Obama Avoids Black Neighborhoods
May 2, 2008 by aj
Wow, it seems Obama is having to distance himself from all of us in one way or another. Now he’s avoiding OUR neighborhoods……WTH? Is winning the White House worth having to deny your Blackness - who will YT DEMAND he denounce next? I’m going to have to go over and re-read Yobachi’s post-”Why a Barack Obama Presidency May Be More Bad Than Good For Black Pople“.
RALEIGH, N.C., May 2 (UPI) — Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., has been avoiding stops in black communities in his quest to become the first black major party nominee for the U.S. presidency.
Isaac Onah, a political science professor at the University of North Carolina, told the Boston Globe that black voters appear to understand Obama’s campaign strategy. They also understand why Obama had to repudiate his longtime pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Onah said.
“I think black voters are saying to themselves, ‘Why isn’t Rev. Wright shutting up?’” Onah said.
Obama hopes for a strong victory in North Carolina, similar to the one he got in South Carolina, the report said. In South Carolina, 80 percent of blacks voted for Obama in the Democratic primary, helping him trounce Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y.
Darryl Carson, a 41-year-old industrial clerk, told the Globe he sees Obama “walking a thin line.” He believes other black voters in North Carolina will be there for Obama where it matters, in the voting booth, the newspaper said. source
Stand by Obama. There will not be a Black president for about 50 years, If Obama fails. And he will if you write the way you do.
He HAS to win white votes. Thats what he must do. DOn’t urn everything into a net negative.
Kelly, I realize he has to win white votes to pull this thing off, the saddening thing is that he is going to have to deny his blackness to do so and thus “suspend reality” to make white folks comfortable. How long will we accept this double standard in this campaign and by extension if/when he is in the White House. Why is he being required to denounce folks that make others uncomfortable yet, McCain & Clinton get a pass when it comes to their outspoken pastors and such? Clinton is married to and supported a liar that took advantage of a young female while in office, one of her supporters, Ed Rendell praised Farrakahn at one point yet those relationships go unquestioned.
Hehe - I actually have an addendum to that piece which will be posted Monday or Tuesday (it’s mostly already written).
It’ll focus in on following the suggestions I made in the last two paragraphs, since the other two candidates left are unacceptable even when you disregard the race; so we just kind of need to support him and prepare to make him respond to our agenda.
Kelly, I don’t think not having a Black president for 50 years is the end all; because having a Black president is not the begin all. Think about it; if there’s such a big wall to having a black president then it’s not the lack of a Black president that’s the problem; it’s the ground level issues that makes white people not accept Blacks as president worthy that we need to be working on.
Having a Negroe figure head at the top, while getting 50 shots in the streets ain’t helping us. If we had equality, then there’d be no issue about a Black president, and we’d have them.
I think the article said it best, they know he has to win the white voters, and that the blacks will support him. The greater good, the big picture, eyes on the prize. It’s not fair, but Hillary can win, if she gets all the poor working class on her side, so as much as he needs blacks, he needs white even more.
This is all the unfortunate truth and no matter how its spun this race has always been about race. It just took a little longer than expected to all come out. Black Obama supporters just have to stay the course and realize the seed of greater benefit. White Obama supporters will have to continue to feel that they are making the right choice regardless of race. Hey! We know the game…we just got to play it no matter how hard or unfair. SjP
\I hope this is a misunderstanding or misreported. Before he started on the campaign trail he stopped by Bowie State University to support then candidate for govenor O’Mally for his election at Bowie State University. An HBCU.
Obama is still my choice, but we as Black Americans and just plan Americans have to look closely and say to ourselves, is the prospect of having a Black President more important than having a President more important than having a that will take office and not be able to voice the concerns of a section of the population that he resembles and even by sheer association represents? I’m not one for blind idol worship personally.
Anyhow he is who I’m choosing to represent my voice and I hope my faith and trust isn’t be wasted.
I have said it several times before and I will say it again. Obama most likely has a strategy in all of this. It may appear to be ‘bad’, but I am sure there is justified reasoning behind it all. The brotha is still be supported by both whites and blacks and that is the most important thing.
Peaze out!
ML
Ya’ll just keep on trusting the negro hating media, okay? They already found a way to discredit this black man with whites and now they are after blacks.
I for one refuse to fall for the okey doke.
Lynn, there are some Black folks in the media working over time to help them, see The Black Agenda Report.
Anyway, the post I spoke of in my comment above is ready:
Strategizing For President Obama To Respond To The Black Agenda
http://www.blackperspective.net/index.php/strategizing-for-president-obama-to-respond-to-the-black-agenda/
I’m curious to know what exactly is considered a “black community”. Like what the racial makeup has to be to constitute a black community. You’ve got to remember, blacks are a very small part of the US population, around 12-14%. Whites makeup roughly 75%. Obama can’t win without white people. And if Obama makes a hundred stops to campaign, the vast majority will be where a majority of non-blacks are, that’s just how the numbers work.
Before Obama became presidential candidate, in general black people probably knew who he was. Non-black people, not so much. Until he became a US senator, outside of Illinois you wouldn’t really know who Obama was. You have to go campaign where it will count most - where the support for you is weakest, where the people DON’T know who you are. And Obama isn’t changing who he is or denying his “blackness” (whatever that even means) to make white people feel comfortable, he’s being himself, he’s being genuine, and that’s why people support him. How he is with whites, that’s how he is with blacks.
It’s a media story because it’s another attempt to somehow show how Obama is elitist or out of touch or not black enough. Hillary was supposed to get the nomination with a slam dunk. Hillary was supposed to get the black votes without a fight. Obama’s a stronger force than they ever thought he would be. The media loves the Clintons and I don’t think for one second that the Clintons have nothing to do with all the controversy and drama that keeps popping up, while getting a complete pass from the media on all those skeletons in their closet.