I'm not going to even bother trying to talk about anything OTHER than the inauguration of Barack Obama today :) Besides, we've got our hands full over at Michelle Obama Watch waiting on the big reveal of her ball gown. Enjoy today and marinate on this cover from The Nation. It features barack Obama and famous figures throughout history. Its pretty neat trying to pick everybody out of the illustration. iIwish they had it for purchase. The Nation has posted an answer key to help you figure out who is who.
Folks, have you been waiting for the behind the scenes photos of President Elect Barack Obama and family from election night? Well the Obama campaign ended up putting them up exclusively on Flickr! HOW COOL IS THAT????
We as public servants must set an example for the rest of the nation. It is hypocritical for the public official to admonish and exhort the people to uphold the common good if we are derelict in upholding the common good. More is required -- More is required of public officials than slogans and handshakes and press releases. More is required. We must hold ourselves strictly accountable. We must provide the people with a vision of the future.Barbara Jordan 1976 Democratic Convention Keynote
Melissa Harris-Lacewell wrote a mini essay for the Nation about the symbolism of Obama speech in about two weeks on the forty-fifth anniversary of Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech. She points out that in the frequent comparisons between Obama and members of the CRIC ( Civil Rights Industrial Complex) we often leave out some of the most passionate orators in history:BLACK WOMEN:
On August 28, most will be listening for a resonance of Martin Luther King Jr. because Obama will be speaking exactly forty-five years after Dr. King declared, "I have a dream."These are fair comparisons, but they ignore another important tradition from which the Obama candidacy emerges--that of Fannie Lou Hamer, Ella Baker, Barbara Jordan, Shirley Chisholm and the many thousands of black women activists whose names history failed to record. These women are the lost prophets of American democracy. As a country we dimly recall their accomplishments and have almost wholly forgotten their words. The epic battle between Obama and Hillary Clinton heightened conversations about race and gender, but it did little to illuminate the intersection between these identities where black women leaders have made significant contributions. The Nation
As a Texan, my idol was Barbara Jordan. My church librarian said they she knew Barbara Jordan and I reminded her of Barbara Jordan ( yes, I was a rather outspoken tot- shocking isn't it?) Sister Robinson had to have told me this when I was four or five. Every February, Sister Robinson would plaster pictures of famous Black folks on the wall including Barbara Jordan. (She also put up posters of Lola Falana, but that is neither here nor there.) I decided I wanted to be a lawyer because Barbara Jordan was a lawyer too. (Kids, that's a really bad way to select a career by the way. Don't do that, Okay?)
But Melissa Harris-Lacewell is right. Some of to most powerful oratories in American history were given by Black women, but its amazing how they have gotten excised from history once again. We highlight the work of Barbara Jordan, Shirley Chisholm, Ella Baker, and Fannie Lou Hamer after the break
In today's political environment where our politicians are more likely to cut up and act a fool or remain silent in deference to their corporate overseers, take a walk down memory lane to a time when people actually thought about what the heck they were going to say . I know it is not Black History Month, but a little historical perspective outside of the month of February won't hurt you.
Barbara Jordan
Barbara Jordan could" BRING IT!" and not in some rhyme-scheme, nonsensical, empty, rhetorical Krispy Kreme donut kind of way. Every year I take off to trudge up to the University of Texas, LBJ School of Public Policy to attend the Barbara Jordan National Forum. Its free and its always good. When you hear Barbara Jordan speak about the constitution you almost get a tear in the inside corner of your eye and the Star Spangled Banner starts to play in your head.
1976 Democratic Convention Keynote Address:
I have quoted some chunks of the speech which is rated one of the Top 100 Speeches in American History, but you HAVE to listen to it.
We are a people in a quandary about the present. We are a people in search of our future. We are a people in search of a national community. We are a people trying not only to solve the problems of the present, unemployment, inflation, but we are attempting on a larger scale to fulfill the promise of America. We are attempting to fulfill our national purpose, to create and sustain a society in which all of us are equal.
Throughout -- Throughout our history, when people have looked for new ways to solve their problems and to uphold the principles of this nation, many times they have turned to political parties. They have often turned to the Democratic Party. What is it? What is it about the Democratic Party that makes it the instrument the people use when they search for ways to shape their future? Well I believe the answer to that question lies in our concept of governing. Our concept of governing is derived from our view of people. It is a concept deeply rooted in a set of beliefs firmly etched in the national conscience of all of us.
Now what are these beliefs? First, we believe in equality for all and privileges for none. This is a belief -- This is a belief that each American, regardless of background, has equal standing in the public forum -- all of us. Because -- Because we believe this idea so firmly, we are an inclusive rather than an exclusive party. Let everybody come. Barbara Jordan 1976 Democratic Convention Keynote
And the most famous passage from the speech:
Many fear the future. Many are distrustful of their leaders, and believe that their voices are never heard. Many seek only to satisfy their private work -- wants; to satisfy their private interests. But this is the great danger America faces -- that we will cease to be one nation and become instead a collection of interest groups: city against suburb, region against region, individual against individual; each seeking to satisfy private wants. If that happens, who then will speak for America? Who then will speak for the common good? Barbara Jordan 1976 Democratic Convention Keynote
Whew! and Somebody a print this out and show this one to Detroit's Mayor, Kwame "The Tethered Superdelegate" Kilpatrick. Read this three times:
And now, what are those of us who are elected public officials supposed to do? We call ourselves "public servants" but I'll tell you this: We as public servants must set an example for the rest of the nation. It is hypocritical for the public official to admonish and exhort the people to uphold the common good if we are derelict in upholding the common good. More is required -- More is required of public officials than slogans and handshakes and press releases. More is required. We must hold ourselves strictly accountable. We must provide the people with a vision of the future.Barbara Jordan 1976 Democratic Convention Keynote
If you ask most partisans, Republican or Democrat to tell you WHY they are or WHAT they are, they couldn't tell you if their lives depended on it. She did it in one paragraph, but perhaps her most famous speech and the one that put her in the national spotlight was her opening salvo during the Watergate hearings.
Nixon Impeachment
Part 1
"I was not included in we the people" Through the process of amendment interpretation and court decision, I have finally have been included in 'We the People'"
Part II:
Barbara Jordan on Nixon disobeying an order of the Supreme Court of The United States. She goes over impeachment criteria all the way from the days of James Madison.
Shirley Chisholm
Fannie Lou Hamer
Ella Baker
Unfortunately I couldn't find any Ella Baker video on the ubiquitous yet often times demonic YouTube, but I will share with you some Ella Baker quotes.
I have always felt it was a handicap for oppressed peoples to depend so largely upon a leader, because unfortunately in our culture, the charismatic leader usually becomes a leader because he has found a spot in the public limelight.
PREACH!
I have always thought what is needed is the development of people who are interested not in being leaders as much as in developing leadership in others.
Amen!
Strong people don't need strong leaders.
Buy that T-shirt!
There is also the danger in our culture that because a person is called upon to give public statements and is acclaimed by the establishment, such a person gets to the point of believing that he is the movement.
So it will be interesting to see whether the DNC highlights the role of Black women in history at the convention. If they mention everybody else BUT Black women, trust me, I'll be the first to post about it.
Even if Obama is the kind of black politician that middle-American white voters can get behind, the secret fear is that he could be a black Trojan horse with all sorts of passengers like Wright—or onetime compadres Bernie Mac and Ludacris—peeping out from under the canvas. He could be ... Michelle. Or at least what Michelle represents: a smart, angry black person in the White House. Vanessa Grigoriadis, NY Magazine
While still feeling the reveberations from yesterday's post about Jeremiah Wright's nonexistent publishing deal I probably shouldn't cite anything published in New York Magazine for about a month, but this was too good to pass up. I mean who, BUT a liberal media outlet would feel free to equate Black with "Ghetto."
It was before the advent of MTV, so ghetto-speak wasn’t ubiquitous, and kids who liked to slum it with language played with pidgin. NY Magazine
The article is called Black and Blacker: The Racial Politics of the Obama Marriage, Oh yes and it is a doozy. The article is premised on the idea that Obama ain't as "BLACK" as Michelle. I gave an interview that might be coming out in October and I said something to the effect that it has to be horrible to use a spouse against another spouse in an attempt to snuff out both of their dreams. Talk about psychological warfare on a marriage.
The description of the Obamas’ life together displays no evidence of their connections to black culture, especially now that it’s not prudent for them to join a new church before the election. They take pains to make sure their lifestyle is as boring as possible.....Michelle tells us. “We also love a busy house, which means potluck dinners with our close friends and family as often as we can.” We have little idea of the racial makeup of such potlucks....“Michelle can get a little more tense. Before she goes on-camera for interviews, we’d have to give her a couple of minutes to compose herself. She’ll sit down, raise her hands over her head, and go, ‘Ugh, God!’ ” That’s a mask she’s wearing in public, most of the time, and we aren’t sure what is underneath....On a rope line, Michelle is boisterous and playful—“You a real sister!” one woman tells her, holding her hand for too long—whereas Obama tends to zip through crowds, with no hand held for more than a couple seconds at a time (to be fair, his Secret Service detail is said to be large and twitchy, owing to concerns that harm may come to him because of the color of his skin)....But black people realize that Obama is doing what every successful black man in America has to do: flip the script....As a black comedian put it, jarringly, at an Obama fund-raiser and comedy workshop I attended recently, “His mom screwed the darkest n*gger she could find in 1969.”NY Magazine
Yes, the title is Black and Blacker and you can thank the President of the SCLC for the title with his "Slave Blood" foolishness. Sisters, let's be clear the message the article is sending when you break it down like a fraction is that Michelle is "Blacker" than Barack and that might not be a good thing.
He moved easily in circles at school where Michelle wasn’t as comfortable, becoming the first black student to helm the Harvard Law Review. NY Magazine
Everything Michelle does in the article is "suspect." Has there ever been a presidential race in your lifetime where the candidate has been pitted AGAINST his own wife? Read this little tidbit about the conclusion of the movie Do the Right Thing, the Obamas' first date:
Do we want to know which side Obama would have been on, outside that pizza parlor in Brooklyn? He likely would’ve tried to talk Sal and Mookie out of a rash act, though there wouldn’t have been time for that. Michelle doesn’t mention the side he favored on their first date. It’s too loaded a question for a transcendental, post-racial candidate. NY Magazine
Now that we are getting closer to Labor Day, these liberal publications are coming out guns blazing. Tell us what y'all are really thinking. I mean how much clearly can you say "Obama might take Black folk's 'side' if he is elected?" Or how to you say "You should be suspicious of Michelle because Black people like her too much"?
To black people, Michelle represents authenticity. It’s hard to overstate black love for her: “The fact that, as a successful black male, Barack did not choose a lighter-skinned woman, as most of them do, sends a message to me,” says a black female supporter at the Pontiac rally. “Michelle is highly sophisticated, yet she comes from the most humble background possible—no one can say she grew up in Martha’s Vineyard and she’s not really black,” says supporter Alicia Nails, a lecturer at Wayne State University, standing nearby. “I’ll tell you my personal philosophy about people: If I want to know who you are, I look at who you sleep with, and who you give your name. When I look at Michelle, Barack doesn’t have to be any blacker for me.”NY Magazine
You have to read the ENTIRE article because it gets worse as you read along to this writer's ultimate conclusion: "White people can't trust Barack because he married a BLACK woman". Because THAT's the main idea consciously or unconsciously from this article. Don't marry a SISTAH or she'll bring to down!
Check out the magazine cover at the top of the post. There is Michelle hanging over Barack's shoulder on the "Black" side of the cover. I told y'all it wouldn't be the Republicans pulling the most foolishness between now and November. It's going to be liberal media and they keep proving me right. What's that saying, "A smart enemy is better than a foolish friend" or something to that effect. People who are too ignorant to even understand what they are doing are far more dangerous than those with malevolent intent. Ignorant people don't know what they don't know for someone who opened her article speaking about what white people don't know about the Black middle class, that should have been a sign.
Gee thanks for reminding us that to many, a BLACk woman is not a suitable mate for a successful Black man. Thanks a bunch Vanessa Grigoriadis.What a convenient conclusion Vanessa to reach, I didn't say a word y'all. I didn't say a word. So you can't say I said it, I just offered you some additional information and you can draw your own conclusions But really you have to read this entire article. It is 6 pages and please read the entire thing twice before you comment. If FOX NEWS had run this as a segment or if the National Review had printed this, y'all would already be marching.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009 at 5:30AM 
I'm not going to even bother trying to talk about anything OTHER than the inauguration of Barack Obama today :) Besides, we've got our hands full over at Michelle Obama Watch waiting on the big reveal of her ball gown. Enjoy today and marinate on this cover from The Nation. It features barack Obama and famous figures throughout history. Its pretty neat trying to pick everybody out of the illustration. iIwish they had it for purchase. The Nation has posted an answer key to help you figure out who is who.
Even if Obama is the kind of black politician that middle-American white voters can get behind, the secret fear is that he could be a black Trojan horse with all sorts of passengers like Wright—or onetime compadres Bernie Mac and Ludacris—peeping out from under the canvas. He could be ... Michelle. Or at least what Michelle represents: a smart, angry black person in the White House. 