{"id":1123,"date":"2008-07-21T09:00:08","date_gmt":"2008-07-21T13:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/harryallen.info\/?p=1123"},"modified":"2009-01-22T09:54:24","modified_gmt":"2009-01-22T14:54:24","slug":"the-speech-barack-obama-could-have-given-to-white-fathers-if-he-wasnt-so-busy-talking-down-to-black-people","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/harryallen.info\/?p=1123","title":{"rendered":"The Speech Barack Obama Could Have Given to White Fathers If He Wasn’t So Busy Talking Down to Black People."},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Father
\nNot exactly the best white father to his Black sons: Thomas Jefferson<\/em><\/p>\n

Jesse Jackson was completely and absolutely correct: Of course, Barack Obama was, and is, talking down to Black people.<\/strong> If there’s any doubt about this, compare the tenor of very first major speech he gave after he effectively captured the Democratic nomination\u2014one to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s (AIPAC)<\/a> Annual Policy Conference on June 4th\u2014to that of the one he gave at Apostolic Church of God in Chicago on Father’s Day, June 15th<\/a>.<\/p>\n

What struck me most when I heard the first presentation was how absolutely free his promises to the state of Israel, via AIPAC, were of any kinds of requirements, demands, or timetables, or even requests that the nation meet any sort of standards.<\/p>\n

It was almost, like, “You guys wanna build a giant spaceship out of solid marble? We’ll back it!<\/em> Wanna cover the West Bank with brie? We understand!<\/em>”<\/p>\n

You know how, typically, statesmen balance their commendations to a nation with polite, understated pushing for change of some kind there?<\/p>\n

Nada<\/em>. Anything Israel wanted to do, seemingly, was cool. “Jerusalem will remain the capital of Israel, and it must remain undivided!” Obama bellowed, to profound applause, flatly stepping on, as though it were a big pile of doo-doo, one of the biggest points of contention between Israel and Palestine<\/a>, and neatly rewriting the provisions of international law<\/a> with one overenthusiastic frat yell.<\/p>\n

I remember hearing this AIPAC speech over WBAI and thinking, “Nobody<\/em> ever speaks to Black people this way.” Then, eleven days later, Obama proved it.<\/p>\n

What we got was an address telling Black people to be better fathers.<\/p>\n

This passes for a policy statement<\/em>?<\/p>\n

\"\u201cHa<\/a>Well, no, of course not. None is needed<\/em>. The Obama campaign knows, correctly, I’d argue, that he’s got the Black vote on bulletproof titanium lock<\/em>. That’s why he not only didn’t need to tell us anything of substance at Apostolic, right, but he could, instead, do double duty: Use the time to talk down to us while, at the same time, making critical points with Caucasians. As Ben Cohen said so well, in a piece so well-titled (“Obama Should Stop Lecturing African Americans”<\/a>):<\/p>\n

Obama knows the topic will endear him to white voters — those quietly afraid of too many blacks in their neighborhoods, and afraid Obama may share their anger. Obama is playing the tricky game of being ‘tough on crime, and tough on the causes of crime’. He must be seen by African Americans to be one of them, and by whites to share their fears and concerns.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This is what Jesse Jackson means when he says Obama is talking down to Black people. It’s also, whatever you may think of Jackson, what he never did in his two presidential campaigns. It’s also why he never got elected.<\/p>\n

Why doesn’t Obama talk to white fathers like this? Could you imagine?<\/p>\n

Can’t? Read the first two paragraphs of Black Agenda Report<\/em>‘s “What Obama Might Say to White Fathers,”<\/a> by Shannon Joyce Prince:<\/p>\n

On Father’s Day Senator Barack Obama walked into a white church and stepped up to pulpit, absent his charismatic smile. He adjusted the microphone and straightened his silken tie, before resting his bistre colored hands on the pulpit. After staring out sternly over the pale faces of the congregation, he began to speak.<\/p>\n

“White fathers,” he intoned ominously. “You have abandoned your responsibilities. You are acting like boys and not men. You and I know this is true. It’s reflected in the fact that according to the Center for Disease Control white young people are over twice as likely than black young people to drive drunk, a third more likely to carry a weapon, three times more likely to binge drink, and twice to four times more likely (depending on the drug) to use cocaine, coke, inhalants, steroids, hallucinogens, and methamphetamines. Furthermore, according to the conservative Manhattan Institute, your polo-shirted, loafer-wearing, suburban sons and daughters are more likely than their urban school counterparts to smoke cigarettes, have sex at an early age, and have commitment-free sex. They are also more likely to sell drugs than urban students. Clearly, the absence of white men from far too many families is taking a toll on white youths. As for those of you who are not absentee fathers, it’s a wonderful thing if you are married and living in a home with your children, but don’t just sit in the house and watch HGTV all weekend long. Do some parenting.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Could you imagine<\/em>? Imagine that<\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Not exactly the best white father to his Black sons: Thomas Jefferson Jesse Jackson was completely and absolutely correct: Of course, Barack Obama was, and is, talking down to Black people. If there’s any doubt about this, compare the tenor of very first major speech he gave after he effectively captured the Democratic nomination\u2014one to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[46,9,20],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/harryallen.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1123"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/harryallen.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/harryallen.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/harryallen.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/harryallen.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1123"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/harryallen.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1123\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8049,"href":"http:\/\/harryallen.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1123\/revisions\/8049"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/harryallen.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1123"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/harryallen.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1123"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/harryallen.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}