Still Waiting for Our First Black President

Fredrick Harris is a professor at Columbia University who made news because he did nothing more than tell the truth about Barack Obama. In a Washington Post op-ed Harris explained what we at the Black Agenda Report have been saying for years.

Barack Obama is no friend to black people, nor is anyone else who succeeds in making it to the oval office. Indeed, a black president must by necessity become an enemy of black people. Our desire to see a black face in a high place and the racist foundations of American life are a toxic mix. True, Obama can’t advocate for black people without alienating white people, but that means we should never have wanted to see him or any other black person in the presidency in the first place.

We are left with nothing more than swooning over the sight of Obama presiding over state dinners, meeting the queen of England, or wearing his POTUS jacket onboard Air Force One. The pride in Obama’s accomplishment is akin to wanting a black actor to win an oscar or a black athlete to medal at the winter olympics.

Yet we are talking about politics, and our very survival. Black people have advanced the most when we made demands upon the political system. We are now left with nothing but defending Obama, regardless of his deliberate decisions to do nothing on our behalf.

History will show that the Obama era was among the worst in the political life of black America. In fact, we now have no political life. The combination of the effects of corporate cash on black politics and the Obama stand down have been absolutely disastrous.

I am looking forward to reading Harris’ new book, The Price of the Ticket: Barack Obama and the Rise and Decline of Black Politics. Black politics has been in decline for some time and for a variety of reasons, but the Obama election was the nail in the coffin.

Killer President for a Bloodthirsty Nation

“Mr. Obama has placed himself at the helm of a top secret  ‘nominations’ process to designate terrorists for kill or capture, of which the capture part has become largely theoretical.”

The American people are a blood thirsty bunch. How else can one explain the white house using the New York Times to brag about President Obama personally killing so many terror suspects.

I emphasize the word suspect. That means they haven’t been found guilty of anything. They haven’t been accused, charged, indicted, or anything else we used to do in federal court houses. Our constitutional law professor has taken it upon himself to personally decide who should get whacked.

It is appalling, and if people in this country had any morals, Obama would not be able to show his face outside of the white house without being booed. But I said it all in the first sentence, Obama and his team knew that publicizing details of how the president arrives at his hit list would raise his approval ratings.

Why do you think they went on and on ad nauseam in bragging about bin Laden’s assassination? Snarky remarks about Romney being unwilling to pull the trigger became daily campaign rhetoric. What better way to gain and keep popularity than to tell voters how the president decides who he is going to kill next.

I’m now going to be the middle aged baptist lady that I am and call him and his henchmen and women to account.

This is evil. Yes, it is unconstitutional. Yes, congress has not done its job. Yes, the federal judiciary have given up their independence. All of that is true, but is also true that we have pure evil running our government. The lowest rung of hell is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

Amen.

Fascism Watch

I started using the title Fascism Watch for certain blog posts during the Bush presidency. I blamed Bush and Cheney for our loss of civil liberties and American terror around the globe. I was right about them but naïve about the system.

We are still headed towards full fledged fascism and we now have a democratic president. It will be the same no matter which party is in power. Alexander Cockburn explains it all in Counterpunch.

Black Agenda Report at UNAC Conference

The Black Agenda Report team at the UNAC conference in March. Great conference, great panel.

Listen to Black Agenda Radio on the Progressive Radio Network, with Glen Ford and Nellie Bailey – Week of May 14, 2012

Listen to Black Agenda Radio on the Progressive Radio Network, with Glen Ford and Nellie Bailey – Week of May 14, 2012

Black Agenda Radio has a great line up this week. Paul Street, Tony Monteiro, Doug Henwood, Chris Gauvreau of UNAC and Abayomi Azikiwe discussed the NATO protests, election boycotts, the derivatives disaster and Obama's true allegiance.

Professor Johnny Williams of Trinity College was also a guest. I was not familiar with him, but he spoke powerfully on the concept of a maximum wage and how everyone in our country would be better off if the rich took less from us than they do now. His final words were very powerful, they win my award for words of the week. His interview begins about 39 minutes into the program.

I wish that more black folk would join the [occupy]movement and stop coddling up to Obama and thinking that just because Obama is running into extreme right wing, white racists in the congress and so forth that somehow that’s why he can’t get things done.


Obama can’t get things done because he’s not trying to get things done for poor people and  for black people in the country. Once we have that in our heads we realize the people who we have been waiting for are us. We’ve got to do it, we can’t wait for him to do it.


As I have said many times, no one who is really interested in changing our system will ever become president. Black people in particular must act in opposition to presidents, even democrats and even black ones. Williams  and the rest of this week's guests make it clear why that is the case.

Why I won't be voting for Obama, or any other democratic party presidential candidate.

John Pilger Lays on the Knowledge

"In the week Barack Obama received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009, he  ordered bombing attacks on Yemen, killing a reported 63 people, 28 of them children. When Obama recently announced he supported same-sex marriage, American planes had not long blown 14 Afghan civilians to bits. In both cases, the mass murder was barely news. What mattered were the cynical vacuities of a political celebrity, the product of a zeitgeist driven by the forces of consumerism and the media with the aim of diverting the struggle for social and economic justice.

The award of the Nobel Prize to the first black president because he "offered hope" was both absurd and an authentic expression of the lifestyle liberalism that controls much of political debate in the west. Same-sex marriage is one such distraction."

Pilger is one of my favorite writers. Read here to see why. I love his term "lifestyle liberalism." It explains so much of what I hate about the gay marriage and war on women debates. Obama wouldn't be president unless he promised to continue the multiple front wars on human rights around the world. He won't stop mass incarceration, or drone strikes, or bailouts to wall street. So no, it doesn't matter that he is black. He does what presidents do, and that is bad news for the entire world.

Barack Obama, Black People and Gay Rights

Yesterday Barack Obama made big news by actually saying very little. The brouhaha of the last 24 hours is a result of his dim bulb Vice President, Joseph Biden, doing something that every mid-level manager knows not to do.

Biden got ahead of his boss, or as Obama said, “a little bit over his skis.” On Sunday’s edition of Meet the Press Biden announced to the world and to his unsuspecting boss, that he was comfortable with gay marriage. Whoopsy Daisy.

Biden’s blurting forced the president to say the same thing. Yesterday he announced that he too was personally in favor of gay marriage. Liberals predictably fell into a state of collective idol worship, despite the fact that Obama didn’t say anything more enlightened than Dick Cheney said in 2009.

Obama said that while he favored gay marriage, he favored leaving decisions up to individual states. Big deal. That is already the case.

It is all enough to make an anti-Obamaite crazy. Liberals still don’t care that their beloved president asserts a right to jail them without charge or assassinate them if he decides their terrorists. So what. They have an opportunity to look down their noses at yahoos and think themselves superior as their idol drops drones on little children in Afghanistan.

We have also been subjected to endless bloviation about how much more homophobic black people are as compared to whites. Not true. I wrote this column back in 2008 after the passage of Proposition 8 in California, and the unfair smear that black voters alone were responsible for the passage of this ban on gay marriage.

Take a look. I don’t think the issues have changed very much.

Obama and Gay Marriage


Barack Obama has now expressed his support of gay marriage. It isn't surprising. Liberals will love the decision, mostly out of true conviction, but the problem is they don't have much conviction about any issues outside of the social realm.

Obama has eviscerated civil liberties, has given himself the right to jail or even assassinate citizens without charge, and keeps killing people in Afghanistan and Pakistan and Somalia and Fillintheblankistan.

I am in favor of marriage equality, but it bothers me that outside of most issues regarding personal choice, the "social issues", liberals don't care what Obama or any other democrat does while in office. Drone strikes, dead babies, bank bailouts, and good old fashioned imperialism, don't rate on the liberal scale of concerns. If Obama gives the green light for Israel to attack Iran, these same people singing his praises won't bat an eye.

No, gay is not the new black and I said as much last year when the New York state legislature made gay marriage legal. This is the Black Agenda Report column I wrote at the time.

Gay Is Not the New Black


On June 24, the New York state legislature passed a groundbreaking bill that legalized gay marriage, making New York one of only six states in the country which permit same sex couples to marry. 

Marriage equality legislation was introduced on a yearly basis and was defeated with regularity, albeit by small margins. This year the Democratic-controlled New York Assembly supported the legislation as it had in the past. It is the Republican-controlled Senate whose support was new and significant.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg were both staunch supporters of the bill. More importantly, so were the wealthy Wall Street donors who run New York politics and decide who will and won’t serve in office and under what conditions.

According to the New York Times, history was made because these financial heavy-hitters donors made it so. They worked hand-in-hand with Cuomo to assure the Republicans willing to change their votes that they would be protected from opposition and not pay a political price for their actions. Marriage equality now exists in New York because enough rich people wanted it. 

These same donors made certain that the state’s millionaire’s tax also made history – by disappearing. The same Democratic governor who forced wage and pension concessions from public employee unions was adamant that rich people would not pay their fair share in a time of growing budget deficits. 

He refused to even consider raising the income threshold and allowing the tax to exist in some form. The result is that wealthy New Yorkers now pay less in taxes than working people do.

The marriage equality outcome is right both morally and politically, but it is not the only item on the progressive agenda that New York legislators need to address. 

New York City continues its draconian practice of rounding up Blacks and Latinos through marijuana arrests. State legislative action that would make this misdemeanor a violation – and therefore not subject to arrests – languishes. Rent regulations which allow apartments to be lost to so-called "vacancy decontrol" have not been addressed, pushing more working people out of New York City because they cannot find affordable housing.

Black and Latino legislators came up empty-handed in this session, having nothing to give their constituents that improves their lives or brings them any measure of justice. Gay rights have now usurped the progressive agenda to such an extent that the inaction on rent protections and police state malfeasance will be seen as irrelevant.

Too many progressives shy away from the harder work of fighting the good fight against tough opponents like the hedge fund chieftains who demand that laws work for them and against working people. This is the most troubling aspect of this vote. Its success depended entirely on the largesse of people who have no interest in promoting legal and economic justice. They profit by undermining democracy and making their needs paramount and the needs of most citizens inconsequential.

Gov. Cuomo spent his first legislative session acting like a Democrat in name only. Money-driven politics presents clear disincentives to him or to any other governor who wants to represent the needs of most citizens. A candidate for governor in New York is not considered viable unless he or she raises a minimum of $25 million. Like the presidency, the office is for sale, and the winner is automatically beholden to the people who put him there.

Knicks Win, Sarkozy Loses

I hated that little bastard, French president Nicolas Sarkozy, and I’m glad he’s gone. He never hid his obsequious love for the United States nor his willingness to play the role of puppet. He brought hell to Libya and even showed up in person to oversee the imperial destruction of that nation. The loss couldn’t have happened to a more deserving little douchebag. Je suis heureuse! (I’m happy!)

As for the New York Knicks, I assumed they would be swept by the Miami Heat. They hadn’t won a playoff game in 11 years and I didn’t think today would be any different. I’m glad the fat lady didn’t sing quite yet. They had fallen pretty far over the years, with bad management and awful ownership. It was hard to root for the home team, but I would never become a fan of any other NBA team either. As for winning a title, it has been almost 40 years. Maybe I’ll live to see it.

Tom Brokaw on the White House Correspondents’ Dinner

"I think George Clooney is a great guy. I'd like to meet Charlize Theron. But I don't think a big press event in Washington should be that kind of a glittering event where the whole talk is about Cristal champagne, taking over the Italian embassy, who had the best party, who got to meet the most people." – Tom Brokaw

It looks like Brokaw is reading my work. I wrote about the dangers of the media being in bed with the president in my Black Agenda Report column. I know his politics aren’t mine, but thanks anyway Tom. You are on the right track.

Note the photos in the Huffington Post story. Claire Danes and Bob Schieffer, George Clooney and Chris Wallace, seriously? There is a lot wrong with these pictures.

Another FBI Created Plot

Once again, an FBI informant has created a crime. It seems that is all the FBI does these days, create phony terror plots to keep us all afraid and keep us from questioning the endless war on terror.

Now we are told that anarchists wanted to bomb a bridge in Cuyahoga County, Ohio. The informant has been quickly identified as Shaquille Azir, who like other informants is a common criminal who implicates others in crimes he creates in order to keep himself out of jail.

We can expect more of this government sponsored criminality to continue.

Marissa Alexander is Going to Prison

Marissa Alexander shot at her abusive husband in the state of Florida. The same Florida which initially allowed George Zimmerman to go free without charge after killing Trayvon Martin.

Alexander will now be going to jail for a minimum term of 20 years. Florida’s stand your ground law didn’t help her. Of course it didn’t. It was written to help white people only.

Besides, there is a war on black women and children in this country. They are being jailed and harshly punished, even if they and their children are victims of crimes.

The right to self defense does not exist for black people. It is too bad that Ms. Alexander and her lawyer were unaware of this fact. She might have pleaded guilty despite her innocence and gone to jail for a much shorter period of time.

All of which brings to mind another question. How many innocent people plead guilty because they fear, quite rightly, that the system will not give them justice? We have no way of knowing the number, but it must be thousands of people who languish in jails and prisons in this country, which of course has more people behind bars than any other on the planet.

"Barack Obama is the More Effective Evil"

It is tough following Glen Ford, but I managed to at the Left Forum conference in New York City on March 17th. I want to thank James Stone of People of Color Organized in providing this audio recording of our remarks.

Democrats are all the more effective evil, and it is time for progressives to dump them like the bad habit they have have become. Glen breaks it down as only he can. I think I did ok, but it will take a while to get up to Glen Ford speed as a speaker.

UNAC workshop 25 Mar 12

Black Agenda Report Team at UNAC Conference


I haven't posted in a few weeks because I have been quite busy. Among other things, I was a panelist at the recent United National Antiwar Coalition (UNAC) conference on March 24th and March 25th. The entire Black Agenda Report team was on hand with me, Glen Ford, Bruce Dixon, and Nellie Bailey. Check out the video of one of our panels.

UNAC is the real, anti-war deal. It is one of the few truly anti-war groups, opposing U.S. interventions even if committed by a democrat, and first black president is in office. There were about 500 people in attendance in Stamford, Connecticut, all of them committed to a left agenda of peace abroad and justice at home.

It was great to be with old friends and new, like minded people who do not cringe in decrying NATO and G8, and who aren't afraid to use words like imperialism or condemn the impending attack on Iran. I met people I have long admired like Vijay Prashad and felt galvanized to keep writing and speaking out.\

Enjoy!

پرزیدنت اوباما در نوروز با ایرانیان صحبت کرد‬

Murdering Pompous Ass Hypocritical New Year Greeting


Every year Iranians, Kurds, Afghans, Iraqis and others celebrate the first day of spring as the new year. Unfortunately for all of those people, since 2009 the Nowruz celebration is marked by a phony greeting from president Obama. He will start killing Iranians as soon as he finds it convenient, but part of his scam is to look like the nice guy.

I do wish we had a dumb president who was easily dismissed. Mr. Blood Thirsty, smarty pants, nobel peace prize winner really gets on my nerves.

I send a happy new year greeting, but I'm not going to kill anybody.

Happy 1391

Today is the beginning of the Persian new year. Nowruz begins on the first day of spring. Kiss an Iranian today!

Slaves, Obey Your Masters

Slaves, obey your masters. So says the bible. The Pennsylvania Association of Nonbelievers quite rightly wanted to point out that the bible supports many things that no civilized person approves of any more. They installed this billboard in Harrisburg to prove a point to the state legislature, which declared “the year of the bible",” exhorting citizens to “study and apply the teachings of the holy scriptures.” Does the legislature want to bring back slavery? One would hope not, but the blanket approval of scripture would mean supporting slavery, the stoning of adulterers, and casting lepers out into the street.

Let’s just say that reaction to the billboard was swift, and not in a good way. The bill board was vandalized and groups such as the NAACP demanded an apology. The atheist group removed the vandalized board and apologized.

It isn’t clear to me what the fuss is about. The billboard shows a man shackled as many enslaved people were in horrific contraptions which kept them running away. I don’t think most people have this picture in their minds when they think of slavery, but they ought to. The billboard doesn’t support slavery, it merely points out that the bible says it was acceptable.

Christians always talk about discerning the scriptures, which ought to mean reading them critically. I guess if  the same message comes from atheists it can suddenly be ignored.

I think the brouhaha emerged because black people don’t know how to think about slavery. It is a subject which is just too painful for us to comprehend. We don’t see images of slavery like this, and we don’t want to either.

Attacking the bible is no small thing either. No one wants to hear that the book they are told is inerrant also supported the same thing that brings them so much pain.

As they say in church, this was a teachable moment. I hope someone was doing their homework.

No, I Don’t Like Obama Either

“I would have so liked to see an obvious madman at the helm of the national pirate ship, instead of a high-functioning sociopath who appears, superficially, to be a human being, and lends the whole mad and evil project a certain factitious gloss of reasonableness.” – Michael Smith

Ignore Rush Limbaugh

The 1% are laughing themselves silly. While they continue to steal the rest of us blind, and destroy the planet, democrats are having pissing matches with the likes of Rush Limbaugh because he called a college student a slut. The people and corporations at the top could give a rats butt about abortion or birth control because the two major parties do their bidding, even as they fight over social issues.

As I pointed out in my weekly Black Agenda Report column, republicans are taking extreme positions on abortion and birth control because Obama has stolen their thunder. As Ben Stein said, he is the perfect republican candidate. He has agreed to republican austerity measures, destroyed Libya, killed American citizens at will, and plans more war for Iran and or Syria. Instead of protesting these outrages, liberals get the pants in a twist over Rush Limbaugh. The divide and conquer strategy which keeps the status quo, very much status quo, is alive and well.

No, I wouldn't want Rush Limbaugh to call me a slut or a prostitute, but seriously people, the bail outs continue, unemployment numbers have improved only because millions are no longer counted in the numbers, and we spend time thinking about Limbaugh?

If he didn't exist, we would have to invent him. I have joked that Obama pays Limbaugh, Palin and company to make racist or sexist or stupid remarks, because everyone stops questioning him in order to defend him from the barbarians.

Here is the real question which should be on everyone's mind. Will Obama attack Iran before or after election day? Ponder that and ignore Rush Limbaugh.

Obama's phone call to the parents of the aggrieved young woman is all the proof one needs. The 1% get theirs, and we get political theater because the economic elite are in cahoots with both parties and the corporate media never point this out.