Bill and Hillary, thanks for the Wake-up call..
(To my faithful readers, as much as I hate to quote an author who once introduced the world to a character named "Nigger Jim" - but "the rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated"(Hence the blog inactivity) - it would seem that a certain gelatinous chimney hopper put a girlfriend in the stocking of your favorite neighborhood pre-ejaculator. Well. sorta. I have yet to maneuver my mandible and the lips attached to it to actually form the words "Girlfriend", so right now I refer to the lady in question as "The only woman in three years that I offer post coital conversation to" - that being said, on with the show.)
Historically I'm a light sleeper, a person who can be easily awakened by something as subtle as a television channel being changed or the vibrations a bed makes when a lover decides to make an early morning bathroom stop - that's why some of the harshest curse words exit my urban pie-hole whenever a person takes it upon themselves to interrupt my nocturnal emissions in a rather violent fashion. My guess is that my hatred of said practice started in the early 90's, I'd be nestled so snugly in my Michael Jordan bedsheets trying to take advantage of every ounce of sleep I could get before going through the daily minutiae of High School. My mother, a woman's who's voice was severely damaged due to a heart surgery 40 years prior - would pound on my door like she was a member of L.A.P.D's gang unit and would proceed to absolutely screech the following: "HumanityCritic!!!! Get your nappy-headed ass out of bed before I tell your friends that the mailman is your father! Just ask yourself why we get our mail before anyone else?" My "non letter carrying" father wasn't much better, his way of waking me up either had to do with him threatening me with "I'll strangle you with your small intestines motherfucker!" violence or having my face mushed into my pillow the way Ice Cube did that young woman in the "It was a Good day" video. Suffice it to say, the better part of 20 years have been spent angrily growling like a rabid dog at whoever dare wake me up with anything north of a gentle whisper or slight nudging - so lets just say that the past two weeks have prompted your favorite blogger to let out an expression of anger that only members of PETA and bestiality enthusiasts the world over could recognize.
But this time I have been violently shaken out of a figurative sleep from two of the most unlikeliest of sources, my republican brother-in-law Michael and my pan-africanist friend DanTres. When my brother-in-law would passionately try to convince me that Bill Clinton was the devil incarnate, I respectfully heard what he had to say - but took what he said with a grain of salt, reminding myself that I was talking to a Rush Limbaugh listener who probably had the ability to spout out republican talking points faster than Dustin Hoffman's character in "Rain Man" could blurt out complex math equations. DanTres would try to school me on the evils of the media, and how inherently racist the Democratic party is - I'd listen to everything the brother had to tell me, but it would never completely soak in because secretly I felt that his revolutionary beliefs made Che Guevara look like Strom Thurman. I always tell him that if we were part of the Black Panthers in the 1960's, he'd be on the front lines actually bringing about change - while I would be completely comfortable with my role proof reading speeches, and sleeping with all the beautiful sisters who frequented the weekly Black Power meetings.
But after watching the political coverage over the last month or so, I began to realize that the passionate warnings of two men from polar opposite ends of the ideological spectrum became nothing short of prophecy - its just a shame that it took Bill and Hillary to violently wake me from my political slumber.
Bill Clinton wasn't our first black president: As I've witnessed our red-faced 42nd president belligerently distorting Barack Obama's record like a drunken frat-boy, its forced me to address a regurgitated claim that you hear ad nauseum from all the media types - the "Bill Clinton was our first black president" silliness invented by Nobel Prize-winning author Toni Morrison. Granted, for years I bought that notion hook-line-and sinker as well, starting with Bill showing off his sub-par saxophone playing skills on "Arsenio" - that "right at home" feeling Bill exudes whenever he's around a group of black people, and even his harshest critics can't front on the man's oratory skills whenever he's in front of some miscellaneous black church. But when you think of Bill Clinton's failure to intervene in the Rwandan genocide, taking Sista Soulja completely out of context and turning her into the 1992 version of Willie Horton, mercilessly throwing Lani Guinier under the bus, the execution of Ricky Ray Rector that smacks of political opportunism - not to mention a "scorched earth" political campaign he's helping his wife run that's completely based on distortions and race baiting. I've heard Mr. Clinton, on more than one occasion recently, shower Obama with patronizing praise while suggesting that the junior Senator should wait his turn - a sentiment that everyone who fought for Civil Rights in this country immediately recognizes. If Bill Clinton was indeed our first black president then I guess Chuck D was right: "Every brother ain't a brother cause of color!"
Our News media is absolutely abysmal: Taking a page out of Bill Clinton's playbook and turning it on its head, the idea that Barack Obama has gotten a free pass from the media is one of the biggest fucking fairy tales imaginable. Sure, as a Obama supporter I can admit that the hype surrounding Barack after his Iowa win was a bit ridiculous - but ever since New Hampshire, you would be hard pressed to find one media outlet that doesn't either obsess over race or shamelessly promote Hillary Clinton "talking points". When the Clinton camp attacks its characterized as "good politics" and them being "tough", but when Obama counters, he's "whining", "frustrated", or how that hack Chris Matthews describes it - Bill Clinton is "inside Obama's head". MSNBC's Craig Crawford would have us believe that Bill Clinton telling a South Carolina crowd that blacks will vote for Obama isn't injecting race, but Obama somehow having Oprah simply stump for him is playing the race card - I used to think that a black man couldn't become president because America wasn't ready, now I believe it won't happen because it seems that 95% of all the political writers out there got their journalism degree's from the bottom of a fucking cereal box. I've also noticed that most of the "Democratic Strategists" that the cable networks use, individuals who should be objective when it comes to discussing all of the democratic candidates - usually end up exposing themselves as Hillary shills, apologizing for the Clinton smear machine as them simply running a "hard nose" campaign.(If Hillary becomes the nominee, and the republicans throw the kitchen sink at her - I wonder if those same "strategists" will also characterize what the republicans are doing as simply "hard nose" politics as well?) Even Keith Olbermann, a person who I usually feel is a proverbial breath of fresh air in terms of the cable news landscape, carelessly fell into the "Obama was praising Reagan" trap - a trap that could be easily avoided by using basic reading comprehension skills.
Liberals are racist people too: When John Kerry was running for president, amidst all the windsurfing and swift-boating from the well oiled apparatus that is the Karl Rove smear machine - I found solace visiting some of the most popular liberal sites, reading campaign updates and good old American political spin was akin to attending a weekly support group. When Jim Webb was running for Senate in my home-state of Virginia, the liberal blogisphere was my best friend - it was a place that provided me with hourly polling and an optimistic belief that he could beat a man who was at worst a known racist and at best a known scumbag. But as an Obama supporter, at least when it comes to some of the bigger liberal blogs that I usually depend on - it would seem that they have turned their back on supporters of my ilk, either slightly leaning Hillary's direction or unabashedly doing so. Maybe the title was a bit misleading, there is no evidence that these sites are overtly racist at all - but for a guy(Obama) who talks about bringing people together, the overall invective and vitriol hurled in his direction on some of these sites is rather suspect. You know its bad when the only high profile blog somewhat supporting Obama comes from a conservative - hat tip to Andrew Sullivan.
*Bile-filled anti-Obama Blog alert* These two miserable fucking hacks, here and here.
Some Older black folks worry me: Don't get it twisted, no one should be supporting a presidential candidate based on their race or gender - and I don't take issue with any black person who thinks that Hillary Rodham Clinton is best suited for the highest office in the land. But outside of the mysteriously angry dismissiveness shown by the likes of Andrew Young, Charlie Rangel, and billionaire house negro Bob Johnson - the older black folks that I've talked to seem to support Hillary in a rather knee-jerk fashion. While they admit that Barack Obama is talented, a skilled orator, and a source for inspiration for not only African Americans but the country as a whole - 9 times out of 10 times they express support for Hillary Clinton based on Obama's youth and the mounds of experience Hillary has over the junior senator from Illinois. Even after I point out that Obama has 4 more years of elected office over Mrs. Clinton, has as much foreign policy experience as JFK did and more than Bill Clinton(as well as being older than both ex-presidents when they ran) - they usually looked at me as if I just asked them to break down Transcendentalism, and proceeded to tell me that they are supporting Hillary anyways. *exhaustive sigh* But as I've witnessed some of the most prominent civil rights era activists support Hillary, especially considering the fact that there is barely any light between her an Obama politically - I have to ask, what in the fuck was all the marching and ass-whippings for?
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Comments
1.
shellie_wow says:
This is an awesome commentary. I wish that you had a larger venue. It is important that people of color see a young man of color speak positively about another man of color. This election seems to be the first time that people's racist ideas and ideals are brought to the forefront overtly or subtly.
01/26/2008 at 10:20 PM