Saturday, August 2, 2008

Obama and the Black Community

A black candidate who does not believe in the cause of black liberation is even worst than a white candidate of the establishment. How can a person who comes from an oppressed minority (african-americans), purport to care about the citizenry of the US in general, while overlooking entirely the problems in his own community? And how can Obama claim that he cares about black people, when he has failed to recognize their historical plight in any of his speeches? Obama ascribes black poverty and underdevelopment to the “moral deficiencies” of the black male, and not to the cultural subjugation of african-americans, or ghetto economics. This is a standard establishment-position towards the racism and economic enslavement of the african-american community. The problem of racism has not been solved because a black man is running for president. Institutional racism applies to groups and collectivities and engulfs the african-american community as a whole. A candidate who refuses even to depict himself as a black politician (bearer of a radical political heritage stemming from his background), opting instead for the race-neutral approach, will scarcely contribute in the improvement of the social situation of blacks. He will either be indifferent, or inimical towards black collective issues and demands, because he will mean to show the white establishment that he is moderate and reliable and completely detached from his background. The case of the of Jeremiah Wright’s official excommunication by the Obama campaign, speaks volumes of the candidate’s intentions towards the black underclass as a whole. God help black America, if this is the leadership it aspires to.