best man win 
By: www.anythingblack.net on April 1, 2008
at 11:26 pm
He is just a professor, at the joysick of control of our heads. He knows how to play the game to access what he needs. A scientist who could even make White Supremacists feel little comfortable by appearing to be a Sell-Out to his own people. He is probally reading Skeptical Brotha laughing at the thought of how black people have still not figured out that one has to stategize with their opponents to win the game.
Arbitrary Interview with Obama, mentally speaking.
Cliff: Mr. Obama, the revolutionary black blogsphere feels that you’ve compromised your race, for the love of liberal whites, how do you feel about that?
Obama: They have no idea, what I’m doing to aquire my overall agenda. Didn’t they see “Training Day”, “This is Chess, not Checkers.”
Cliff: How do you feel about the plight of black people in this country sir? The masses of the races have their problems, but what types of solutions do you have for those at the bottom?
Obama: You know if it wasn’t for these white folks whoopin my ass over what my old uncle preached, I would easily forget who is at the bottom. I rose to top, play the game well. I have d–k control, they can’t find a mistress in America or Africa. I represent coming from the bottom to the top.
Cliff: You are black and white, Half of them, Half of us, which do you claim? Are an embodiment of assimilation because of your racial mixture?
Obama: I say I claim struggle, I say I claim pain, I encompass what you claim, affiliation to black people, affiliation with white folks I can’t help but claim, I am here to heal the white and the black problems.
Cliff Head: You mean to tell me that you have the power to heal all that? You remind me of Will Smith from I am Legend, “I CAN SAVE YOU, I CAN FIX THIS, I CAN SAVE EVERBODY”.
These people have hanged 10,000 times more black people than Michal Vick has hanged dogs. How can you save them? How can you fix this?
Obama: You know my old uncle can save them, through his pain. My white grandmother can save them through her pain. When speak the ills of our nation, we are truly healing the wounds of our nation, then that starts the process of change. We can rectify our problems with change, stategy, and work to build a better America. But most importantly God can save them.
Cliff”s Head: You sound like the averaged Safe Negro, who actually thinks that this system can work.
Obama: I am putting my life on the line to prove it, and I need the revolutionary black blogsphere’s support.
“CHANGE WE CAN BELIEVE IN”
By: Cliff on April 1, 2008
at 11:53 pm
SB,
I will not mess with you. I understand where you’re coming from, so we’ll just agree to disagree.
That thread below got way deep at times, which is why I love coming to your blog.
Cliff,
You are crazy…and I mean that in a positive way.
By: rikyrah on April 1, 2008
at 11:59 pm
Talk about fair weather friends, Skeptical Brotha. I’m not totally defending Senator Obama’s statements last week, but,damn man, can a brother get a break?!? Is he running to be the President of the Revolutionary Black Blogosphere or the United States of America. If we shouldn’t participate in the system, then I would rather you say that, but, under the strict rules of engagement you want to enforce, there’s no “wiggle” room for this man whatsoever. I agree, his speech should’ve put an end to the conversation concerning Rev. Wright, but one additional item was added. Does this disqualify him from receiving your support or do we just walk away and take up the Marcus Garvey philosophy and see about establishing our own society? Under your premise and most of the statements over at The Black Agenda, that’s the only alternative Blacks have within that philosophical context.
By: Henry on April 2, 2008
at 7:17 am
Look, Henry, while I see where you’re coming from, how many breaks do we give this brotha before we get the message that he will sling anyone under the bus to get the White House?
And he acts like he doesn’t want to be held accountable, either, because if so, Barack Obama knows that the one thing he should have defended, even if it meant losing POTUS, is his faith, and his spiritual mentors.
This didn’t happen overnight. In fact, we got wind of it, when he announced his candidacy, and sling Dr. Wright under the bus by dis-inviting him to the announcement. Barack knew that Dr. Wright and his association with the United Church of Christ was going to have media hounds and pigs like Sean Hannity after his ass, and he had every opportunity to corral and define this, and him, before it blew up into the controversy it shouldn’t have been.
I want a brotha in the White House, but not at these prices. And the way the DNC’s operating, Obama will have done everything they told him and they still give the nod to either Hillary or they bring in Gore and cancel out everybody.
And that should send Black People away from both political affiliations and turn us straight INDEPENDENT, so everybody has to whore for our votes and our voices from here on in.
What Obama has done is effectively silence the Black Church, and what’s worse, he’s doing it with the help of other self-serving cowardly Black preachers who hate on him, and at the same time, are probably running to him hat in hand, looking for a piece of the pie.
There’s compromise and then there’s flat SELLING OUT. We wanted change we could believe in - we had the audacity to HOPE this brotha would be the man for the job.
We’ve been hoodwinked, bamboozled, run amok and betrayed, and by one of our own. That’s a pain no white person can ever put on us, because we already expect it. But when it’s done by one of your own, there’s a pain so deep it’s beyond comprehension.
Glen Ford, my own mentor, shared this with me, after my roommate turned out to be as duplicitious as Barack Obama has:
“You’ve seen how she is, and what’s she’s capable of. You didn’t think that she’d do it to you.”
Barack Obama showed us he was quite capable of turning his back on African-Americans when it suits him. We just didn’t think he’d do it so soon, and in his quest for the White House. We are well aware he’s running for the office of POTUS, and not just Black America; however, we did have an expectation that some values were so part and parcel of him, that he wouldn’t sling them under the bus to make White America comfortable with him.
We got the first clue when he said back in 2004 “There is NO BLACK AMERICA”.
Someone should have hijacked that brotha off stage and told him “W-T-F? You bet your ass there’s a Black America; a White America; a Latino America; an Asian America, a Native American Indian America, and all those in-between. Figure out how you’re going to govern and serve over all of it.”
We drank Obama-aid instead. Except Andrea and I could never fully dive in. Now, we know why.
You can sing all the platitudes you want, but it is what it is.
As for me, I’m not sitting out the election - but neither Obama, McCain or the Borg Queen will get my vote. I will either vote for Cynthia McKinney or write in a candidate, even if the candidate is ME.
By: The Political Junkie on April 2, 2008
at 9:14 am
i’ve been gone for awhile, but i’ve tried to keep up with your blog. the Obama/Wright incident…
truthfully, im not surprised at Obama’s remarks. i agree with some of the thigns Wright was saying, but Obama’s backpeadling just reminds me that he ‘knows his place’ and what i mean by that is that he still has to play to whites, because the black vote will not carry him to the White House.
Obama strikes me as a candidate who sees the human before he sees the race. or at least thats the feel i get from his message. and to a certain extent, i agree…this is America..multiple races and ethnicities, and though no one group sholuld be singled out we all know that is indeed the case.
it would have been lovely for him to have stood by his Rev. i think the Rev’s remarks could have lead to a deeper dialogue about the way the Black Church and subsequently Black folks view our place in this country and the worlds perception of it as well.
i feel like the teeth are being bared and the race is getting rough. theyre going after Obama, and hes trying to uphold his image as this Kumbaya candidate because if he were to speak out and really start speaking some truths people would flip and call him unpatriotic, a race baiter, etc.
i gotta quote Huey from the boondocks for a second:
“Vision? What do you know about my vision? My vision would turn your world upside down, tear asunder your illusions, and send the sanctuary of your own ignorance crashing down around you. Now ask yourself, Are you ready to see that vision?”
the answer is no, we arent ready. but part of me wishes someone would crash and burn trying to bring that vision out so that we can at LEAST talk on a national level about WHY we arent ready. i know Andrea went through hell trying to get her vision out to us, but not enough of us know her story to be able to see what she was doing and know why/how things didnt work out.
i dont know what Obama’s true vision is. he’s black, he’s white…he’s a human being. im not expecting him to save Black folks. im expecting him to help us to make this nation better. he should have stood by his pastor, but i take his remarks as coming from someone who wants to win and realizes the hands will get dirty.
hes still got my support…and i mean there’s alwas Cynthia McKinney.
By: Storme on April 2, 2008
at 10:43 am
SB,
You have my deepest sympathies. Take a breather, chill, and come back swinging. This is politics, Brother. I’m a Socialist and Obama is also not Eugene Debs. He’s a Harvard Law Review Chief Editor–”O, we are boys of the law review/And we don’t smoke and we don’t chew/Nor will we go with girls who do/But we’ll eat fresh shit for a 92″–and he thinks and acts like one. But I forgive him because he’s the closest approximation to being on the People’s side of things I’ve seen since I can remember. He’s also reached out to Rev. Wright’s church when he didn’t have to–with his law degree he could have just gone off to Wall Street and made lotsa dough. Give him the benefit of the doubt. McCain and Clinton aren’t going to even pretend to help anyone on our side of things.
By: John Shreffler on April 2, 2008
at 11:12 am
Storme, your comments were deeply thought provoking and welcomed. Thanks.
As you said, and as I console myself with the thought - there’s always Cynthia McKinney.
Right now, I’m with SB - thought he might be more hurt than I am, because in the four years of politically observing Barack Obama, I expected him to disappoint. But we should have never crowned this brotha the next “great hope” until he showed the battlescars of earning that title.
It’s easy to quote Dr. King - it’s another to actually stand on your principles and live your life in the same manner he did. Many brothas couldn’t do it, and when he died, there weren’t too many brothas willing to pick up that mantle that was shot from his hands.
Enough talk; I’m ready to see someone walking it.
As for the Borg Queen, she will never get my vote, and if I ever see her or her husband in my hood trolling for support, I’m going to get as close as the Secret Service will allow me, and scream out “Barack Obama, byotches!!! You think you have something to offer Black People after what you did to him?”
I don’t agree with Obama’s platform or his platitudes, but the Clintons’ schtick let us know what they thought about Black People all these years; they just got tired of hiding it.
I agree with Huey Freeman - they can’t handle my vision…
By: The Political Junkie on April 2, 2008
at 11:58 am
At least he’s married to a real live “unpatriotic” (I guess no BS = unpatriotic in media terms) sista, and that’s good enough for me!
And yes God DAMN America, the horse it rode in on, and every hollow symbol and platitudes that will appear in any and all future Democratic and Republican Convention speeches!
By: Ernesto on April 2, 2008
at 12:02 pm
And he’s got my vote until he starts wearing one of those flag lapel pins…
By: Ernesto on April 2, 2008
at 12:07 pm
As an old white guy, I thought I would just sit this one out. If black people want to argue about Obama’s authenticity, I am hardly qualified to add my two cents, however, I saw the video below and was reminded what job Obama is running for and it is not the Perfect Man, not the Prefect Democrat, Not the Perfect Negro - he is running for the job of being the Best G-D Politician in the nation. The Best Politician! I’ve have seen decent men, like Jimmy Carter, be whipped by assholes like raygun because they were lousy politicians. Obama is the Best Politician I have ever seen. Better than raygun, better the JFK. I wish Dennis Kucinich had half his skills, but he doesn’t and I know to move this country away from the fascistic direction it has taken since the election of raygun it will take tremendous political skills. Obama has those skills. I have said before that he has the talent to be another FDR, someone who could define a political direction for a generation. My parents were FDR democrats, even though they had very different views on abortion, welfare, the place of god in government, etc , but they revered FDR because they knew, on a personal level, that every decision he made was with the countries welfare in mind. We are entering another time of real economic crisis, the chickens are coming home to roost ( or maybe roast!) and it will take someone of great political skill to defeat the hopelessness and cynicism on the one hand and impatience and anger on the other, that such a crisis always engenders. The fascistic elements of society will use this time to scapegoat those least able to fight back, and since they already own much of the media as well as most of the wealth, it will take extraordinary political talents to successfully circumvent them when possible and fight them when necessary. It is self evident that Obama has those skills. I believe he also has the guts and conscience. Please watch this NY Times video and see, not just his performance, but the people’s response.
By: john in california on April 2, 2008
at 2:20 pm
I find the new negroes’ unwillingness to cut Senator Obama even half the slack they cut white Democrats a perpetuation of white supremacy. How else to describe the impossibly high standards imposed on Senator Obama while expecting nothing more from the Clintons and their ilk than to not be called niggers, which would be a mere formality at this point.
By: Dawn on April 2, 2008
at 2:54 pm
Obama my niggum. I ain’t gonna turn my back on him. I’m just standing sideways.
By: imaG on April 2, 2008
at 4:32 pm
Dawn, the Clintons get no slack from me; I’ve been off their plantation since Bill messed it up for gays and lesbians in the military with that Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell BS, and “Mend It, Don’t End it” BS on civil rights and affirmative action.
I hold Obama to the same standards as I do the Clintons. More so on the Clintons, seeing as they had Honorary Negro Cards, which, in light of the campaign, I’m sure have been REVOKED.
But, the areas where Blacks expect their leaders to stand and not waiver is the area of their faith and the leaders to whom they submit themselves.
He slung Dr. Jeremiah Wright under the bus to appease the masses who haven’t bothered to listen to the entire sermon in full correct context.
I don’t know your familiarity with Blacks and Faith, but there’s lines you don’t cross, even for the Queen of England or the POTUS, and that’s standing up for your faith and your leader/instructor in that faith.
Obama’s willingness to do that is sending a message that we “fairweather” supporters are getting a lot of heartburn over. As in “If he does this to his pastor, what won’t he do in the White House?” as in “Who else will he be willing to screw over to appease his own Masters?”
Because he won’t be his own man as POTUS. He’ll be a puppet for anyone else with an agenda that further screws over the masses in favor of the elites. His ethnicity won’t matter because he will be equal opportunity in terms of the poor getting poorer, wars being fought and not won for no reason, and the rich getting richer.
He appears to have sold his SOUL to the devil of politics. Once you go there, he cannot return without destroying himself further in the process.
THAT’s what has most of us upset. On that principle, he could have handled it better, in a way that would have allowed him to stand firm on his faith and support his spiritual mentor, who, until this election, the Clintons had no problem surrounding themselves with when Bill’s DNA was found on the blue dress of a zaftig intern named Monica Lewinsky, and the Republicans impeached him for lying about a blow job he got in the Oval Office.
At least understand our sentiments before chucking bombs at us.
By: The Political Junkie on April 2, 2008
at 4:58 pm
“I don’t know your familiarity with Blacks and Faith, but there’s lines you don’t cross,…”
LMAO! Brotha, I group up in the Black church, east of the Anacostia River in SE DC. Our reverend was and still is as outspoken as Jeremiah Wright, so you are preaching to the choir, literally.
I’m not chucking bombs, just launching a counter offensive. It’s clear that you and I don’t walk the same line on faith and the Black church. See, I believe in staying in my own lane. The relationship between a person and their place of worship or spiritual conduit is as sacrosanct as a spousal relationship or that of a parent and child. My rule: mind your business!
I’m appalled by white AND Black folks alike for peering into their relationship. Not just peering, y’all done knocked the damn door down; raided the refrigerator and plopped down on the sofa to get a front row sit to their family drama.
I don’t know ANYTHING about Hillary Clinton’s or John McCain’s faiths or their places of worship, and I don’t want to know because it’s none of my damn business! And that’s the line the media NEVER crossed, but apparently the rules change when the color line changes, so-to-speak.
As to your charge that he threw Reverend Wright under the bus, it has no merit in the context of the full interview. You took ONE snippet from a 15 minute interview in which he continued to DEFEND Reverend Wright and the church! You have every right to take issue with his statements or actions, as free thinking Black man, but that does not change the reality that he does not owe you, Reverend Wright or any single person his candidacy!
You speak as if he owes you or Black folks a special debt. For what? He’s obligated to his campaign staff and ALL his supporters and contributors who have INVESTED their time, money, and dare I say hope into him to keeping his campaign afloat, which includes far more white folks than Black.
As I said, he is walking a delicate line that NO other politician in the history of American politics has ever had to walk, and I think he’s doing a damn good job under the circumstances. He has NOT compromised the dignity or the integrity of Reverend Wright or his church–or Black folks.
By: Dawn on April 2, 2008
at 5:52 pm
Y’all militant negroes are crazy bunch, for real. Sitting here typing on your fancy computers and ready to fight the power cause you’re held back. Please. Forever angry and can’t ever get ahead because you always got to prove how “down” you are. If Obama was running for President of Black America, pretty much all of you would be on point and have legitimate issues with the man. But he’s running for POTUS, for ALL people, including people who are White.
By: Bay on April 2, 2008
at 6:32 pm
“I don’t know your familiarity with Blacks and Faith, but there’s lines you don’t cross, even for the Queen of England or the POTUS, and that’s standing
up for your faith and your leader/instructor in that faith.” TPJ
On a whole different note… I think this is a dangerous type of theology that got so many black folks messed up. We don’t challenge our spiritual leaders. We accept all of their teaching, evenif it is dead wrong, as right. We place our preachers on a higher platform, even if we know what they’re all about is foolishness. We dare not question their authority. How many times have we heard, “Touch not mine anointed. Don’t put your mouth on the man of God.”?
With all do respect, this is the kind of thinking that I reject. There are times that our leaders do say something that we disagree with. Who are we to demand that Senator Obama stand up for something that he disagrees with? If he disagrees with a portion of Pastor Wright’s comments, he has a right to say so.
What’s a trip is that some of these same people that are ready to lie down on the railroad tracks to defend Rev. Wright’s statements are the same folks that are ready to throw certain preachers (Jakes, Long, and others) right down on those tracks.
Look, I think that Senator Obama could have handled this differently. But hwat… Are we expecting him to be perfect? Are we perfect? Do we do everything right 100% of the time? Be honest. Like I always say, be fair.
Here’s what I’m sick of… White and black folks talking about Obama/Wright. They won’t let it go. And we won’t either.
Obama got a black tax that’s being collected by white folks and black folks. And that ain’t cool at all.
By: Angie on April 2, 2008
at 6:59 pm
The point is: GROW UP. I know you don’t want to hear it but did you think he would get elected without having to make some tough decisions in every area of his life. The Black Church can never be silenced. If it can then God is not in that church. We may not like that he has to appeal to white folks to get in, but that’s the game that’s in play. I am HOPEFUL when he gets in he can make a difference. But I also no channging the way people think, react, and relate to one another will not come easy. Most of you didn’t even make past the first skirmish and folded like a Bitch. He is not going to go through this without ever making any mistakes. Pray for him those of you who believe.
By: Biggest on April 2, 2008
at 8:12 pm
Raygun…
BWA HA HA HA HA HA
I don’t know why, but I couldn’t stop laughing when I read that.
John, you always bring something that makes me smile.
By: rikyrah on April 2, 2008
at 8:51 pm
Rikyrah, my pleasure (but I must admit I picked up the trem in the ’80’s while working against raygun’s Central American murders)
By: john in california on April 2, 2008
at 9:15 pm
Dawn,
You went to Union Temple with Rev. Wilson, just like me.
By: TripLBee on April 3, 2008
at 1:38 am
John:
I like the way you Think.
By: Biggest on April 3, 2008
at 8:13 am
Listen, there are things my pastor says that I don’t agree with, either. But it appears that my post wasn’t fully understood, so I will clarify my position on this issue.
I’m glad that there are those of us who don’t blindly believe what our pastors say to us, because that’s where we get into a good deal of trouble with our beliefs. The bible does admonish us to “study to show thyself approved; a workman needing not be ashamed, rightfully divining the word of truth.” (2 Tim 2:14-15).
If I took everything my pastors have said as gospel, I’d be committed to an insane asylum.
However, I watched “The View” in its entirety, and maybe you have a different perspective on Sen. Obama’s comments regarding his pastor, but my interpretation was based upon previous factors that never sat well with me on this issue.
When he announced his candidacy, he took pains to distance himself from Dr. Wright back in February 2007. Which indicated he knew his church and his affiliation with Dr. Wright were going to be controversial issues that he could have dealt with early, instead of sweeping them under the rug.
His current pastor, Dr. Otis Moss, was invited as a replacement for Dr. Wright. Dr. Moss, out of respect for Dr. Wright, declined Obama’s invitation to the candidacy announcement. So, I think it’s fair to assess that Sen. Obama’s position was made a year ago regarding his pastor and his teachings.
I’m not sure what more I can say - and Dawn, I’m a sista who attends a church where my own pastor doesn’t mince words, and if you’ve ever attended Plymouth Church of Christ in Northeast DC, (my second church home) you know about Rev. Graydon Hagler - a radical if ever there was one. I realize Obama has a tightrope to walk (boy, as a political commentator as well as a Political Junkie working in the Federal Bureaucracy here in DC, do I know it).
One example I have of disagreeing with my church is their homophobia. Yes, I do know what the Bible teaches about homosexuality and whatnot, but no where do I see where Jesus said we’re supposed to be out in the street being intolerant of people, regardless of their identity or orientation. I’ve always believed the final call is God’s; all I can do is love and be compassionate toward those who are the downtrodden and beat down.
I want Sen. Obama to demonstrate he’s going to do that. He could have shut up the hags on the View by telling Elisabeth Hasselbeck that he’s already on record on the matter and he wasn’t going to discuss it anymore. He got sandbagged and he responded like he was sandbagged. That’s what’s upsetting me.
I’m very passionate about my beliefs, the causes I fight for, and the people I care about. I want some reassurance that Sen. Obama isn’t going to sling the downtrodden under the bus to appease the elites. Which is where he could very well find himself if he’s not given an accountability check.
We can’t give him passes because of the difficult road he’s chose to take. He’s asking to lead this nation, and someone asking to lead must be willing, ready and able to take on the mantle of leadership, which also includes accountability and a willingness to be called out and corrected when going off the straight and narrow. That is what I really wanted to say, but I’m not rescinding what I’ve already stated.
Thanks for your comments.
By: The Political Junkie on April 3, 2008
at 9:23 am
Amazing! Its too bad many Black people pinned their hopes on a politician. Yes, first and foremost Obama is a POLITICIAN, an American absolutely (his words) and then a Black man (not his words). What is most important to him, a POLITICIAN, is to win the presidency period. If that takes selling out his mama, grandmama, wife (he didn’t put up much of a defense for the person he sleeps next to in the bed each night when she came under fire) or minister and continue to repudiate his minister, he will do it to win the presidency. Obama, a POLITICIAN will do that. Obama is a POLITICIAN so only expect the works of a POLITICIAN, nothing more.
By: Ensayn on April 3, 2008
at 10:32 am
TripLBee,
You peeped that?! Yep, Union Temple!
By: Dawn on April 3, 2008
at 11:02 am
“I want Sen. Obama to demonstrate he’s going to do that. He could have shut up the hags on the View by telling Elisabeth Hasselbeck that he’s already on record on the matter and he wasn’t going to discuss it anymore.”
So effectively you wanted him to give the media and his critics the rope to hang him as the angry and defensive Black man?
I agree that he should have been more readily prepared for the question because he’s going to have to answer it time-and-time again. And he can NOT dismiss voters concerns about it! He can only continue to defend the church, the Reverend (not his words), and assure voters that he in no way shares the view that God should damn America.
“I want some reassurance that Sen. Obama isn’t going to sling the downtrodden under the bus to appease the elites.”
I’m guessing you’ve never made such demands of white Democrats or you haven’t voted for a major party ticket in your lifetime, because as we both know, there isn’t any elected official in the Washington, DC area that meets that standard. And damn sure not a major party nominee for president in the history of this country.
By: Dawn on April 3, 2008
at 11:14 am
Ensayn,
I’m reluctant to respond to your post, but I feel compelled to set the record straight on Obama’s defens of his wife. Firstly, he has come to his wife’s defense each and every time she has come under fire! The media chose not to give it much national attention.
Secondly, and more importantly, there is not a Black woman who has ever been honored on a national stage in the way Senator Obama honored Michelle Obama on the night of the Iowa caucus.
By: Dawn on April 3, 2008
at 11:20 am
Dawn,
Does Rev. Willie Wilson know how fractured you are?
This in which you are using as justification is what has produced such cheap whores of the electorate as yourself! How can the people be held up to more when the people have such cheap and reduced expectations?
Just because you are that cynical in seeing in your lifetime that there has been no one to meet the altruistic bar of measure, it does nothing for life itself or for the value of your existence to have such reduced value sentiments or expectations of the world and yourself included.
The lower we allow the bar to be for mankind, the cheaper the value of the results will factor. And further as Blacks, this is the formula that you use as an excuse that has squandored our heritage and values. We have tried to validate minimizing character for the end-game. Huh!
You disgust me!
By: Andrea on April 3, 2008
at 11:25 am
Dawn,
I grew up in Union Temple but left in my early 20s because I was turned off by Rev. Wilson’s pretty intense homophobia and his habit of hating on whatever new immigrant group was running the corner stores in the neighborhood. (Arabs, Koreans… I stopped feeling uplifted.
I now live in Chicago and go to Trinity about once a month. I really like Rev. Wright. Of course I don’t agree with everything he says, but the clips we see on CNN are intentionally distorted.
I think that Obama has handled the whole thing brilliantly considering the impossible situation he is in. I think he took the bait during “the View” conversation, but the guy isn’t perfect and I can’t see that he committed some mortal sin. For the life of me I cannot figure out why some black folks think that he’s some kind of Uncle Tom.
A year ago when Tavis Smiley and Cornell West—brothers I truly respect—were asking whether or not Barack was black enough, I was disgusted. This stuff with Rev. Wright is pretty well designed to get black folks to pose that question again and to get white folks to brand him a black radical. It’s a tried and true strategy.
I’m not sure what some of the people in here want from this brother and why they don’t allow him to make a mistake from time to time. He’s not Huey Newton but he’s not a typical shuck and jive black politician either. Some people say they want Cynthia McKinney. That’s all fine and well. She’s been through the storm and has resurrected her political career on several occasions. But she could never be President of the United States. A year ago I didn’t think Barack could be either. I wonder why we can’t just enjoy this ride and support him and pray for him, and hold him up when he makes a mistake. My guess is that is what Rev. Wright is doing.
By: TripLBee on April 3, 2008
at 11:31 am
Skeptical Brotha, I will kindly ask you to continue your support for the senator.
One thing that I will say is that that “colorblind” coalition thing feel apart for me. Simply because it has been made obvious that people dont want to build a coalition based on truth.
By: RhondaCoca on April 3, 2008
at 11:38 am
The only point I’d like to add here is that during your course of examining the drama surrounding who has to leave or distance themselves from the various campaigns, be sure to keep an eye out for who gets to stick around.
That speaks volumes as well.
By: Denise on April 3, 2008
at 12:33 pm
Denise:
Co-sign, and double that. Who sticks and stays is going to determine the agenda, big time.
By: The Political Junkie on April 3, 2008
at 12:58 pm
Andrea:
You called BS two weeks ago. Thank you for keeping it real, regardless of how many told you to dial it back.
Dialing it back has gotten us into this mess. And it is obvious that some come to this board and haven’t figured out that I run a project that does nothing but call out the Black politicians who sell out our interests in the name of Congressional Representation.
I’m tired of compromise, and we should be tired of giving free passes that do nothing but make sure the elites are cared for while we get screwed.
I thought I was in NO-Man’s Land on this and you come along to encourage a sista. Thanks.
By: The Political Junkie on April 3, 2008
at 1:01 pm
TripLBee:
I haven’t put Obama in the “Handkerchied Head” category - to me, that’s going too far out there.
But don’t we have a responsibility to hold this brotha to the same standard that we have done previous POTUS candidates? I’m well aware he got strikes against him going in, but at some point, he must make a decision that some values are off limits and no room for compromising, EVER.
You deliver insightful comments, and I thought I was weird in terms of my Christian faith because I’m not willing to go out and beat up or harass gays and lesbians, because they are gays and lesbians. When I see anyone going off because of race, gender, identity - that person is telling me that they are insecure in who they are, and they are also afraid of what they perceive to be unknowns.
I respect your positions and on many points I think we agree. Blessings.
By: The Political Junkie on April 3, 2008
at 1:37 pm
Political Junkie,
In many ways Barack should be held to a higher standard. He has set a higher standard for himself.
I was disappointed by his response to Barbara Walters. But I don’t think it was a mortal sin. I am disappointed by his pandering to the Israeli right, especially because I don’t think he really believes what he says regarding the Israeli govt’s militarism. I am disappointed by his reflexive pro-US military comments.
But at the end of the day I also see someone campaigning for president who refuses to wear one of those silly American flag lapel pins. I see someone who was raised as “Barry” who has changed back to his African name—Barack—at precisely the time he entered political life. I see someone who challenges homophobia and conservative orthodoxy. I see someone who challenges some of the orthodoxies in the black community that I consider debilitating. The bottom line is that I see so, so much more good than bad. And I pinch myself when I see that this brother has a very real chance of being the next US President.
He is light years better than the next best option. That does not make him perfect or above criticism. But I am genuinely confused by some of the tone in this chat, that seems to suggest that he is another worthless Uncle Tom who will do anything to become President. Again, I was disappointed by his comments on the View. But I think he tried in an honest and graceful way to explain the complexity of his relationship to Rev. Wright during his race speech. I didn’t think he threw him under the bus at all. He said that he was family and that he loved him. And I’m sure that he meant it.
Thanks for the dialogue. It’s a pleasure to exchange ideas rather than insults.
By: TripLBee on April 3, 2008
at 2:18 pm
You all do realize he was bound to say something you wouldn’t like. And as soon as he did, yall blew up the life-rafts and abandoned ship!
If we’re going to support the guy, we have to be (euphemistically speaking) balls to the walls. They nay-sayers are looking for us to flake off, esp. after all this mess. We just have to reaffirm the reason(s) why we are going to vote for him in Nov -and if you have no reasons after doing that, then walk away.
Peace.
By: rene on April 3, 2008
at 2:50 pm
@Dawn, I never said he didn’t defend her I said not much of a defense. There is a difference.
You also said “Secondly, and more importantly, there is not a Black woman who has ever been honored on a national stage in the way Senator Obama honored Michelle Obama on the night of the Iowa caucus”
I don’t think this has anything to do with what I am talking about. Nor does it have anything to do with the fact that people are disappointed in Barak for being a politician and doing what politicians do.
By: Ensayn on April 3, 2008
at 3:35 pm
Andrea,
I love you too! I would be offended by your insults if they weren’t so sanctimonious and completely unoriginal.
To answer your question, NO, Reverend Wilson, does not know that I’m fractured. He in fact knows that my faith is unyielding and love and commitment to Black folks is undying.
Contrary to your ASSertions and ASSumptions, my support of Senator Obama is not self-serving or some sort of warped exercise in moral and social capitulation. I support Senator Obama to honor the people who have loved and sacrificed for me all of my life.
I support Senator Obama for my grandmother who labored 40 years as a hotel domestic literally cleaning up the shit of white folks only to retire with a cheap scarf to “honor” her service. But she walked out of that hotel unbowed and unbitter. Over a lifetime of disappointment and unrealized dreams, she has been conditioned to ask for nothing and expect even less. HOWEVER, she has allowed herself to dream of a Black president during her lifetime. Her three loves are Jesus Christ, her family and Barack Obama. When she gets down her knees to pray each night, she includes Senator Obama. If that lady who has given and sacrificed everything for her family can get down on her aching knees for Obama, I can stand up for her by doing everything I can to get him elected.
I support Senator Obama for my great uncle who served valiantly in combat during the Korean War only to be relegated to a cook for 30 years thereafter. Unlike my grandmother, he is quite bitter, but he has every right to be. We call him ‘mean old Uncle Smitty’, but he’s a good man and a giving man. I don’t think I had ever seen him openly celebrate or rejoice—until Senator Obama won the IA Caucus. I think he sees Senator Obama as the personification of the success and respect that he and most Black men of his generation were denied. Yeah, Obama is his revenge and validation. This country owes my uncle and the millions more, so if Obama is good enough recompense for him, he’s good enough for me.
I support Senator Obama for my 15-year-old son who, as Michelle Obama would say, has done EVERYTHING asked of him and more! He has worked his ass off in school to become an honor student at a mostly white academic power house. He’s at that age where if you cry, you’re a punk. But the night Senator Obama won the IA Caucus, he cried with me (then he went out on the lawn and did that silly soldier boy dance). I think that was the first time he believed my telling him all his life that he can be anything he wanted if he worked for it wasn’t BS! Obama is making my son and millions of Black kids around the country believe in themselves. Senator Obama my not be meeting your high expectations, but he’s elevating their’s—for themselves—and that’s all that matters!
So, you are free to call me whore! But get it right…I’m not your average whore; I’m Obama’s bitch!
By: Dawn on April 4, 2008
at 8:51 am
TripLBee,
Reverend Wilson’s homophobia has been a sore spot for me as well, but it’s a cancer in many Black churches and the community as a whole, so we, as a people, have a lot of collective progress to make. I think he got a big wake-up call when he got the huge backlash from his crazy comments about turning to lesbianism because we’re making more money than our men.
By: Dawn on April 4, 2008
at 9:01 am
Let’s meet with Rev. Willie Wilson and talk about this…me, being a bitch and you, disgusting me. How about it?
See…I know I am a bitch and that is not, uh…an issue of discontent internally for me and it’s not an issue of discontent of myself in self-dialogue with me. That is who I am! And being a bitch is what I do in the weight of relative existence.
I’m not easy. I am complicated. So, yes, I am a Bitch. But seeing you try to shame me of it is even more troubling than you simply disgusting me.
You are not “getting” some things about yourself. I EXPECT MORE OF YOU (and everyone else) AND YOU EXPECT LESS OF ME! That’s what activists do. Activists are pains in the ass. We are! And we know everyone will not and does not like us.
For people to not like us, we know our work is being done. To be like too much we know that something is not right. So being ripped apart is like breathing for me and other REAL activists. Business activists, governmental activists, and social activists will all tell you that being disliked and attacked is part of the call. Marketers who say they are activists, are more concerned with the main objection of being liked to sell more while activists are consumed obsessively with making change if need be by making points.
I am willing to meet over at the church for you and I to have counseling with him over my said statements that I am disgusted with you and that you are fractured. I am completely confident to share anything that I have said here or ever in life that you can dig up with your pastor to explain why I am a “bitch”.
You assailed people here for having the temerity to actualize resistance to renig and retract their continual support of Barack as if the act relegates them as defective and fraudulent of having conviction. You further pummelled that for it in public exhibition of the retraction, those people, including me, could only be acting out self-righteous indignation on our part being, “Black People with issues”. We, here, who deny Obama now or have for some time are not denying that but you have tried to shame us for summoning our integrity and commitments.
So I would like to take this out of cyberspace and meet you over at the church with Rev. Wilson but I am still disgusted with you and your weak excuses to prove a point to counter what I wrote and challenged of you:
”
Dawn,
Does Rev. Willie Wilson know how fractured you are?
This in which you are using as justification is what has produced such cheap whores of the electorate as yourself! How can the people be held up to more when the people have such cheap and reduced expectations?
Just because you are that cynical in seeing in your lifetime that there has been no one to meet the altruistic bar of measure, it does nothing for life itself or for the value of your existence to have such reduced value sentiments or expectations of the world and yourself included.
The lower we allow the bar to be for mankind, the cheaper the value of the results will factor. And further as Blacks, this is the formula that you use as an excuse that has squandored our heritage and values. We have tried to validate minimizing character for the end-game. Huh!
You disgust me!”
So how ’bout it? My entire weekend is free and I would like to have a mediator of the cloth there to articulate. And if you can’t or Rev. Wilson can’t meet up this weekend, I will gladly reschedule. Maybe we can like…post our arguments and mediation here.
And maybe we can get Political Junkie to sit with us because continuing to exchange with you here is clearly missing the points we are trying to make with you. Seeing that you are within the same city limits we need to work this out IF YOU REALLY WANT TO but talking to you has since shown to be an issue of you not hearing what we are saying and where what we say is coming from.
I do know that your Reverand will be of service to aid and assist you and us in brokering a better understanding of things said and my utmost intent that I stand up to everything I said to you in challenge.
I stand by this request.
By: Andrea on April 4, 2008
at 10:21 am
Andrea,
You are a great wordsmith, but I would respectfully suggest that you stop reading between the lines and actually read the lines. If you do so without your lens of moral superiority, you will see that I did NOT call YOU a bitch, but jokingly called myself a bitch, “Obama’s bitch,” in response to you calling me a whore.
As to your offer to sumbmit myself to some sort of socio-political exorcism at Union Temple, umm, no thank you! You see, I don’t need or seek your validation or approval. I have a solid sense of self and a clear understanding of my commitment to God and Community. And I don’t need you or any other imperfect servant, as we all are, to redefine that for me, with all due respect.
There is a big difference between not understanding and not agreeing. I fully understand your perspective, but I just don’t agree with it.
By: Dawn on April 4, 2008
at 11:02 am
Dawn,
Your grandmother’s dreams have not gone unrealized. You and your son are her realized dreams. I am so, so proud to witness people like you coming out of Southeast. Good Lord…”life aint no crystal stair” in SE.
And even though I’m not a big fan of Andrea’s invectives, I have to say that I’m also proud of her being a product of Northeast. Not so much because she’s called you names, but because as you say, she is a great wordsmith. I’m even proud of NQuest, who has called me every name in the book, because he is well read and educated and opinionated.
I dreamed about having these kinds of discussions when I was a little kid. So I’m willing to abide by some condescension and invective because in many ways these discussions are the embodiment of my dreams.
Peace and love to you, your granda, your son and Uncle Smitty.
By: TripLBee on April 4, 2008
at 11:20 am
Oh, come on!
But I do think we should take this further since we are in the same city and now you have clarified you are “Obama’s bitch”. That’s weird! That’s something still that disgusts me. I have never implied to be anyone’s bitch. That’s depressingly subservient, Dawn. I thought you called me a bitch because I would never had considered that Obama had bitches on retainer or even freelancing for him. That’s startling!
As for meeting with me and Rev. Wilson, I am not soliciting an approach for you to seek approval of me and it be a one-sided attack. I think that your Reverand would understand me becuase I have been engaged with him and several of your fellow churchgoers to know how they think. I know some are regressive and some are progressive. I see the value of the opportunity to get through to you within the proximity of our space (DC) to hash this out with your pastor because I get you but you don’t get me or Political Junkie, really.
You sound nothing like your pastor in any tone of his and yet I do know that a lot of the flock are nothing like him in of his tone and sensibilities. However your onslaughts here now say you fully understand our perspective when I am are clearly aware that you are saying this now to save face. I just want your pastor to know of someone here, on this blog, in his flock so brazeningly tone-deaf and suffering from cognitive dissonance. It’s not about us not agreeing when you launched on us and have been calling us out for proclaiming to own up to our obligations to exercise higher integrity instead of enabling the pathological relationships we have with Barack. Rev. Wilson can build on this development to maybe understand more recent developmental components of his flock and what could and is going to arise of his flock as a result of this election process. This process is a hum-dinger.
So why not?
I think this what we can do in mediation is of value for the entire culture because believe me, there is more to come after his choice made of the significance of today and when the Right opens a can of character challenge on him for everyone to see what he is made of. We have not seen anything yet and I know after what I have seen with the White Liberal Elites here and their expectations, the nomination is going to rougher on Black People’s feelings finding out where he stands when in the fire.
I want to meet you. I’m not afraid. That’s what an activist does. So don’t sit in your corner blogging and thinking Blacks don’t try to mediate ideas and philosophies. I am extending an invitation.
Let’s build on this.
And I can’t speak for Political Junkie but I do know she is an activist who is not afraid either to go there.
By: Andrea on April 4, 2008
at 11:50 am
IT’S ABOUT TIME that another black man felt the same way as I do!
To be honest, this election has the worst choices in history. And that’s because we have no current politicians who could actually step up to the plate in 2012 or 2016, let alone now in 2008.
Obama’s a smart guy, a good father, and a seasoned orator and attorney. He’s just not the person I had in mind for FIRST BLACK PRESIDENT. I know that many people are gonna attack you and me, but who cares? This country was founded on the morals of people who had a different opinion from the majority. I ain’t changing mine no matter how much people object.
Plus, people need to stop posting to other people ON YOUR BLOG! If they did that on GO ZACK, I’d delete the comments. Real talk. That’s not cool. It’s Skeptical Brotha’s blog, not TripLBee’s blog.
But whatever….
By: Zack on April 6, 2008
at 3:30 pm