They feel "put upon" (your words) because they are. There is a pervasive institutionalized racism in this country and it has never gone away and it does not matter if one is from Kenya (which he is not) or from Mars.
Hank -- In [email protected], "Virginia Metze" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > The answer to this is very simple, and I don't understand why people don't > see it immediately. > > Obama is not black. Obama's heritage is Kenyan. > > American blacks tend to feel abused and put upon and many of them have a big > chip on their shoulders. > > That is the only difference. > > Ginny Metze > > > _____ > > From: [email protected] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of > (RESH) > Sent: Thursday, January 10, 2008 18:57 > To: [email protected] > Subject: [PNEWS-L] Perverse Politics Obama Style > > > > > Paul Street writes that Obama is "not all that black." The following is > excerpted from "Barack Obama's White Appeal and the Perverse Racial > Politics of the Post-Civil Rights Era" by Paul Street / June 16th, 2007: > > "The first difficulty is that part of Obama's appeal to white America has > to do with the widespread Caucasian sense that Obama "isn't all that > black." Many whites who roll their eyes at the mention of the names of > Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton -- former presidential candidates who behave > in ways that many whites find too African-American -- are by the cool, > underplayed blackness and ponderous, quasi-academic tone of the > half-white, Harvard-educated Obama. Obama doesn't shout, chant, holler or > drawl. He doesn't rail against injustice, bring the parishioners to their > feet and threaten delicate white suburban and middle-class sensibilities. > He stays away from catchy slogans (like Jackson's "Keep Hope Alive") and > from emotive "truth"-speaking confrontations with power. To use Joe > Biden's revealing terminology, Obama strikes many whites as "clean" and > "articulate" -- something different from their unfortunately persistent > image of blacks as dirty, dangerous, irrational and unintelligible." > > [...] > > And, Obama is willing to accommodate racism, says Paul: > > "A second and related reason not to do racial justice cartwheels over > Obama's popularity with whites is the candidate's deep willingness to > accommodate white supremacy. In his ponderous, power-worshipping and > badly titled campaign book The Audacity of Hope (Henry Crown, 2006), > Obama ignores elementary U.S. social reality and strokes the master > race by claiming that "what ails working- and middle-class blacks is > not fundamentally different from what ails their white counterparts." > Equally calming to the white majority is Obama's argument that "white > guilt has largely exhausted itself in America" as "even the most > fair-minded of whites . . . tend to push back against suggestions of > racial victimization and race-based claims based on the history of > racial discrimination in this country" (p. 247). Part of the reason > for this "push back" -- also known as denial -- is, Obama claims, the > bad culture and poor work ethic of the inner city black poor (Obama > 2006, pp. 245, 254-56)." (Street) > > "White fears that Obama will reawaken the tragically unfinished > revolutions of Reconstruction and Civil Rights are further soothed by > his claim that most black Americans have been "pulled into the > economic mainstream" (Obama 2006, pp. 248-49). During a speech marking > the anniversary of the Selma, Alabama Voting Rights march, Obama > claimed that 1950s and 1960s civil rights activists -- who he referred > to as "the Moses Generation" -- had brought black America "90 percent > of the way" to racial equality. It's up to Obama and his fellow > "Joshua Generation" members to get past "that 10 percent in order to > cross over to the other side" (Barack Obama, 2007)" (Street) > > "And then there's Obama's claim that "conservatives and Bill Clinton > were right about welfare." The abolished Aid for Families with > Dependent Children (AFDC) program, Obama claims, "sapped" inner-city > blacks of their "initiative" and detached them from the great material > and spiritual gains that flow to those who attach themselves to the > noble capitalist labor market, including "independence," "income," > "order, structure, dignity and opportunity for growth in peoples' > lives". He argues that encouraging black girls to finish high school > and stop having babies out of wedlock is "the single biggest that we > could do to reduce inner-city poverty" (Obama 2006p. 256)." (Street) > > "Never mind that blacks are afflicted with a shocking racial wealth gap > that keeps their average net worth at one eleventh that of whites and > an income structure starkly and persistently tilted towards poverty > (Loewen 2005, p. 130; Shapiro 2005). Never mind that lower-, working-, > and middle-class blacks continue to face numerous steep and > interrelated white-supremacist barriers to equality. Or that > multidimensional racial discrimination is still rife in "post-Civil > Rights America," deeply woven into the fabric of the nation's social > institutions and drawing heavily on the living and unresolved legacy > of centuries of not- so "past" racism (Feagin 2000; Brown et al. 2003, > Street 2005; Street 2007)," (Street) > > [...] > > "And never mind the absence of social-scientific evidence for the > "conservative" claim that AFDC destroyed inner city work ethics or > generated "intergenerational poverty." Forget the existence of > numerous studies showing that the absence of decent, minimally > well-paid, and dignified work has always been the single leading cause > of black inner city poverty and "welfare dependency" (Handler 1995, > 32-55; Jencks 1992, 204-235; Stier and Tienda 2001). Disregard > research showing that high black teenage pregnancy rates reflect the > absence of meaningful long-term life and economic opportunities in the > nation's hyper-segregated inner-city and suburban ring ghettos. Forget > that the single biggest thing that could be done to reduce inner city > poverty would be to make the simple and elementary moral decision to > abolish it through the provision of a decent guaranteed income -- > something once advocated by Martin Luther King, Jr. and that other > dangerous left "moral absolutist" (Obama's description of 1960s New > Left peace and justice activists) Richard Nixon." (Street) > > "Racial hierarchy isn't the only oppression structure that Senator > Obama is willing to eagerly accommodate. As I've been arguing for some > time now (Street 2004, 2006, 2007a-2007e), he plays the same essential > opportunistic and power-worshipping game in relation to related > inequality structures of class and empire. Beneath peaceful and > populist sounding claims to the contrary, he's largely on the dark and > neoliberal side of power when it comes to each of what the democratic > socialist and anti-imperialist Martin Luther King, Jr. called "the > triple evils that are interrelated": racism, economic > exploitation/inequality (capitalism), and militarism (King 1967, > 250-251; Garrow 1986 p. 546) It's not for nothing that Obama was > recently described as a "conservative" in a flattering New Yorker > write-up titled "The Conciliator." (MacFarquar 2007) (Street) > > The above notes were excerpted from Paul Street's newsletter, The Empire > and Inequality Report, bi-weekly news and commentary letter. Paul Street > is a veteran radical historian, journalist, public speaker and activist > and the author of Empire and Inequality: America and the World Since 9/11 > (Boulder, CO: Paradigm, 2004), Segregated Schools: Educational Apartheid > in the Post-Civil Rights Era (New York, NY: Routledge, 2005), and Still > Separate, Unequal: Race, Place, and Policy in Chicago (Chicago, 2005) > Street's next book is Racial Oppression in the Global Metropolis: A Living > Black Chicago History (New York, 2007). > > Do we need another right-wing Demcrat running the country? It has got to > get better with Democrats or we don't need the Democrats. If Obama is the > new black-white "hope" for America we need a revolution to throw out all > the bums, Democrats and Republicans alike - anyway we must. > > Hank Roth > > > > > > > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] >
