Darnit, Rev. Wright! You Done Wrong!

Alright, see, this is just so frustrating in a way because:

1. Rev. Wright's speech at the NAACP Awards was SUPERB, outstanding, factually accurate, inspirational, even entertaining. His discussion of America and "difference" not being "deficient" was just wonderful. He wasn't Barack. He wasn't Michael Dyson or Cornel West. He wasn't Snoop Dogg. But he was wonderful.

2. I missed the interview he did with Bill Moyer and only caught a snippet of it; but even then, it was okay.

3. I caught only a part of his speech at the National Press Club but even that speech was very good. (I was giving finals, forgive me)

4. I only heard about the disaster of the Q & A but when I saw the recap, my heart sunk a bit. See, that was all about ego. I defended Wright's need to come out and give his speech and stand up for himself, Black liberation theology, the Black Church and even set the record straight about a few things. He did that very well and on every occasion --- until that Q & A.

Wright is a public intellectual, not just a preacher. He has a responsibility, especially in this country, when we can name the Black public intellectuals we see on TV on one hand (a testament about America in and of itself). And, unfortunately, there is no reason why you should be throwing up Que (Psi Phi) signs, dancing at the mic, suggesting you should be Vice President and undercutting Barack Obama's chances.

It's sad but I felt that Rev. Wright doing this was a bit vindictive and also rested in ego-mongering. And, please, I live in the Hill District, I get enough of that b.s. every day or at least every Monday.

It's just hurtful and Wright did not just hurt Obama, he hurt all of us who are out here in the public, he hurt all Black radicals and progressives, he hurt all ministers and he most certainly hurt the everyday people who are still riding for Barack.

I am still riding for Barack . . . BUT:

Barack needs not to listen to his campaign managers all the time. What his campaign managers should have done was to bring out the Black intellectuals AND all progressive intellectuals who could accurately verify much of what Wright said in his previous speeches.

Yes. Unfortunately, Wright's antics have overshadowed the fact that 99% of what he has said in his speeches is entirely accurate. Even Thomas Jefferson thought that America was, literally, God-damned. Harriet Beecher Stowe, an avid abolitionist, feared that if America did not repent for 'Her' original sin (slavery), America would be God-damned. Heck, even Pat Buchanan feels that liberal tolerance of homosexuality and abortion makes America God-damned. If we added up all the Americans (of any ethnicity) who believed that America was God-damned, we might find we outnumber the terrorists who believe the same---albeit for different reasons.

So, this is why I say that the public intellectuals should have stepped up. Let the media see what Howard Zinn has to say. Let Tim Rice speak up. Check out Michigan State University's Race Conferences and pick ANY of those folks. Personally, I can contextualize and provide greater understanding for Wright's commentary with my eyes closed, including the accusation that the U.S. Government invented AIDS---because I was an Africana Studies major and I'm a scholar of American Studies. And in these kinds of ignorant newsmaking and viewership, I cannot overstate the need for an intellectual conversation about what has been happening and why race is still a problem in America.

As far-fetched as the AIDS in America theory sounds and as ridiculous as it seems, there are real and factual reasons why even this paranoia is perfectly valid---especially if you're Black. I'm not saying Barack needs to validate that. But Rev. Wright is not crazy for believing it, although he might be irresponsibile for putting that theory out there without providing the factual information to back it up. Besides, this is not just a Black theory. This theory has been touted and put forth by The Strecker Memorandum and many others, including many doctors who live outside of the United States.

And let's not act like spreading disease as a form of biological and chemical warfare is somehow inexplicable. Smallpox in Indian blankets, anyone? Tuskegee Syphilis experiment, anyone? Agent Orange, anyone?

I mean, come on . . .

Anyway, my point is that if Rev. Wright had been properly supported in the mainstream, he might not have felt the need to lash out and defend himself---and then act a fool.

I'm embarrassed and sad that he chose to do that and I know it must be painful for all involved.

In the end, people are not thinking about Rev. Wright. People are worried about their gas, worried about their rent, worried about losing their homes and worried about their jobs. If the media wants to focus on Rev. Wright, fine. But the more responsible thing to do is focus on the candidates, themselves, their ideas and how they plan to change this country.

For me, Barack Obama is still the change I can believe in.

And I am 100% committed to making Michelle Obama my first lady.

Fox News Has No Shame Miseducating the Public

I always love it when The Simpsons, produced at Fox Studios, makes fun of Fox News. They can't help themselves. And with this type of shoddy reporting---purposefully misquoting people, taking things out of context---they deserve it.

Meet the (White) Man Who Inspired Rev. Wright’s Controversial Sermon

Long story short, Rev. Wright was quoting Ed Peck, a (30 year career veteran) US Ambassador to Iraq who had long ago warned against the war in Iraq and also highlighted that there was no relationship between Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein. Fox News interviewed him and, of course, he’s apparently not ever been invited back.

Hence, one of Fox News' most egregious examples of purposeful misrepresentation is this one, over Rev. Jeremiah Wright of Trinity Church, of whom I've grown quite fond during these last few days since I've been back home. So, thank you, Fox News, for introducing me to a pastor of the old school. I love the Black Liberation Theologians and Preachers. Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. was one. Min. Malcolm X was one. Rev. Joseph Lowery is one. And there are so many others, including those who stood up in the Historic Hill District to prevent a casino from being placed in our neighborhood and who demand proper and full reinvestment to our community via a Community Benefits Agreement.

See for yourself and be healed from right wing race-mongering:

And THANK YOU to the Trinity Church member who provided a competing and clarifying narrative for us. Please share with everyone at Trinity that we are rooting for you over here in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania!

This Wednesday, March 26, 2008, hear Rev. Jeremiah Wright's speech that is now known as the "God-damned America" speech. The accurate title is "Confusing God and Government" but who cares about the facts, right?:

Ebony Spectrum- Black Talk Radio-WRCT FM 88.3 (<-- click for webcast)

Host: Rick Adams, Co-Host Producer: Kevin Amos

Every Wednesday 6-7 PM EST/DST

Word.

"God Bless America . . . and nobody else!" (Chris Rock, "Head of State")

My Thoughts Exactly! Barack the Vote!

Once again, Barack Obama shows he's the better man for the job with clear thinking, proper analysis and more conviction. Bush is a liar, a joke, a national shame and an international disgrace. I felt icky just watching him stumble through his speech tonight and it's just said because the American people deserve better leadership. Do what's right. Barack the vote!

Barack the Vote!

Barack won the Iowa primary!!!

Just understand . . . Black man wins in one of the whitest states in the U.S.

No, race should not matter but it does. So, Iowans proved that they are willing to look past the artificial and embrace visionary change for the U.S. Good for them! Good for us!

Barack Says:

"You came together as Democrats, Republicans and independents to stand up and say that we are one nation, we are one people and our time for change has come."

Why Barack?
Intelligent
Grassroots activist and organizer for decades
Humanist
Senator
Good father
Good husband
Servant of the people
The Audacity to Hope!

Barack Says:

"You've got to have hope if you are a black man named Obama running for the presidency of the United States of America."

Oh yes! And for those who think he's too young, just know that he is the same age that Bill Clinton was when he was first elected President of the United States of America.

"Obama Shows Blacks Can Win"

"Obama Wins Iowa on 'Change' Issue"

Thank you, Oprah! You really put your money where your mind is!
Thank you, Michelle, you are going to be the Best. First. Lady. Ever!




Barack for President!
Barack the Vote!

She's Right

So, yeah, I support Barack but after reading this essay, I have to say, "damn, she's right".


Is Obama Black Enough?
By Grace Lee Boggs


This is a good question because it challenges us to stop glossing over the huge changes that have taken place, both positively and negatively, in black leadership over the last 50 years.

In the 50s and 60s we may not have called it “black leadership” but there was no doubt what we had in mind. We were talking about “the movement.” Southern blacks, rising out of obscurity, determined to rid their communities and this country of Jim Crow, risking their lives by sitting in front seats on buses, sitting down at lunch counters, registering to vote. Small groups of deeply-committed and highly-disciplined individuals engaging in non-violent actions that forced millions of white Americans to look at themselves and recognize the crimes that have made possible the rapid economic development of this country. SNCC students transforming themselves and humanizing this country by simple acts that raised the fundamental question of what it means to be a human being, thereby inspiring women, Latinos, Native Americans and Asian Americans to challenge patriarchy and racism.

In the North men like Malcolm challenged us to look into the mirror by transforming themselves from hustlers into community leaders and searching for new ideas when those which had initially inspired their transformation tuned out to be too narrow. Students inspired us by walking out of schools demanding black history and black administrators.

Between 1965 (the year Malcolm was killed) and 1968 (the year Martin was gunned down) black leadership was taken to a new level by King. Agonizing over the twin crises of the Vietnam war and the urban rebellions, he called for a radical revolution in values, not only against racism but against materialism and militarism. Warning against integration into the “burning house” of U.S. capitalism, he emphasized the need for two-sided transformation by and of Americans, both of ourselves AND our institutions, a transformation that would take us and the world beyond both traditional capitalism and communism.

King was killed before he could put this new revolutionary/evolutionary transformational vision of revolution into practice and make it widely known to the world.

After his death civil rights leaders, ignoring King’s warning, seized upon the opportunities that had been opened up by “the movement” to enter the “burning house” of U. S. capitalism. Instead of calling upon the American people to confront our consumerism and militarism, instead of challenging corporate globalism, these opportunists became a part of the system, evaluating black progress by how much they and other blacks were catching up with whites.

In 1977, with the support of the civil rights establishment, Maynard Jackson, Atlanta’s first black mayor, used scabs to break the garbage workers strike. In the late 70s civil rights leaders turned blacks into a special interest group inside the Democratic Party, just as the Democrats were becoming indistinguishable from Republicans in their dependence on corporations for campaign funds

As a result, the word “black” has lost all its movement meaning. So Bill Clinton, the man who sponsored NAFTA, who got rid of Aid to Dependent Children, who bombed Iraq, and who now suggests that Hillary’s first act as president would be to send him and George W’s father around the world, can be called this country’s “first black president”!

Meanwhile capitalism has morphed into corporate globalization, the materialism of the American people has skyrocketed, inequality is mushrooming inside the United States and between the global north and the global south, violence continues to escalate both at home and abroad, and the planetary crisis is reaching the point of no return.

Had it not been for the movements of the 50s and 60s, Obama and Hillary would not be front runners in the presidential race today.

But neither Obama’s ethnicity nor Hillary’s gender is enough to earn my support. Neither is calling on the American people to confront our materialism and militarism or challenging and proposing alternatives to corporate globalization. At this critical period in human history that is what we should be requiring of ourselves and of any presidential candidate, whatever their race, gender, or religion.

Fortunately new leadership is emerging out of obscurity, at the grassroots level, building community instead of running for office.

Source: Michigan Citizen, Dec.30 - Jan.6, 2008

***
Barack will have to step up. But I do believe that he would and will.

Barack the Vote

See, what people need to understand is that we need fresh blood in the White House, Obama has a long history of grassroots organizing, leadership and service and Michelle Obama will be the best first lady ever!

I took a blind voter's poll solely based on the issues I believe in and, as it turns out, Barack Obama and John Edwards are my top two candidates. I am also more than mindful that Barack announced his candidacy and began his campaign in 'post-Katrina' and 'Hurricane Bush' New Orleans.

Merry Christmas and Barack the Vote!