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Can We Say No to a Pig
in a Poke?
Mr. Obama as Captain of the Titanic
By Rudolph Lewis
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It hurts to witness your
pain. I have always been cynical about
Obama, and I never expected anything
different. But for you and others these
recent revelations must be traumatic. . . .
I think we made him captain of the Titanic.—Anonymous |
My pain is no greater in extent
than any other caring soul interested in the welfare of
human beings on the planet, especially those of the
colored variety so sorely oppressed by African
depopulation and exploitation. There have indeed been
those more insightful than I, as can be verified by
reading articles on Obama written in 2008. There are
records that clearly point out who Obama was/is, that he
was in the political tradition of Kennedy, Reagan, and
Clinton. But as afar as the flesh and blood of the
matter many of us overlooked or turned away with
rose-colored glasses. But even with all that insight or
bright-colored oversight, I do not think any black folk
who voted for Obama expected he’d keep a fearful
respectful distance and take us into a fourth war.
Though I tend not to be cynical, I
too had my suspicions, as can be verified by a piece
published by Black Agenda Report and
ChickenBones: A Journal, namely, "Hunger
for a Black President." A few may also remember my
call for a black independent party and realizing that
was a present practical impossibility I recommended a
black boycott of the polls. I am on record countering
Amiri Baraka’s attack on the "black left," especially
Black Agenda Report, in his vigorous support of
Obama:
"The Parade of Anti Obama Rascals" and
"Act Like We Know."
Though I did not care for his
elitist campaign tone, I yet appreciate where Baraka was
coming from and allow now that he may have had his eyes
wide open. My views were striking a brick wall of
impossibility. So I made a turn-around with open eyes
and with the hope that Mr. Obama might not be as worst
as the alternative. And so I went along and voted for
Mr. Obama and have gone along in his presidency and made
justifications for his milksop and half-stepping
domestic policies as mere pragmatic politics and his war
against the Afghanis and Pakistanis, though hurtful
(even noting the first death by a drone he shot into
Pakistan) I merely covered my nose from the stench..
November 2010 the domestic
situation rose to a near boil. So I began to heat up as
well to Mr. Obama’s lack of a principled stance against
those who would make war against ordinary Americans,
e.g., black working middle classes (their unions and
pensions and unemployment benefits), the aged (their
food and social security and health care needs),
students (rising costs and threats to eliminating needed
loans), and the black poor (heightened street searches
and murderous police repression).
And now in 2011 even before we get
to spring flowers and the songs of birds, Mr. Obama has
instigated a war against Libya and Muammar Gaddafi.
Moving needed resources from domestic needs to an
unnecessary foreign war. That broke the camel's back, so
much so that I could not remain silent and sanguine. So
I abandoned my stillness and patience and picked up my
pen to express my dissatisfaction and outrage to state
outright that the man now lacks any of the principles he
so forthrightly and courageous spoke against, e.g.,
making of war against weaker nations. This new startling
contrast between candidate Obama and President Obama is
indeed unsettling. My response is not one of mere
unthinking emotion of one who has no political, ethical
insight.
Mr. Obama's warmongering is a
negation of who I am, one who is steeped in the social
morality, social justice, and ethics of Martin King, and
the defiant black universal manhood of Malcolm X. If I
settled for Mr. Obama’s fourth war, I could not be me in
my sense of integrity and self-respect. That is, I would
have to negate my being in the world. For the matter of
life and death has come home, not merely the death of
Libyans and American soldiers, but a mortal threat to my
very soul.
I am not one of those naive black
church ladies who voted for Mr. Obama out of simple
racial pride to create another “Negro first.” I ended
that phase of my life in the mid-70s. I was not a Jesse
Jackson presidential supporter. We have had black
mayors, black representatives, black secretaries of
state and a black associate justice that have been
utterly disappointing. I have been sickened by the
nigger game of tokens in high places and “gotten
negroes” who would sell their mamas for artificial
comforts. My objections are far more philosophical and
ethical than those who may suffer now because Mr. and
Mrs. Obama have stained racial pride and appreciation.
It’s not that we made or forced Mr.
Obama to be captain of the Titanic. And it’s not that he
did not know that what before him lay a sinking ship. He
chose to take on the task of making it a more perfect
ship. And we seconded his willingness to be champion in
the nation’s hour of distress. That the ship is sinking
is not our grievance, rather the Captain is causing the
ship to sink at a greater rate and not doing the things
to save those who can be saved. And rather than taking
care of his shipmates sinking, he had chosen rather to
devote his energies to sinking out of revenge other
ships.
At this hour, my backbone is
stiffened by that defiant folklore hero Shine, one who
was able to recognize conmen and vigorously refuse a pig
in a poke.
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Shine and the Titanic
Excerpt by Professor Arturo
Shine said: “You can giggle from the weed;
you can laugh from the coke
But gitcha booty in the water and cutchoo a
stroke
You can have all yo’ money, yo’ friends and
yo’ foes
You can finance yo’ wars and yo’ G.I. Joes
You gots mo’ money than a human had oughta
so gitcha butt out cheer in this freezin’-cold
water
You rich and you greedy—ain’t never been
broke
so gitcha butt in the water and cutchoo a
stroke
You can call on the Mounties and the CIA
but they gon’ git they dry-y-y-y-y-y behinds
wet today!
Sorry, Mr. Banker; I don’t need Jah-pain
‘cause I’ll be sittin’ wit ma baby justa
listenin’ to Trane
I’ma swim to New Awlins for some panné meat
gon’ do the Mississippi Mambo down on
Claiborne Street
gon’ wear orange and gold and purple and
greens
-go runnin’ wit the Injuns—eat all the red
beans
You might like CHAKA. You might like Rufus
Even Leon Spinks know
you lyin’ through yo’ toofus…” |
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Responses
OK, Rudy . . . I
have a question for you. :) At the time of the election,
Obama was the best choice. McCain is a ticking bomb. If
you know anyone who has PTSD, you can easily see the
signs in McCain. I was actually hoping during the
debates that he was pushed harder than he was. You could
see him tensing up, etc. . . . McCain would have had us
in deeper doo doo than we are now. What were your
expectations of anyone who had been elected? Remember,
I'm living in AZ now and I know how the national media
has misrepresented some of the things that have happened
here in the last year.—Linda
Threadgill
I did not vote for
McCain. I have no defense for McCain. I have no ball
capable of seeing the future. I am no doctor. . . .
Well, you forgot to put Hillary into the equation. . . .
But all of that aside, one has to speak the truth of the
now.—Rudy
My question is
still the same. Hilary was out of the picture. As you
mentioned there is no crystal ball. No one knew what was
going to happen. We still don’t. We had 2 choices. We
would have been worse off with McCain. Also unless
people are privy to all info regarding Libya we don' t
know if correct decisions are being made or not.
I was not pro
Obama, but realized he was the lesser of the 2 evils.—Linda
Threadgill
Maybe you are right
about the two evils. But it is rather difficult to
differentiate between a little evil and a lot of evil
when killing begins, when bombs begin to fall, when
large nations begin to invade small, weaker nations.
I'll allow you are right, Obama was the better choice at
the time of the election. I too voted for him. Now
that's all under the bridge and downstream. My subject
is now. What is Obama doing now? According to the
Times and other corporate media Obama has “boots on
the ground” plotting and arming insurrectionists to kill
Gaddafi and his sons to bring down the Libya government.
I submit what we have before us is international
immorality and lawlessness, a violation of UNSC
Resolution 1973. Are we to use this kind of behavior as
a community standard? Will these be the ethics we teach
our children? My concern first and foremost is the soul
of Black America.—Rudy
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Poll: 27% of Blacks Lose Faith
in Obama Over Libyan Attack—by Dr. Boyce Watkins,
Syracuse University—According to a recent survey
conducted by
YourBlackWorld.com, 27.3% of African American
respondents claim that President Obama’s most recent
actions in Libya have reduced their faith in his
leadership ability. Roughly 20.8% of respondents claim
that the Libyan intervention has increased their faith
in Obama’s leadership. Equally interesting is that over
half (51.8%) of all black respondents to the survey said
that the Libyan intervention has no impact at all on
their perception of President Obama’s ability to lead. .
. . Also, since more African Americans have lost faith
in Obama as a result of the Libyan intervention (vs. the
number that have increased their faith), it appears that
the Libyan situation may result in a net loss of black
support for the president.—BoyceWatkins
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US NATO bombings
kill civilians in Tripoli—By Bill Van Auken—1 April 2011—US-NATO
air strikes on Tripoli and other Libyan cities have
claimed growing numbers of civilian victims, according
to the Vatican’s top representative in the Libyan
capital. The report represents a severe blow to the
attempts by Washington and its NATO allies, backed by
the overwhelming majority of the Western media, to
dismiss the Libyan government’s claims of civilian
casualties as “propaganda” and portray the continuous
air raids as a “humanitarian” defense of the population.
“The so-called
humanitarian air raids have taken the lives of dozens of
civilians in various areas of Tripoli,” Bishop Giovanni
Innocenzo Martinelli, the Apostolic Vicar of Tripoli
told Agenzia Fides, the Vatican news service.“Of
particular concern, in the district of Buslim, a
building collapsed because of the bombing killing 40
people,” he said “Yesterday I reported that the bombing
had affected some hospitals, albeit indirectly. I can
now confirm that one of these hospitals is in Misda,” a
town about 110 miles south of Tripoli. The Euronews
television channel reported that a bombing raid on an
ammunition dump in Misda had caused damage to the
hospital and nearby homes, wounding at least 13
civilians.—
WSWS
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Africans
Beware the Saviors of Libya /
US Senate discusses sending troops to Libya
 |
Sewing the Mustard Seed
The Struggle for Freedom and Democracy in Uganda
By Yoweri Kaguta
Museveni
The autobiography of
Yoweri Kaguta Museveni. Museveni led a guerilla war to
liberate his country from tyranny and, as President of
Uganda, has established a reputation as one of the most
widely respected African leaders of his generation. This is
an excellent book by an African leader who is not well known
in the West. This man managed to turn his country around
after he was almost completely destroyed by two of the worst
dictators the world has seen namely
Idi Amin
and
Milton Obote. Early years - (1944-1958); youth
and politics - (1958-1966); Dar Es Salaam University
- (1967-1970); a brief historical review; fighting Amin
(1-4) - (1972-1979); the Uganda National Liberation Front
- (1979-1980); fighting Obote (1-2) -
(1981-1983). |
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The White Masters of the
World
From
The World and Africa, 1965
By W. E. B. Du Bois
W. E. B. Du Bois’
Arraignment and Indictment of White Civilization
(Fletcher)
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House of Nehesi Publishers
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Ancient African Nations
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If you like this page consider making a donation
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Negro Digest /
Black World
Browse all issues
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Enjoy!
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The Death of Emmett Till by Bob Dylan
/
The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll
/
Only a Pawn in Their Game
Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson Thanks America for
Slavery
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The Journal of Negro History issues at Project Gutenberg
The
Haitian Declaration of Independence 1804
/
January 1, 1804 -- The Founding of
Haiti
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posted 1 April 2011
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