Do Blacks Feel Betrayed by Obama’s Silence on Race?
From The Grio – President Obama has become a racial enigma. When it comes to the black/white divide in America, Obama is believed to be everything from Clarence Thomas to Malcolm X, depending on whom you ask. The right-wing identifies Obama as a radical black man who hates white people, and the progressive black community sees Obama as yet another political sellout fresh off Harvard Yard.
The “great” Bill Cosby once said, “I don’t know the recipe for success. But the recipe for failure is trying to please everybody.” Therefore, in Cosby’s world, every high ranking black political figure, including Obama, is destined for certain failure.
Whether Obama will go down as a failure or success as president has yet to be determined. I personally believe that his greatest achievement occurred when he was sworn in as the first black president in American history. Like any good marriage, things can sometimes head straight downhill after the honeymoon.
President Obama has been as silent as a church mouse on some of the most riveting and racially-traumatic events to occur in recent U.S. history. He had nothing to say about the shooting death of Oscar Grant, the wedding eve slaughter of Sean Bell or the police shooting death of 7-year old Aiyana Jones. This inactivity may be frustrating to those who thought that Obama’s election was the second-coming of Juneteenth.
The president added insult to injury by then going out of his way to speak out on the inconvenient porch fight between Henry Louis Gates and Officer James Crowley. The clear message being sent was that if you are politically connected, powerful, and wealthy, your issues might be addressed. But if you’re just a black man or woman shot in the street, you probably won’t matter very much to this president.
On the specific issue of Shirley Sherrod, the president took the noble step of speaking with Sherrod and working to have her reinstated. This was an important move for Obama, given that the Sherrod firing was one of those folded arms, pursed lips, neck-twisted, “so-what-you-gonna-do-now-Barack?” moments for black America. Black folks were angry about what happened to Shirley, because it has happened to so many of us. Fortunately, Obama passed the test and avoided appearing to be yet another black man unwilling to stand up for a black woman in distress in order to save his own rear end.
(Continue Reading @ The Grio…)
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I mean, really? He’s the presdent and he has bigger fish to fry. Every incident that happens with a black person does not need to be addressed by the executive office. He’s disappointed me on several ssues but race isn’t one of them. He’s not the specialist on race relations and it’s an unfair burden to place on him just because he happens to be black.
I think these Presidents and Prime Ministers need to focus more on doing their jobs of improving their countries instead of commenting and getting involved in every other topic at hand.
And I am no Obama fan, never was, but then again, I certainly wasn’t a Bush fan either. Besides, general trust in politicians is at an all time low anyway. Well, I am speaking for myself anyway.
With regards to him going down as a failure, I think he was set up to fail from the beginning. I mean things couldn’t have been worse when he took office, but things have been really bad since he got in especially in terms of racial issues.
I’m glad ya’ll said it!! Its great that the country was able to elect a president of African descent, but I thought that showed how far we’ve come as a country. Race shouldn’t matter…but it appears it’ll never go away. Our previous presidents never took sides on race, and if they did I’m quite sure there would have been an uproar in every non-caucasion community. Our country represents many colors, creeds, and cultures, the one thing we have in common is our diversity and opportunity.
I think people need to get off his back somewhat. The guy isn’t God and can’t fix anything, including racial issues, over night. Its like people thought just because a black man is in office everything will be okay. Like OneNation said above me, “Our previous presidents never took sides on race”. He is trying to fix the country as a whole not people’s bias on race.
Agree with the points above…My question is why are we only looking at President Obama to fix race relations? If you want to fix race relations than it needs to be at the core of every classroom, talk about among peers and individuals, churches, jobs, AT home etc. One person can’t fix race relations and expecting them too is very foolish. There were issues with race relations before President Obama came into office, when he is in office and most likely when he leaves office so to fix the problem of race we ALL need to talk openly and honest about it. Weather he is a success or failure, I think that is a matter of personal opinion, I think he is doing good things but often get overshadowed
I have really grown to hate The Grio.
Why would the President speak about individual race issues?!? He is the President of the United States not the President of Black People. He should be focusing on the whole American population not just one race of people. If he were white and only focused on the white race and their issues, everyone would be ready to cry racist, but now that there’s a Black man in office, they think that he is suppose to be looking out for “us”? This is the dumbest thing i have ever heard. I think the president is smart to avoid race issues and not to take sides. It would be a losing battle for him. And no, I don’t feel betrayed by the President.
No I don’t.
The President needs to grow a backbone is what he needs to do and then wakeup up from his fairytale of believing that all it takes to lead is good manners and a smile.
i do think obama has been disappointing regarding racial issues. he’s been so afraid of offending racist white people who didn’t vote for him anyway that he’s making concessions and bending over backwards to appease them when he should be ignoring them, refusing to engage them, and calling them what they are, a bunch of dumbass uninformed racists. as dumb as bush was, when he decided to do something, he did it. he didn’t give a sh*t what his detractors thought, and he even went as far as to brand people who vociferously disagreed with him as traitors and as treasonous. and he was elected a SECOND time. he kicked ass and took names of the politicians who didn’t go along with his program either. obama should have punished lieberman and hillary clinton when he was first elected just to show that he wasn’t playing around. that might have discouraged those ignorant redneck senators from so obviously disrespecting him in congress. obama should never have took back what he said when he called what the police did dumb in the gates case, because he meant it. because they obviously weren’t doing their job properly if they went so far as to arrest a man in his own damn house. he should not have taken it back. he should have explained why he said what he did and maybe explained how the history of police in this country discriminating against black men may have helped him form his opinion and educated some of these idiots. and he shouldn’t have immediately threw sherry sherrod under the bus and taken some time to examine the “evidence” idiotic breitbart had used against her. i know what he was trying to do…he was trying to cut off the talk of “racism against white people” before it started, but because he didn’t wait to weigh all the evidence, he ended up creating a situation where EVERYONE was upset with him, not just the racists who would never support him anyway. he needs to call the tea party out for what they are and refuse to engage with them and let them interfere with the political process.
The Grio writes such ridiculous articles!!!
I’m not the biggest fan of cops but I don’t break the law. I’m tough on crime/criminals, accept that police are necessary and would much rather have them around than not.
I think due to the vile high-profile cases some people don’t stop to realize that whites are also shot and killed by cops. According to a report by the Justice Department’s BJS between 2002-2005 (in sheer numbers) more white Americans died while in police custody (44%) than AAs. 32% were AA (yes, disproportionate to their population percentage) but over 40% percent of their deaths were due to alcohol or drug intoxication.
I mention that to share that I wonder – seeing how he jumped the gun regarding the Skip Gates incident – hoe the POTUS can ‘break his silence’ and make another speech about race (or, as mentioned in the article, address the death of baby Aiyanna or even Grant) without polarizing or appearing to pander?
As hard as it may be to accept the truth, Detroit is a corrupt sh!thole (Kilpatrick, anyone) and some of the responsibility lies on the family for harboring a murderer (boyfriend of Aiyanna’s aunt) that killed a teenager. The cop in the Grant murder went to trial but how can the POTUS honestly address that without telling the truth that maybe the jury wound up the way it did due to AAs being less likely to show up for/respond to jury duty?
President Obama should tread carefully. He is the President of all Americans and the minute he starts pandering to a small percentage is the day the rest goes downhill. IMO it is the very fact that he is mixed and did not spend his formative years in mainland America that provides him the ability to problem-solve w/o bitterness and a unique perspective and outlook that drew a lot of diverse people (myself included) to him. The POTUS should never be quick to jump up and yell “racism” to appease 12% of America’s population any more than he and his administration should continue to overreact to the antics of Fox News, idiots like Beck, teatards etc. (Van Jones, Sherrod, ACORN etc.)