As I prepare for my road trip to several states for various meetings and speaking engagements, I wanted to leave people with a question of the day. These are the things that sit on my mind as a black man at 1:18 in the morning. So, in spite of the belief that all black men are out figuring out ways to be bad fathers or stealing from little children, this black man is at home thinking. I think a lot and that's the benefit of living by yourself. In spite of my presence in the world, you would be surprised at how much time I get to spend with internal dialogue. Personally, I think this is an important part of finding out who you really are and rising above all the crap in our society.
Here is my question:
Have you noticed that most people who agree with Senator Obama's critiques of the black community are the people who are not affected by the critique? Women agree that black men need to stop being deadbeats. Good fathers agree that bad fathers need to stop being bad fathers. Middle class black people agree that the poor need to have better morals. My follow-up question is: how would these individuals respond to Obama's critiques if they were leveled at THEM? What if he were to say that black women need to be kinder to men so they won't leave their relationships? What if he were to criticize middle class African Americans for forgetting about their responsibility to those they left behind in the inner city? What if he were to criticize black academics for spending too much time in petty ivory tower politics and too little time engaged in meaningful intellectual leadership?
I don't agree with any of the critiques I've mentioned above, although I've heard people state them. I personally believe that all cultures are heterogeneous, with good people and bad. No group is worthy of being cast aside as solely demonic. I used these examples because I noticed that it's easier for all of us to accept a critique when it is directed at someone else. It is much harder to accept criticism when it is directed at us.
While many in White America enjoyed hearing Obama criticize black men for needing an upgrade in personal responsibility, they did not respond similarly when Jeremiah Wright and Father Michael Pfleger criticized White America for an irresponsible commitment to racial inequality.
It's funny how people behave when the tables are turned. I would not, like Rev. Jackson, say that I want to remove Obama's testicles for his unwillingness to critique White America. Based on the fear he is showing in this election, it appears that they may have already been removed. Impress me Barack: "Tell it like it is" to someone else. Unless, of course, black people are the only group in America with something wrong with them, or perhaps you're just afraid to do so.
2 comments:
well said my brotha!! no jaangle!!
Actually Dr. Boyce Watkins. I am young, female and childless who grew up with a father in the home and I was offended. I did not like Obama's speech like I have said here a good million times. In my opinion Obama went further than attacking absentee black fathers, he made generalizations about black parents and black people in general.
For example:
"You know, sometimes I’ll go to an eighth-grade graduation and there’s all that pomp and circumstance and gowns and flowers. And I think to myself, it’s just eighth grade. To really compete, they need to graduate high school, and then they need to graduate college, and they probably need a graduate degree too. An eighth-grade education doesn’t cut it today. Let’s give them a handshake and tell them to get their butts back in the library!"
Here he slammed black people for cheering at their child's graduation as if white people do not do the same. I lived in the Bronx until age 10 before moving the the rich suburb of Chappaqua. The white people rent out banquet halls. My parent's should nto have congratualted me for graduating with flowers and ballons. Thye should not have cheered when my name was called?
Black people do not suffer from lack of accomplishment, we suffer from lack of acknowledgement for our accomplishments. It is actually bad parenting advice to tell people not to congratulate a child @ a graduation.
I was offended by lines like those and his parroting of Chris Rock in his speech.
That my friends (as McCain would say) is talking down.
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