Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Does Obama have to choose sides?

This whole Jeremiah Wright thing is very interesting to me. It brings up so many questions about loyalty and what it means to be Black. When Rev Wright was at those press conferences on Monday he insinuated that all Black people feel the way that he does. He said that Obama denounced his words only because he is running for president. It made me think. Do all Black people feel the way that Rev Wright does?He got an NAACP award and a standing ovation during his speech. I know atleast 40 people who truly believe that AIDS was started by the government and that President Bush actually talked to Osama on the phone to schedule 911. At first, it's a litle embarassing to hear Rev Wright talking like that for all of White America to see... but should I be embarrassed? Or should I believe that the CIA puts crack in the black community and that all US Presidents are part of some mystical secret society? It may sound crazy, but if millions of intelligent Black people write about it,talk about it and preach about it who's to say that its false. I know people who believe the matrix is real and will cite references to prove their points. It could be one of those things that is set up to be so ridiculous that it'll be dismissed.

I think that Obama should tread lightly on this one. He could really lose a lot of ground if he gets on our bad side. He seems to be more concerned about the loss of White voters than protecting the strong support that he has from the Black community. Black people respect loyalty. And their elders. If Rev. Wright can persuade all of the people who agree with him not to vote, Obama could have a serious problem on his hands.

It was a like Black People 101 watching Rev Wright dancing around on cnn...especially when my supervisor came to me talking about it laughing. I wonder if it makes white people look at us differently. Hey...maybe that's why Obama spoke out. To save us from ourselves.

Or maybe he really does not agree. How do we feel about that?

1 comment:

sparkle said...

i refuse to believe that barack obama would have belonged to rev. wright's church for 20 years if the two of them were fundamentally opposed to each other's views on race/ the status of black folks in america. wright wasn't joking when he said barack is a politician and has to play the part. i'm kind of irked that dude has taken the 'i don't fux w/ that nigga' stance about rev. wright, simply because the same politics that got him play on the south side of chicago reflect a lot of the very values that reverend wright is espousing. barack obama is no dummy -- he's done enough work to know that he has to tread lightly in order to win the democratic nod. reverend wright's recent willingness to talk to almost anyone who puts a mic in his face makes me wonder if he's working against b on purpose, or if he's simply wishing he hadn't yet retired as head pastor at trinity ucc. the bottom line is that this could cost dude the democratic nomination because so many of his informed supporters (NOT the ppl who watched the 'yes we can' video or ppl who're for him exclusively because he's a black man)aren't feeling the floundering. there are other ways for him to silence the critics. i'm not sure he picked the right way. it's like watching someone shoot themselves -- you know full well this could create an opportunity for hillary's desperate ass to win.
integrity isn't always gonna win out. we don't live in a meritocracy, unfortunately. all i can do is sit back & watch; i most certainly lent my support to the man when pennsylvania voted. i just feel kind of like he has abandoned his 'fuck the haters, i'ma do me' stance. at the end of the day, both he & reverend wright probably need to sit & reflect on their roots. what's brought them to this point in time probably has jack shit to do w/ the mouth running & posturing.
i can only hope this shit doesn't cost him the democratic nod -- it's almost certain that hillary's supporters won't vote for him if he gets the democratic nod (and whether she loses the nod mathematically or not doesn't matter, we all know the numbers don't matter anymore thanks to bush part deux) . . . and most if not all of his supporters will refuse to vote for hillary if she wins.
just on the strength of that, i'm preparing for 4 years of mccain's fuckery.
and i will gladly press the 'fuck y'all, i'm not voting on jack shit' button. that's a valid option. & ppl seem to forget that.