Race Talk
13 January 2008 2:07 pm by Taylor Marsh
Race Talk updated
I’m just going to put this out there for you to think about. At some point,
the White Folk covering the presidential primaries are going to have to understand
that there is a real battle going on among African Americans right now centering
on Barack Obama’s candidacy v. the Clinton’s record on civil rights, and whether Hillary Clinton has earned the right to represent African Americans even though she’s white. Robert L. Johnson, the founder of Black Entertainment
Television, as well as a Clinton supporter, ticked
some folks off today.
Dr. King had led a “moral crusade,” Mr. Johnson said, but such
crusades have to be “written into law.”“That is the way the legislative process works in this nation and that
takes political leadership,” he said. “That’s all Hillary
was saying.”He then added: “And to me, as an African-American, I am frankly insulted
that the Obama campaign would imply that we are so stupid that we would think
Hillary and Bill Clinton, who have been deeply and emotionally involved in
black issues since Barack Obama was doing something in the neighborhood –Â
and I won’t say what he was doing, but he said it in the book –Â
when they have been involved.”Moments later, he added: “That kind of campaign behavior does not resonate
with me, for a guy who says, ‘I want to be a reasonable, likable, Sidney
Poitier ‘Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner.’ And I’m thinking,
I’m thinking to myself, this ain’t a movie, Sidney. This is real
life.” … ..
Make sure you read the last paragraph in the article above, which immediately
tries to connect what Johnson, an African American, said with what Shaheen said
a while back. It’s ludicrous to tie the two together. Are we really ready to
say that African American Robert L. Johnson, the founder of Black Entertainment
Television, isn’t allowed to make criticisms and draw his own references towards another African American without
being called out?
Are we ready to start censoring everyone?
This is the first campaign we’ve had like this where gender and race are front
and center and so far no one is handling it very well, least of all the traditional
media that’s pushing the story lines. Obama’s own campaign was caught pushing the race card on Friday, so let’s get real on who’s playing who, shall we? Some people are trying to paint Hillary Clinton as a racist, and they’re doing it for political gain.
Bob Johnson’s statement below was released after he talked about Obama then
got slammed in the press for something entirely different when he was speaking
about something else, though traditional media wants it to be about what they
want to talk about instead of what it is, a clash between two African Americans
and their community, especially for those in that community who are choosing
to support the more experienced woman who is white, which has some pushing what
they know will inflame the story and tilt the narrative to one side while slamming the other as racist, but it sure is swell for the bottom line.
Got that?
“My comments today were referring to Barack Obama’s time spent as a
community organizer, and nothing else. Any other suggestion is simply irresponsible
and incorrect.“When Hillary Clinton was in her twenties she worked to provide protections
for abused and battered children and helped ensure that children with disabilities
could attend public school. That results oriented leadership — even as a
young person — is the reason I am supporting Hillary Clinton.”African American Robert
L. Johnson, the founder of Black Entertainment Television
It’s going to be a very long month.
UPDATE: Paint me amazed. Let’s play a game of who can call whom a racist first and with most gravity; that was the point of the post. But people are now waking up from a sleepy Sunday and weighing in with opinions that smack of not only hypocrisy but abject stupidity. Community organizing or Obama’s admitted drug use, what was Johnson talking about? He says it was community organizing. Let’s say it wasn’t. These battles are real and ignoring them is hypocritical and pretending that African Americans aren’t going to do battle over them is just silly. So assuming Johnson was talking about Obama’s admitted drug use, is talking about something Obama already revealed was part of his far distant youth off limits, especially when Obama is calling the Clintons, someone Johnson is supporting, racist? Johnson took offense. Let’s just say he hit back and hit back hard. A candidate cannot inoculate herself or himself on past behavior simply by writing about it and expect people not to comment on it. This includes his own community, especially when racism is being used inversely in a play of political one-upsmanship. I’m evidently the only one not shocked by this stuff or offended, because I expect it, so should Obama and his team. The truth is they intended to make the most out of it, which was witnessed last week. Maybe it’s because I grew up in the middle of a cauldron of race, integration and busing in little old Missouri. Did Mr. Obama, as talented a politician as we’ve seen, actually believe admitting his drug use would be the end of it? He wrote about it in his book to get ahead of it; in order to make sure it was out in the open so no one could hit him with it later on through a revelatory disclosure. I applaud his honesty. Did he really believe Americans, including people in his own community, were not going to mention it again simply because he admitted it? Like I said in the post, this righteous indignation about what Bob Johnson allegedly meant and all the tut-tut-tutting about it comes from people who seem not to remember that this ball swings both ways. Where does that leave us? It’s political war. If you think the Republicans will do any less you are mistaken. If you write about politics and are aghast at what Johnson might have meant you shouldn’t be in this business because you’re simply too naive to be trusted. But again, paint me amazed. To think this wasn’t going to come up boggles the mind. Considering Obama’s camp was calling the Clintons racist, what did he think supporters of hers in the black community would do in response? Is it right? This is politics. People have a right to be incensed, but that’s assuming Johnson didn’t mean what he said he meant, though I always thought it was 50-50. But even if he did, so what? Obama’s proven himself through the life he has led and what he has achieved, but he doesn’t get to whitewash the rest as he attacks others, expecting nuggets of his past not to be used in rhetorical volleys. The rest is all a political game of gotcha, with the flip side indignation. Again, paint me amazed, because I can’t say color me amazed because that would be racist.
