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May 20, 2008 Obama and the Black MediaBy Ray RobisonHis rhetoric for the black media to support the African-American community seemed a call to action by a man who wants to be a leader of not just that community but our nation. Of course, at the time it was widely reported that African-Americans were concerned with the "authenticity" of a man raised by whites, with no ancestors who had been enslaved in America. Perhaps it is worth examining whether his words match his deeds with respect to that community to find out what the rest of us can expect. At about 20 minutes into the video, Cheryl Smith of The Dallas Weekly asked the Senator a question. After noting his previous outreach to the black press she questioned "if elected will the black press receive the same consideration and respect?" In response the senator mentioned his history with local Chicago based black media and the support it provided him on local issues. Obama rattled off the names of a few local black press outlets such as the Chicago Crusader that he had dealt with in the past and told the assembled reporters that "if you all were covering me when nobody wanted to cover me then you should be able to cover me when everybody wants to cover me." The statement received a warm welcome and in response Senator Obama pledged to continue the practice "when I am in the White House". But it didn't take long for that promise to be forgotten. The Senator's concerns over "authenticity" transformed into concerns about being perceived by whites as a racial candidate, once Bill and Hillary Clinton began their project of identifying him as the ":black candidate." This man who runs on the premise of being something "new" in politics seems to have a strain of the "old" politics in him. A politician's promise is, after all, nothing but a politican's promise. In April this year a woman named Dorothy Leavell who publishes the Chicago Crusader and helms the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) blasted the senator and his campaign as a pack of "liars". A writer named Betty Pleasant who writes a column for the Los Angeles Wave, a local LA black media outlet revealed his betrayal and the anger it has provoked in the black media community. Pleasant reports that "Black publishers say they have been locked out of Obama's advertising game plan -- and even shunned in their attempts to cover the Obama operation." Ms. Pleasant writes that black media has chafed "at his campaign officials' insensitivity to, and total disregard of" black people. To make matters worse, as Pleasant reported, during a March meeting of the NNPA the publishers reminded the senator's staff of his pledge to support them. In response, Michael Strautmanis representing the Obama campaign acknowledged the problem and vowed to correct it by sending ad money and interview opportunities to the black media. By the end of April Ms. Leavell was hopping mad. "They lied to us" Leavell told Pleasant according to the article. Ms. Leavell's papers are based in Chicago and Indiana, the scene of major primary contests. According to Leavell they received no support from the campaign despite her repeated attempts to contact Strautmanis to hold him to the campaign's promise prompting her to declare them "the worst liars". And Leavell was not alone. Ernie Pitt, a North Carolina black media publisher called Obama's pledge an "easy promise to keep" while remarking that if he breaks a pledge on something so easy the "what can we expect if they get to the White House?" Lenora Carter of Texas complained that the Obama campaign refused access to the black media during the Texas primary. Carter claimed that "Blacks set up a headquarters for him here in the 3rd Ward at their own expense and he never visited it". She also says that he ignored the black radio station just "six blocks from where he was staying." Leavell summed up the situation thusly "many of our black communities may not turn out to vote in November, no matter who's running." The candidate has not helped assuage these concerns by avoiding campaigning in black neighborhoods ever since the Clintons played the race card. Many whites support Obama especially because he is seen as the fulfillment of our dreams for a colorblind society. Those whites look to Obama to relieve them of a guilt ingrained in them since childhood that as white Americans they are somehow responsible for the acts of our forefathers. To see the man who is held out by the mainstream media as the embodiment of a promise to push us over the racial equality finish line treating his pledges to black media so glibly, well what can the rest of us expect from him? Can he be the racial healer when he is the cause of the hurt? Can America expect him to keep his grandiose promises when he won't keep his personal pledges to his base?
Ray Robison is co-author of Both in One Trench. |
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Comments
There's little doubt that "the man who is held out ...as the embodiment of a promise to push us over the racial equality finish line" will do nothing of the sort. He divides both ways, though it seems that the "enlightened academia" types and young (under 25) voters buy what he's selling. And they probably will until the end.
But all of this negativity about Obama does not mean that his candidacy is doomed in November. Oh so much can be "forgiven" of the (false) messiah.
Posted by: Bob Myer | May 20, 2008 06:40 AM
When Barack wins the nomination, race relations in this country will be set back fifty years for sure.
Posted by: Pete | May 20, 2008 06:59 AM
And this suprises anyone how?
Posted by: Doug F | May 20, 2008 09:04 AM
"Hope, Change, Yes We Can, Bitter, God Damn America!"
Posted by: Mike | May 20, 2008 09:35 AM
What's really pathetic is that no matter how often Obama lies to black journalists, or how often he treats other blacks as dispensible campaign props, black Americans will vote for him overwhelmingly illustrating once and for all who the real racists in America are.
Posted by: Oracle | May 20, 2008 10:27 AM
I was shocked on Sunday evening at a family restaurant that two couples did not want to sit by a table of 'white folks' (their words) and proceeded to move. Obama is not a man running for president who happens to be black. Many blacks seem to be supporting him not because they believe he is the best candidate - but because it's time for 'payback'. I dread the noise if he wins or if he loses.
Posted by: Noey | May 20, 2008 10:41 AM
I'm not surprised, but this is the first I've heard of it. The black press needs to shout from the rooftops.
Posted by: Eva Damato | May 20, 2008 11:24 AM
How can everybody keep discussing the implications on "Black" struggles by this "Black" candidate when he is not "Black". He is Arab.
Is this the secret that must not be spoken? We could be discussing the implications of electing the first Arab as President. That would be truthful. American Thinker is a good website. I don't understand how you avoid this rather inconvenient fact.
I provide this reference:
http://kennethelamb.blogspot.com/2008/02/barak-obama-questions-about-ethnic.html
Posted by: Dave M | May 20, 2008 11:46 AM
Reverand Wright said it best. He is doing what politicians do.
Posted by: Tim | May 20, 2008 12:32 PM
I'm not sure why Barry would advertise in the "black press" whatever that is, when he is already getting 90% of the black vote. Interviews, likewise, would reach a comparitively tiny audience already committed to Barry. Hopefully that is not quite true as the noted journalists imply but do they express these views in their op-ed pages? Perhaps they will seek audience with Wright, Ayers and the Rezko cast. Perhaps also they might deign to ask questions the MSMers would never allow.
Posted by: megapotamus | May 20, 2008 12:51 PM
Obama uses blacks the same way other Democrats do. For him, as for them, blacks are tools to be used to secure a victory and ones who will receive lip service afterwards. Why should Obama have to do anything that he promises blacks when, for fifty long years, blacks have reflexively voted Democrat and been royally screwed for it?
Look at Obama's track record. He joined TUCC so he could gain "authenticity" as a black; he married a black woman to further establish that he was down with the struggle. The last thing an up and coming mulatto politician like Obama needed was a white woman on his arm, not when he was trying to establish his "authenticity." Having established his "authenticity" via the racist and grievance-peddling Jeremiah Wright (those two qualities are part of the "authentic black" package, it seems to me), Obama could dump Wright over what he claimed was a diss. If that is not macho "authentic" posturing, heaven knows what it. Certainly, standing up for country, flag, and freedom isn't. Popping a few caps, even verbal ones, in the diss-er, is.
No doubt, in time, Michelle's turn will come when he no longer needs her anymore.
As Wright said, Obama is just another politician doing what politicians do.
Posted by: Helen | May 20, 2008 01:00 PM
The reason Obama and his handlers feels they can get away with being so dismissive of black media is really quite simple. What percentage of the black community that hasn't already bought into Obamamania, lock, stock and racial solidarity barrel actually read soi disant black media? Speaking of which - compare the Google results for "mainstream media" [5,830,000] versus "black media" [172,000] - What's that old Clemens' truism: Figures don't lie, but liars figure.
Posted by: Joseph Crowley | May 20, 2008 02:27 PM
One of these days someone is going to ask Obama if he supports reparatons for slavery. Then it is going to hit the fan because one group is not going to be happy.
Posted by: bill thurston | May 20, 2008 03:21 PM
BHO is a test for us, from God himself. Quite simply, how we choose to handle BHO's candidacy will speak volumes about the character we, as a nation, possess.
During a time when we are fighting a war against Islamic extremism, particularly in a country called Iraq against a man named Saddam Hussein because of Osama Bin Laden, we are presented with a candidate named Barack Hussein Obama. He is running as a black man, when he is partially white. He is to lead the Democratic Party, the party of slavery, segregation, and racism. He is the most Liberal senator in Congress, a Leftist philosophy that is responsible for countless atrocities and failed policies worldwide. His big issue is universal healthcare although the Democratic Party violated Americans' civil liberties when it employed the concept of eugenics more then a century ago. His wife and pastor denounce this country, he represents the Party that has always denounced this country, and he refuses to engage in the most basis patriotic efforts.
To put this man in the White House would be a clear indication of our unwillingness to seek and stand for the truth. It should be obvious how ridiculous this situation has become.
Posted by: Corey J. | May 20, 2008 06:50 PM
I am truly concerned for this country. The people who have the power are becoming very dangerous. I wonder where it will lead us.
Posted by: KansasGirl | May 20, 2008 09:45 PM
I stumbled across this website today called the (what a joke) American Thinker. After reading the comments on a number of articles here, I thought that this project here must be an exercise in sarcasm. The mindless drivel posted here is astounding. Very rarely have I encountered a site with such an explosion of ignorance. Intellectual honesty must be forbidde here.
Posted by: Lloyd | May 22, 2008 08:25 PM
And I supposed you have seen more "intelligence" at Huffpo, DU, and Kos?
Posted by: AngryAmerican | May 24, 2008 12:50 AM
Obama and his wife are both racist themselves, and then have the gall to belittle, patronize and make condescending statements about other Americans who disagree with him or dare to challange him.
Who's the uniter? I see nothing uniting about the Obama camp.
Posted by: Cheryl | May 24, 2008 10:38 AM
O Obama,My Obama
our fearful trip is done,
the ship has withered every wreck,
the price we sort is won.
the cost is near the bells i hear ...
Posted by: rahul | May 29, 2008 01:52 PM
[...]source here[...]
Posted by: battery | June 16, 2008 12:00 AM