It aint Obama
Instead of irate demands to correct disparities of America’s discriminatory past, Blacks who have been designated by the mainstream as our “leaders” are caught up in the drama of whether such disparities even exist.
To that point, the Rev. Jesse Jackson has said that President Barack Obama has not spent any time with traditional Black leaders and should be more engaged with Blacks and their needs around issues of poverty and unemployment. Jackson says there is “unfinished business” regarding equity for Blacks in America’s society. But Rev. Jackson’s assertion of “structural inequity still plaguing Blacks is dismissed as race hustling and pandering, especially by Blacks bent on assimilating.
Blacks need advocates for racial justice in America. So if not Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton, who? Black Americans make up about 13 percent of the U.S. population, but on average die younger than whites, earn less money, are more likely to be imprisoned and get less education. Who has the “street-cred” to speak, and be heard, on Black issues and aspirations?
Who do you say is “da man”? Name five leading and living Blacks and undoubtedly, Nation of Islamhead Minister Louis Farrakhan will be on the list. Bean pies, fish andnewspapers are the protocols Farrakhan uses across Black America. TheFarrakhan Factor is activism among Blacks and avocation of a racialdefinition (or re-definition) of Black national identity, as opposed tomulticulturalism.
Farrakhan has been a major voice on Black issues and interests for 30 years. The nationally-circulated Final Call newspaper has been a staple in African Americans’ homes since he founded it in 1979. The Final Call is in the tradition of Black Nationalist philosophies and principles of 1) Black pride, and 2) economic, political, social and/or cultural independence from white society.
What “designated” Black Leader holds the gravitas of Farrakhan? He and The Final Call follow in a distinguished line of Black Leaders and movements that have developed Black economic power and community and ethnic pride. In the early 20th century, Marcus Garvey preached the ideal of Black Nationalism as an alternative to assimilation into the predominately white culture, as did Elijah Muhammad in the 1960s and ‘70s. As opposed to Blacks who want to assume the values and issues of their oppressors, Marcus Garvey encouraged Blacks to be proud and see beauty in their own kind. The principles of “Garveyism” were race first, self-reliance and nationhood.
Sadly, most people naming five Black Leaders would include President Obama on the list. But, Obama has revealed himself to be ambivalent on the need to confront racial disparities. His practice has been to rely on Blacks in mainstream media to talk to African Americans. If Obama wants to reach Black America he should engage with Blacks who actually have the ear and interests of Black Americans. Black publishers, Farrakhan, et al., are the established messengers to Blacks in America.
This article was originally published in the August 10, 2009 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper