President Obama, Tavis Smiley & Racial Politics
This past week I spoke about white men’s deficiencies. This week it is Back men that are on the hot seat. I want to use Milissa Harris-Lacewell’s article to initiate the discussion. Tavis Smiley will be here in Indianapolis at Clowes Hall on the Butler campus on June 2, 2009 @ 7PMto debut his film “Stand.” The main media coverage is all about the situation in Iran. White men in the United States House and the United States Senate want President Obama to get involved in Iran’s affairs. Mike Pence a congressman from Indiana has joined the chorus of voices. As much as I respect Congressman Pence we are going to disagree on our positions concerning Iran. The United States is not the world’s police. Getting involved in Iran will only let America become the issue. America being the issue will not help Iranians work out their internal affairs. Therefore, as I would counsel the President to leave Iran, I am going to follow my own advise. Therefore, let’s talk about the issue that seems to exist between President Obama and Tavis Smiley. Thank you for listening to AjabuSpeaks.
Commentary: Don't hold Obama to race agenda
•· Melissa Harris-Lacewell: Some have said Obama should be held to racial agenda
•· She says nostalgia for the old days of protest obscures last election
•· Black politics has come of age, and African-Americans are equal partners, she says
By Melissa Harris-Lacewell
Special to CNN
Melissa Harris-Lacewell is associate professor of politics and African-American studies at Princeton University. She is the author of the award-winning book "Barbershops, Bibles, and BET: Everyday Talk and Black Political Thought," and wr= ites a daily blog titled The Kitchen Table.
PRINCETON, New Jersey (CNN) -- It seems Tavis Smiley has been irritated with Barack Obama for a long time. Smiley is perhaps the most recognizable African-American journalist in the country. He is a fixture on radio and television, and has authored several books that are best-sellers among black readers.
One might suspect that Smiley would be enthusiastic about the opportunities presented by America's election of a black president.
Instead, Smiley seems annoyed.
In February 2008, Smiley denounced then-candidate Obama for failing to make a personal appearance at Smiley's annual State of the Black Union. His continuing criticism of Sen. Obama during the fall campaign produced substantial outcry from listeners of the Tom Joyner Morning Show, a popular radio program where Smiley had been a well-liked regular.
After Obama's election, Smiley published a text titled "Accountable" and has repeatedly indicated his intention to hold President Obama "accountable" to an explicitly racial agenda.
The specific policies suggested by Smiley's books are not substantially different from those of the Obama administration, but Smiley insists on explicit and repeated acknowledgement of race, while Obama typically seeks to address inequality within a racially neutral frame.
Despite writing about race in both of his books, addressing race in the historic Philadelphia speech during the Democratic primary and repeatedly acknowledging that racial inequality endures, Smiley's critique implies that Obama's approach to race is both inadequate and inauthentic.
On May 24, TV One aired the latest installment of Smiley's accountability campaign: a two-hour documentary titled "Stand." Recycling Spike Lee's Million Man March film, "Get On the Bus," Smiley assembled a group of prominent black male public figures for a bus ride through the South.
Ostensibly, this bus trip would provide Smiley, professors Cornel West and Michael Eric Dyson, Dick Gregory and others an opportunity to reflect on the meaningful upheavals in American society and politics in the summer of 2008. "Stand" was an enormous disappointment.
Its low production value, wandering narrative, flat history and self-important egoism did little to reveal the shortcomings of the Obama phenomenon. Instead, the piece exposed and embodied the contemporary crisis of the black public intellectual in the age of Obama.
The film and its participants (two of them my senior colleagues at Princeton University) appropriated the legacy of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. to implicitly claim that they, not Obama, are the authentic representatives of the political interests of African-Americans. They used King's images and speeches, gathered on the balcony where King was assassinated, and explicitly asserted their desire to play King to Obama's LBJ, and Frederick Douglass to Obama's Lincoln.
On its face, this is not a bad model. Presidents are deeply constrained by the structural and political limitations of their office. A robust administration needs an active and informed citizenry to engage, push, cajole, criticize and applaud its efforts.
But this appropriation misrepresents rather than preserves King's legacy. King was a powerful questioner and, at times, ally of President Johnson because he was at the helm of a massive social movement of men and women who were shut out of the ordinary political process. It was not King's intellectual capacity or verbal dexterity that made him an effective advocate for racial issues; it was his own accountability to that movement.
This is not true of Smiley and his "soul patrol," who are mostly public personalities and tenured professors largely unaccountable to the black constituency. King's meager income, though supplemented by the lecture circuit, was grounded in the voluntary contributions of black churchgoers.
Smiley is backed by powerful corporations, like Wal-Mart and Nationwide, that have troubled relationships with these communities. The college profs on the bus are comfortably supported by well-endowed universities. This does not invalidate their views on race, but it does make the analogy with King a poor fit.
Further, Smiley and his "soul patrol" seemed to have missed the intervening 40 years between the era of King and the election of Obama. African-Americans are no longer fully disfranchised subjects of an oppressive state.
African-Americans are now citizens capable of running for office, holding officials accountable through democratic elections, publicly expressing divergent political preferences and, most importantly, engaging the full spectrum of American political issues, not only narrowly racial ones. The era of racial brokerage politics, when the voices of a few men stood in for the entire race, is now over. And thank goodness it is over. Black politics is growing up.
The men of "Stand" yearned for an imagined racial past. By their accounting, this racial past had better music, more charismatic leaders and a more-involved black church.
Their romanticism ignores the cultural contributions of contemporary black youth, forgets the dangerous limitations of charismatic leadership and revises the fraught, complicated relationship of black churches to struggles for racial equality. And these men ignored the democratizing effect of new media forms, which revolutionized the 2008 election.
Black people were not duped by some slick, media-generated candidate. African-Americans were co-authors of the Obama campaign. Through social networks, YouTube videos, political blogs and new-media echo chambers, black people were equal partners in shaping the candidate and his campaign. There was no need for the entrenched pundit class to tell black voters what to think or how to behave; they figured it out for themselves.
Still, there is plenty to criticize in the young Obama administration: the refusal to prosecute those implicated in the torture memos, civilian casualties caused by drone attacks, bank bailouts and inadequate defense of gay rights to name a few. But black communities are already engaged in these critiques and many others. Black local organizers, elected officials, bloggers, pundits and columnists have taken substantive, specific positions on a broad range of issues.
In black communities, nonprofit organizations continue to work for justice, and charities still try to fill the gap during tough economic times. African-Americans are engaged as mature citizens ought to be: in both discourse and action.
This political maturity is precisely the source of the black public intellectual crisis: What do Smiley and the Soul Patrol add to this process? Their bus never stopped at a Habitat for Humanity site to build a home or at a soup kitchen to serve the hungry. Their dialogue centered more on the relative merits of Aretha vs. Beyonce than on meaningful political issues.
Though they spoke with elders, their self-congratulatory revelry never paused to engage any elected officials, issues specialists or local activists. And while they talked a great deal about women, they never spoke to a woman.
"Stand" was sad because I still believe in a role for black public intellectuals. Scholars and journalists often have a particular capacity for curiosity, questioning and issue synthesis that has real value in public discourse. It was painfully clear that this particular accountability crusade is not informed by any of those skills. Instead, it seems determined to stand in the way of the maturation of African-American politics in order to maintain personal power.
The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Melissa Harris-Lacewell.
Rev. Ajabu
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Reader Comments (85)
Wes,
I am FULLY aware of the evolution of our nation.The difference between you and me, sir, is that I recognize the evolution that has taken place, and that will continue to take place. And I am very grateful for it.
Wes,
I will take the opportunity to look at the PBS piece. When I do I will report back.
John
I will be changing the subject on this evening.
Dawn,
Your chronology is wrong. You are talking about the second coming. This scripture in Matthew is about Jesus' first coming. It amazes me how you from your perch can determined who is saved and who is not. All of my learning has taught me not to judge. Judging is God's domain. Be careful about putting yourself equal with God. The first commandment is still in affect. God is a jealous God. Be careful. Just a litte observation.
Never mind, Reverend.
I have been a Christian for decades longer than you have. I have studied the bible considerably longer.
But you know it all.
You're right.
Black people are morally superior. God sanctions hate against your brother.
You'll have to let me know what Bible you read.
Or maybe you need to start reading the half of the New Testament written by that Jew you hate.
Dawn,
What are you talking about? You sound mentally unhealthy. Listen to yourself. YOur words are in quotations. My are in parenthesees.
"I have been a Christian for decades longer than you have. I have studied the bible considerably longer." (How do you know that. I was baptised prior to being a teenager. I am 60 years old. I have been studying the Bible pre being baptized. I have a Master's Degree in Divinity. I completed seminary with honors. And you tell me that you have been a Christian decades longer than I have and you have been in the world twenty years less than I have. Sister, you are confused.)
"But you know it all." (This sounds like you. You want people to think you know what ever there is to know, but your writings betray you)
"You're right." (I know you are being sarcastic here. But your sarcasism is over shadowed by the truth. Thanks.)
"Black people are morally superior." (History may very well bear witness that this is true. Black people have not produced world tragedy on the level of white people. In fact, there is no people on the face of the earth that has the tragic history of white people. Most people want to forgive y'all but there are too many of you trying to make us think that we should be seeking forgiveness for the wrong that was heaped upon us. Sister, that game is over. Repent. We will forgive you. God will bless you. Then, we will decrease the hate and increase the love. Repent) "God sanctions hate against your brother." (That is not the God we serve. The God we serve is a truthful God. The God we serve does not want us to be blind to the truth in order to get along with people. The truth is the basis of genuine human relations. Because we tell the truth does not mean that we hate the people who do not like being told the truth about their history. We know that the truth makes you experience a heap of guilt. Repent. Accept the truth about your history. Don't let your history jepeordize your future. The House of Representatives has apologized for enslaving people of African descent. Now it needs to pay reparations so its actions line of with its words. This is what the book of James is telling Christians. Faith without works is dead. White leadership needs to repent for the wrongs heap upon the world by some white people that was supported by most white people. Repent!! You will feel better.)
"You'll have to let me know what Bible you read." (I started out reading the King James version, however I found out that it is not the most accurate translation so now I pretty much use the New Revised Standard Version.)
"Or maybe you need to start reading the half of the New Testament written by that Jew you hate." (Are you saying that some parts of the Bible weigh more than others? I don't hate Paul of Tarsus, nor do I hate you. However, I am very cautious when reading Jesus' teachings according to you both. God bless.)
Reverend
I was wondering when you would get enough of Dawn's foolish statements. The people that we are speaking the truth about do not want to hear the truth. If White people have plundered and killed so many of God's children on this planet then why try to conceal that truth? Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.
Dawn went as far as to justify Whites plundering and killing her own Native Americans. I bet you those Cherokees don't believe what Dawn is espousing. She is mentally unhealthy and some type of therapeutic intervention is needed.
Most of those doctors who treated Michael Jackson gave him what he wanted instead of telling him the truth; that prescription drugs will kill you if used inappropriately. You see where he is now. As a clinician I do not believe in letting the patient take the lead especially when I know what they want is not safe and medically sound.
I said that to emphasize that telling the truth is healthy and wholesome even in these discussions about the ruthless savagery of America against unsuspecting human beings of this world. Dawn is in great denial about America and her dark past and present. Reverend, please do not hesitate to tell the truth to Dawn, she needs all that she can get.
john
Is there anyone here from LOTW who reads this racist heretic?
There is a wolf in this flock.
Dawn
I truly wonder who that wolf is. You are someone who will not admit when you don't know what you are talking about. You just keep digging a deeper hole for yourself. We who have been around longer than you and who have been the recipients of actions of the most racists beasts in America have a story to tell. You can come up with all the scriptures and Google sites you want to give us but the truth is what it is. Many Americans have been victimized by our own fellow Americans and others around the world have felt America's sting. We can point to the conservative Republicans and Southern Democrats as the main perpetrators of hate and savagery in this great land.
I told you once that it is mighty funny the Nazis, KKK's, neo cons, skin heads and other radical racist groups are mainly conservative Republicans. I wonder why!!
I certainly would like for you to support your statement about a wolf being among us. I don't know about the wolf but a deranged woman is among us.
john
John,
Anyone who is a genuine Christian here will understand and see the truth. Those of who continue mired in your sin and hate will not.
All of us are fallen. There are no races or political parties MORE fallen than others. There is nothing Biblical about that position. It is racism. It is the DEFINITION of racism....believing that you can attribute negative stereotypes about people based on their race and then attempting to do evil to do people based on those stereotypes. All of us are able to receive Grace. Anyone who does not understand that does not know the Lord and will not receive Grace.
I explained to you what Conservative Christian is by definition. Read. There is nothing Nazi about it. It is a belief in the fundamental infallacy of the Bible. It is possible to be a Christian and not be a conservative, but someone who claims to be a Christian, but rejects all of the doctrine that does not fit his worldview is of the World and not of Christ.
If someone who has lived his life in hate and comes to the cloth to hide his hate and to use it against others for evil, he is a wolf.
Dawn,
You are so confused!! People from all over the world read this website. It is visited by hundreds every day, thousands every week. From the feedback I get many read it to see just how far from the truth you will allow yourself to write and try to hide your falsehoods in the name of Christianity. Maybe this parable will help you.
One day the truth was walking down a street in Carmel. The truth was known to be an impeccable dresser. This day in question was very hot. The truth was so hot that when the truth walked by a pool it decided to take off its close and jump into the pool to cool off.
The truth did not know that a lie was following it. While the truth was in the pool cooling off the lie stole the truths clothes. The lie was able to put on the truth's clothes. The truth jumped out of the pool and started to chase the lie down the road. In essence what was seen was the naked truth chasing a well dressed lie.
Dawn, the moral of this parable is that a lie is still a lie no matter how well you dress it up. To tell the unadulterated truth about the history of many white people is not to be a racist. The people telling the truth are consicious of the race of the people on which the truth is being told. History does not point to any other people who have treated peoople of the world like white people have treated people of the world. It is just the truth that white people put our people in chains, raped our women, killed our children, worked us from can't see in the morning to can't see at night, without any compensation all because of our race. History bears witness that it was only white people that have done this to any people. For people to acknowlege this truth is not a racist view. It is fact and very Biblical. You do know that in the Bible it says that the truth will set you free, don't you? Try it. The truth is truly liberating. God bless you.
“It is assumed that Americans are good and know what is best for the world.”
Most Americans believe their country is a benevolent and beloved force in the world. That belief is so deeply ingrained that even political progressives are rarely different in upholding this awful dogma. They are as likely as self-identified conservatives to support the government when it asserts a right to interfere with foreign governments, to occupy their nations, or to kill human beings on any pretext deemed necessary by the United States.
The term “Manifest Destiny” was coined in the 1800s, but its power lives on into the 21st century. Manifest Destiny was the stated belief that white Americans had the right to expand their power across the North American continent. Manifest Destiny resulted in the near annihilation of the native population and the spread of enslavement from sea to shining sea.
Manifest Destiny has been the cause of numerous wars spanning the globe from Mexico to the Philippines. Lies that justified military action against Vietnam, and the occupation of Iraq, were all fed by the Manifest Destiny myth.
Progressives have done so because they are not at all interested in changing the political system. Why change a system if you think it is just fine the way it is? They may prefer David Axelrod to Karl Rove, but they agree that powerful white men like them should decide what is right for this country and for the world. Their differences with Rove are less important than their absolute faith that people like him know best just because they are close to the ruling elites in this the best of all possible nations.
Progressives and liberals are as ready as conservatives to support government interventions in our lives and on the world stage. The country in question may be Sudan, or perhaps Iran. The clarion call is the same. "We must do something” because “we” are superior, all knowing, and chosen by a divine force to make the world in whatever image we choose.
No one asks how “we” is defined, or if the presence of the United States is needed or wanted. No one asks about the history of past interventions and their usually negative outcomes. It is assumed that Americans are good and know what is best for the world, despite a long history of numerous brutalities carried out across the globe.
“Barack Obama quickly made it clear that his mantra of change was little more than a marketing ploy.”
As long as white Americans believe in their inherent superiority, they will be a very dangerous people indeed. Some of those dangerous people are Democrats and some are Republicans. In the end, they usually want the same thing. They want their ruling class to dominate other human beings. They may differ on which individuals should do the dominating, and where and when the domination is warranted. They may even decide that a black man can act on behalf of the ruling classes, but belief in the power of that class is still accepted without question. As long as that is the case, Democratic politicians and liberal bloggers will pose as a great a peril to the world as do the stars of Fox news. In the end, they all want the very same thing.
Margaret Kimberley's Freedom Rider column appears weekly in BAR.
Ms. Kimberley lives in New York City, and can be reached via e-Mail at Margaret.Kimberley(at)BlackAgandaReport.Com.