(no subject)
I meant to post this the other day. While listening to a debate over Barack Obama on the Democracy Now! podcast, I was struck by this statement from Glen Ford:
How did that redound to the benefit of black people for the United States to have a black-put a black face on imperialism, on aggressive war, on violations of international law? How does that make black people look better in the world? Is that the kind of burden that black people want to carry around? Certainly, there will be no exemption for African Americans internationally after these kinds of experiences.
So he suggests that it may not be in black Americans' best interest to put Obama forward as some of his policies agree with the right wing agenda, namely his desire to increase/expand the military..."for what?" Imperialism? Is it really fair at this point to imply that black Americans, or any American minority don't bear any burden for the bullshit our government does? Now i do appreciate that none of us should necessarily be held to our government's actions, and in my few experiences abroad, for the most part people have been good about recognizing the difference between me as a person and my government. As well they should. And certainly since black people, women, etc. are certainly underrepresented in government, it's fair to say they don't bear the same responsibility for shit that mostly white people, mostly men doing. But he seemed to imply that it's ONLY the majority group carrying the burden. We're all in the same boat here, good or bad. Right?
One more thing: is it just me, or does Obama sound different in his speeches lately? Certainly he's become more confident, even more aggressive (which i think is a good thing). But i noticed the other day- unless i'm just making this up- he has a bit of Southern in his voice now. The other day it actually took me a minute to figure out if it was Obama or Jesse Jackson talking (they had him on the show and were playing clips of an Obama speech). Am i crazy?
How did that redound to the benefit of black people for the United States to have a black-put a black face on imperialism, on aggressive war, on violations of international law? How does that make black people look better in the world? Is that the kind of burden that black people want to carry around? Certainly, there will be no exemption for African Americans internationally after these kinds of experiences.
So he suggests that it may not be in black Americans' best interest to put Obama forward as some of his policies agree with the right wing agenda, namely his desire to increase/expand the military..."for what?" Imperialism? Is it really fair at this point to imply that black Americans, or any American minority don't bear any burden for the bullshit our government does? Now i do appreciate that none of us should necessarily be held to our government's actions, and in my few experiences abroad, for the most part people have been good about recognizing the difference between me as a person and my government. As well they should. And certainly since black people, women, etc. are certainly underrepresented in government, it's fair to say they don't bear the same responsibility for shit that mostly white people, mostly men doing. But he seemed to imply that it's ONLY the majority group carrying the burden. We're all in the same boat here, good or bad. Right?
One more thing: is it just me, or does Obama sound different in his speeches lately? Certainly he's become more confident, even more aggressive (which i think is a good thing). But i noticed the other day- unless i'm just making this up- he has a bit of Southern in his voice now. The other day it actually took me a minute to figure out if it was Obama or Jesse Jackson talking (they had him on the show and were playing clips of an Obama speech). Am i crazy?