Conceding the point

Last night, Barack Obama conceded Hillary Clinton's point during their 20th candidate debate that if indeed reject is a stauncher word than denounce, then Obama both rejects and denounces Minister Louis Farrakhan's endorsement of his candidacy.

This seemed to draw quite a few laughs from the studio audience. But it was no laughing matter to many of us Blackfolk who have seen this zero sum game played time and time again against Black public figures in and out of politics.

Simply put, this denunciation was made to prove that Obama is not an "anti-Semite" and a true friend of Israel.

Attack-dog Tim Russert casually paraphrased a conveniently and ubiquitously unconfirmed quote attributed to Minister Farrakhan in which many mainstream journalists believe he called Judaism a "gutter religion". In the 74 minutes before Russert's racist and hypocritical inquiry of Obama regarding whether he will publicly repudiate Minister Farrakhan, it was the only time he made either candidate respond to a question based on a quote for which he himself did not provide a source.

And because the only answer a viable Black candidate seeking the support of a predominantly White electorate can give is one that Obama proffered last night, an opportunity for real dialogue about real issues of race and culture was missed -- an opportunity that could have better served the interests of society than the nefarious litmus tests forced upon Black public figures to remain socially acceptable by having to denigrate controversial Blackfolk who may sometimes powerfully express the legitimately complex and diverse sentiments of segments of Black America whose views are so often marginalized and/or purposely misrepresented.

In a parallel universe, wouldn't it have been wonderful if Obama said:

"Tim, you have no standing to ask me that question about denouncing Farrakhan as long as NBC continues to employ hate-mongerering commentators like Pat Buchanan. In fact, CNN has no standing as long as it continues to validate the bigotry of commentator Bill Bennett."

Or perhaps Obama could have been coy and responded to Tim's racist water-carrying by saying:

"Gutter religion?! Farrakhan said that? Really? I never heard that. When and where did he say that? I'd really like to see the transcript or video of that speech."

Or maybe Obama could have said:

"On what basis should a candidate denounce the support from an individual, organization or country? What is the criterion? One offensive comment? One alleged offensive comment? And to what extent is that offense mitigated over time or substantive acts of good faith and/or positive contributions to society?"

When is the last time you heard a White reporter ask a White candidate if they would publicly repudiate an unaffiliated individual who has endorsed them in unsolicited fashion? Was this asked of Mike Huckabee when bigot James Dobson, founder/president of Focus on the Family endorsed him? Pre-dead-and-buried Jerry Falwell? Drug-addled hypocrite Rush Limbaugh?

If Obama were truly post-racial, the question would not be asked. That's how we know that despite his meteoric success thus far in this race for the Democratic nomination, he is still just one of us -- good, bad or indifferent.

It is worth emphasizing the point that corporate media in particular have by no means forgotten that Obama is just another Black public figure who needs to be reminded of his place when straying too far from their "color-blind" path to Utopia.

And even with a Black man in the Oval Office, as long as corporate media's highly validated talking heads like Tim Russert continue to ask racist questions like that to Black candidates, we can be reminded that even unprecedented electoral victories will not confer to Blackfolk the power and privilege we will need to avoid being subjected to the indignity of such offensive questions.

Can we expect more of this if Obama clinches the nomination? Yes, we can.

Comments

[David Greenberg]

Have been reading your blog for several months and although I do not comment I think I benefit greatly from it.

Is there a way Russert could have asked the question that would not amount to racism to you? If so, could you reask it?

Also, check out Angela Glover Blackwell's POV on the speech and the door it may have opened: http://www.equityblog.org/2008/03/20/at-lastmaybe/

[Dave Myers]

I'll start from early on in my evolution... I am a biracial man whose father is African-American and mother is Caucasian. My parents met in 1959 when my un-wed mother was in a nursing school where my father was employed as a nurses aide... my mother was engaged to a white man who was attending engineering school. My father had an African-American wife and (5) children at the time of his extra-marital relationship with my mother. At some early point of my mothers pregnancy with me she made the decision to marry her fiance, and to lie to everyone about who the father of her un-born child was... she achieved this by claiming that I had been afflicted with a skin-disease called "melanism".

My mother and step-father had four more children together in the space of nine years after I was born, and we grew up together in a middle-class household in white america where the subject of "race" was never discussed. My earliest recollections of having to be aware of race was when I was asked questions about the color of my skin by other classmates in first grade... "Why was my skin dark?", "Was I adopted?" race was certainly a hot-button issue in 1965-66 when I began school , but any awareness that my mother and step-father had achieved from growing up in their white neighborhoods in the 40's and 50's was insufficient in preparing them for raising a biracial child... and to complicate things, they were both in complete denial of their complicity in my mis-education. When I came home from school after having been asked questions by fellow students from my all-white school district, my mother then explained "the skin-disease story" to me... "other kids with this disease usually have dark blotches all over their bodies, so you should feel fortunate". When I would tell my mother about other boys and girls who would call me names or act aggressively for no apparent reason, I began to understand that I would get no further assistance from her to explain this rationale... my step-father was even more removed from the conversation and would only add, "You know what your mother said".

By the time that my step-father transferred jobs and our family of (7) had moved from the all-white Cleveland, Ohio suburb of Stow to the all-white school district of Portville in Western up-state N.Y. it was the spring of 1970 and I was in fourth grade, and already the veteran of many racial incidents and altercations between myself, classmates, and even some adults. My four younger siblings had also been told the same story, and had to explain the same things to their friends when asked why they had a brother who was black... "Hey, did your mother fool around a little bit??" I remember how much that hurt me when I heard it, and I'm sure that they felt just as badly when they did... nonetheless, this was a "subject" that we never discussed as a family, not once, at least in my presence.

I was taught through my observations of my mother and step-father to keep quiet about things that I wasn't sure about, and I was also taught to ignore the obvious.

As I matured into my teen-aged years and began to experience societies issues and insecurities in coming to terms with this countries racial in-equalities during the 70's, I felt an increasing need to rationalize and then codify the information that my mother had given me, regardless of what I was beginning to realize inside... I felt a growing discomfort/conflict, yet there was no one in my life to offer any other perspective... I had learned that black people were a part of society that we didn't talk about. ( There was a black family in my small town, and they were poor and lived in a run-down house near the river...I never had any opportunity or reason to associate with them)

I was a "B" student and also began taking an interest in sports where I was above average. Meeting other schools and student athletes were opportunities to then be exposed to populations that had not been inured by my story yet...I was just another black kid to them.

Communicating my experiences to my mother and step-father was difficult because they had no experience with racial prejudice, therefore when I had problems with other children it would be looked at as an issue that "I" had in getting along with others(as well as intra-family sibling issues).
Because "race" was being ruled-out entirely, by my mothers denial of my father, she could not logically use that rationale to explain any conflicts that I would have. My step-fathers complicity in this was to blindly support my mothers viewpoint.

The "white" viewpoint has always been that blacks(black society) were pretty well cared for, and what contact they did have would be polite and careful... What, with the Voting Rights and Civil Rights Acts being passed, the playing field had been leveled.(re: my mother and step-father's generation)
The feelings and comfort of my mother were apparently what was important, and her inculcation had to have been partly comprised of the idea that white society acted as the gate-keepers and care-takers of an infantilized black population.

questions:

How has black society formed its identity?

What role models have been used, and how does white society react to positive
black role models today? (Are they held to a more critical prism??)

Is there enough information readily available for black people to easily form a
positive racial identity?

Is it important that black society is able to connect accurately the dots of its social
evolution in America? and is it also important that white society can connect those
same dots??

What is White Privilege?

What is White awareness?

What is Whiteness?

What about Affirmative Action?

Is Race just a social construct?

How do we improve our society in America?

Is there any other way(besides the attrition of the old guard) to achieve this??

Dave Myers
www.discussrace.com

[polzoo]

Hi there,

I read your blog and think you're a good writer. I would like to invite you to join our new online community at polzoo.com. It is a user generated political editorial and social network. We also choose from amongst our own bloggers to be featured columnists on the front page. I think your voice would be a great addition to our site.

[Michael Fisher]

Sorry to interrupt, Bro., but here, on a different note:

I think it is time to gather all the black bloggers around a statement. Namely this:

(1) The Democratic party base has spoken. The numbers show that Mrs. Clinton has lost this race for the nomination.

(2) Mrs. Clinton's increasingly shrill attacks against Mr. Obama have taken on the airs of racism.

(3) That is regrettable because via the candidacy of Mr. Obama for the first time in the electoral history of this nation, the vast majority of African-American stand united with untold millions of white Americans and Americans of all colors.

(4) It appears that Mrs. Clinton is about to shatter this historic unity.

(5) We therefore call on Mrs. Clinton to face the reality of the numbers, concede defeat and thereby heal this wound which she has opened and continues to widen.

(6) It is clear that Mrs. Clinton can not be considered for the Vice-Presidential slot on the Democratic ticket. Mrs. Clinton has denigrated Mr. Obama to the point that any possible praise she would heap on him as a member of the Democratic ticket would ring hollow and hypocritical.

(7) If the Democratic Party leadership were to nullify our votes by giving Mrs. Clinton the nomination despite the popular vote, we call on all African-Americans to withdraw their support from the Democratic Party and to stay at home. We have survived eight years under President Bush, we will survive four years under a President McCain. We will NOT survive the nullification of our most hard-fought for right - our votes.

Pass it on...

[Sarah Macaraeg]

Hi, great work.

Looking at your blog, I thought you might be interested in checking out our research collection on Youth Media. It intersects with many interesting topics–urban education, the huge disparities in digital access and literacy among races, youth utilizing media to partake in electoral politics, etc.

http://www.issuelab.org/closeup

[mrlc]

It is Minister Farrakhan who appears to be racist in his rhetoric.
Apparently a commentator or reporter should not ask questions of political candidates about affiliations pertaining to controversial figures who have a clear proclivity for inflammatory rhetoric, and yet Hillary did recognize that this is important to voters and gave an example of her repudiation of support from another provacateur who spouted inflammatory rhetoric.

One more concern about Obama:
I support Obama's right to religious freedom but, I have to wonder about his affiliation with Trinity United Church of Christ and the disparity of this church's mission statements and vision being clearly Africentric and Obama claiming a personal vantage of cultural fusion that is absent of racial centrism.

What is disturbing about this church's posted statements is the apparent rejection of American allegiance, patriotism, or values. Obama has declared himself to be a staunch supporter and long-time member of this church...Look at the church statements ""We are an African people, and remain "true to our native land," or # 4 in its 10-point Vision - A congregation with a non-negotiable COMMITMENT TO AFRICA.

Isn't it reasonable and necessary to expect a candidate for our American presidency to value and demonstrate allegiance to America above all other countries?!!

Below is a posted web page web address of Trinity United Church of Christ http://www.tucc.org/about.html

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About Us

We are a congregation which is Unashamedly Black and Unapologetically Christian... Our roots in the Black religious experience and tradition are deep, lasting and permanent. We are an African people, and remain "true to our native land," the mother continent, the cradle of civilization. God has superintended our pilgrimage through the days of slavery, the days of segregation, and the long night of racism. It is God who gives us the strength and courage to continuously address injustice as a people, and as a congregation. We constantly affirm our trust in God through cultural expression of a Black worship service and ministries which address the Black Community.

The Pastor as well as the membership of Trinity United Church of Christ is committed to a 10-point Vision:

A congregation committed to ADORATION.
A congregation preaching SALVATION.
A congregation actively seeking RECONCILIATION.
A congregation with a non-negotiable COMMITMENT TO AFRICA.
A congregation committed to BIBLICAL EDUCATION.
A congregation committed to CULTURAL EDUCATION.
A congregation committed to the HISTORICAL EDUCATION OF AFRICAN PEOPLE IN DIASPORA.
A congregation committed to LIBERATION.
A congregation committed to RESTORATION.
A congregation working towards ECONOMIC PARITY.

[rawdawgbuffalo]

much ado about nothing, white foks always use the farrakhan card

[rawdawgbuffalo]

it was just an issue of semantics, and she wanted to focus on so he took her energy away. smart

[Techjitsu]

I am glad that you brought up those rebuttals and comparisons. I am TIRED of Black Politicians being expected to denounce other Black 'views' as a whole [regardless of political, social, or gender affiliation], while Whites in the political spectrum are compared solely to others in their specific political party...

[cynthia]

The way I took the comments by Barack Obama is that he was denouncing and rejecting any anti-Semitic statements by Farrakhan. That all! Obama was careful with his speech and this post is misrepresenting what transpired.