Anyone who "attends" here regularly (and I really do wish you'd comment!) knows I am no fan of Senator Barack Obama. I think his candidacy is a "Cult of Personality", as his statements on both foreign policy and domestic issues betray his not being ready to assume the mantle of the President of The United States. A lesser quibble of mine is his lamentable tendency to play the race card, and I believe he has embraced his African-American ethnicity at the expense of his multiracial heritage.
Perhaps the irony is too rich here. I do not, however, take any pleasure in the following headline:
http://www.thestate.com/local/v-print/story/177514.html
Jackson criticises Obama for "acting too White".
The Rev. Jesse Jackson called Tuesday on Democrats seeking the 2008 nomination for president to give S.C. voters “something to vote for” when they go to the polls in January ... Jackson sharply criticized presidential hopeful and Illinois Sen. Barack Obama for “acting like he’s white” in what Jackson said has been a tepid response to six black juveniles’ arrest on attempted-murder charges in Jena, La. Jackson, who also lives in Illinois, endorsed Obama in March, according to The Associated Press.
“If I were a candidate, I’d be all over Jena,” Jackson said after an hour-long speech at Columbia’s historically black Benedict College. “Jena is a defining moment, just like Selma was a defining moment,” said the iconic civil rights figure, who worked with Martin Luther King Jr. in the 1965 Selma civil rights movement and was with King at his 1968 assassination.
Later, Jackson said he did not recall making the “acting like he’s white” comment about Obama, stressing he only wanted to point out the candidates had not seized on an opportunity to highlight the disproportionate criminal punishments black youths too often face.
Jackson also said Obama, who consistently has placed second in state and national polls behind New York Sen. Hillary Clinton, must be “bolder” in his political positions if he is to erase Clinton’s lead. Langtry's Note: "Bolder" equals "Anti-White".
Jackson is the only African-American ever to carry South Carolina in a presidential primary election.
Jealous much, Jesse?
Granted, the moment one recognizes their political fortunes have 'played out' has to be humiliating, especially when one has entertained lifelong delusions of grandeur and attempted to acquire them, in the most literal way, by any means necessary (read "Shakedown: Exposing the Real Jesse Jackson" by Kenneth Timmerman:
http://www.amazon.com/Shakedown-Exposing-Real-Jesse-Jackson/dp/0895261081/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2/105-9290247-2395630?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1190228282&sr=8-2 )
That doesn't excuse emphasizing the tired, frankly dangerous fable that to achieve, excel and 'represent' is to be "White". It's time for the media to stop embracing Jackson as the nations's most prominent civil rights leady, and their complicity in helping to perpetuate Race Fictions must stop. Yesterday.
4 comments:
For years, society has addressed uncomfortable topics with codewords (ranging from the polite, such as 'confirmed bachelor,' to the downright ugly, as was the case in 1984 when Rev. Jackson himself called New York City 'Hymietown'). Most people still do it in one form or another (just today I read that Sen. Larry Craig is a "toe tapper"), so my increasingly cynical nature is not surprised. Does that excuse it? Certainly not, but what I hope for and what I am surprised by are very different indeed.
There are those who wish to lead society, and those that wish to lead a segment of society. Those who wish to lead a segment of society are playing the game of "us against them", "rich against poor", "black against white", and in the historical context of my own ethnicity, "Irish (or Catholic, or both) against not". Sadly, that gets us nowhere. To be sure, it empowers the disenfranchised but only for a time. The axiom "A rising tide lifts all boats" applies a much today as when it was first uttered. All too often, those that would lead us lose sight of this, political persuasion aside.
As for any narcissism, I think Rev. Jackson got past it when his son was elected to Congress. Oh, sure, he probably has some lament ... it's like playing for the state championship and losing: will you ever get another shot? ... but while he never made it to the the level of elected office he sought for himself, he can and most likely does live vicariously thru the accomplishments of his elected son, as most any parent would.
Agreed on most points, nychristopher. I just think those who wish to lead society should not lead it in a downward spiral by perpetuating stereotypes, especially when those stereotypes are are truly dangerous.
Delivering a message to young black men and women that to be able to transcend one's racial sterotypes and interact across racial and socioeconomic boundaries is "Acting White" is not an innocuous act, and doing so speaks to Reverend Jackson's willingness to achieve prominence at the expense of those whom he claims to champion. For that reason, I wish the media would ignore Rev. Jackson, and instead focus on Rep. Jesse Jackson III and include a the views of African Americans from the other side of the political aisle while they are at it.
Following up on the Jena 6, I found this submission to the Christian Science Monitor, a publication I rarely read but have always respected for their integrity.
It says as much about the state of journalism as anything else, IMO.
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