What are black Americans so upset about as it concerns Barack Obama's presidency?
Jobs apparently. That and the fact that as the lyrics to the 70's black sitcom the Jefferson's once proclaimed: "We're moving on up! and we finally got a piece of the pie!" Well, apparently not. Apparently, many black Americans believe that Barack Obama hasn't delivered that pie and they are mad as hell about it.
Black leaders turn up the heat on Obama
The leaders are tired, they say, of Obama dog-whistling his support for a broad black agenda rather than explicitly embracing the kind of war on racism, poverty and economic segregation embodied by King.
“You can spend a lot of time trying to win over white independents, but if you don’t pay attention to your base, African-Americans, if you have not locked up your base yet, you’ve got a serious problem,” said CNN contributor Roland Martin.
And then there is this from Maxine Waters of The Congressional Black Caucus.... So, if you follow the commentary coming from many black leaders like Maxine Waters and Roland Martin, the reality seems to be clear. Most blacks in America are upset that they have not realized the so called dreams of "yes we can" as they envisioned them three years ago when they voted in mass to elect Barack Obama.
Apparently, most blacks in America figured they would have an inside track and their own 'go to guy' in the White House, if Barack Obama was elected president. Listen and read through the code speak coming out of the Congressional Black Caucus members and other prominent black leaders across America. Barack has let them down. The unemployment rate in black America is twice or more than the national average is and that is not acceptable.
And to top it all off, the president has failed to exclusively cater to the laundry list of those like Beatrice King (daughter of Martin Luther King Jr.), who feel that he hasn't done enough for those she calls the "oppressed and marginalized." Listening to her speech in the run up to the dedication of the King monument on the National Mall is enough for anyone to understand that there is a significant black undercurrent in America that is dissatisfied with America's first black president.
He simply hasn't lived up to his hype or his speeches or his promises to black America. He spent more time trying to sway white independents than he did doing what blacks who voted for him desired (in their opinion). Barack Obama has failed to tilt the bounty toward black America. Forget about any visions of equality. Many blacks in America are long past seeking equality. They want reparations, be they openly handed out by the president from the public treasury, or concealed in programs that are specifically designed and aimed to benefit only blacks in America.
Much of that has already gone on over the last forty years since Lyndon Johnson's Great Society, but contemporary black Americans want more. They are demanding more. The playing field transitioned from attempts at leveling, to an outright unabashed full tilt bias toward black favoritism. A favoritism in everything from housing to education, to jobs, to elected office. These standards were established and reestablished and the advantage was given to blacks 'Carte Blanche' to achieve it. Most called it affirmative action and indignantly defended it as a just resolution to the history of slavery and disenfranchisement.
But when does it end? Is there a shelf life? No. Civil rights has become a cottage industry in this country and those who hustle the never ending representations of racism as the root cause of all evils, will never willingly drop their pursuits or desires to obtain benefits above and beyond every other race, group, or class of people in this country.
Thus is the dilemma for Barack Obama. How can he deliver what he seemingly promised, while at the same time attempting to represent the country as a whole. Personally, I don't believe that Barack Obama has any true racial identity. We all know that he is the product of a bi-racial marriage between an African born black man and an American born white woman, but Barack Obama's loyalties lie in neither race. Barack Obama has clung to the black side of his heritage, because of political expediency.
Simply stated, being black allowed him far more opportunities than the white half of his heritage and he took advantage of it every step of the way. From the days of his youth in college and right on into politics. He learned how to get on the right side of that tilted racial playing field and bounce until the benefits he desired began to flood his way.
I firmly believe that as far as racial identities go, Barack Obama's political identity trumps his racial identity on all levels. I also believe that if you could look into his 'heart of hearts' and see his true loyalties? You would discover that he is far more aligned with his black African heritage, than any black American roots he may have represented to attain his political goals.
Barack Obama knows how to play the racial buzz words and how to align himself with the popular cultural allegiances to obtain his own personal political goals via the race game. His record demonstrates that. Now the question is simply this. Can he maintain his persona of 'the man behind the curtain' manipulating the Great and Powerful Oz for black America. Or has black America finally begun to awaken to who the man really is and the fact that as far as black America is concerned, those interests don't meld into his larger world view of how he wants to permanently impact this country.
I believe that black America is waking up and even those like Maxine Waters are beginning to realize that their great black hope ain't exactly what was advertised.
No comments:
Post a Comment