TBD on Ning
Does the extreme right hate Obama because of racism?
Jesse Jackson thinks so and so do I.
The recent outburst by Congressman Joe Wilson made it clear that South Carolina is the state that hates Obama the most.
Did you know that Obama receives 4 times the amount of death threats than any other president in modern times?
Read the article below and let us know what you think about this issue.
Race Matters: No to Obama at schools, Van Jones saga, divisive rhetoric on health care reform
Yesterday, a man on Twitter decided to engage the African-American Books Examiner in a political discussion, specifically a discussion about conservative parents protesting President Barack Obama's upcoming September 8th speech to school children throughout the nation. After telling this Examiner that he was "astute" in politics, he invoked states' rights and expounded on his belief that the federal government should not be so involved in our lives.
When he was told that often the invocation of states' rights has been used to fight Civil Rights, in particular integration and freedom for African-Americans, he said that he was surprised how often race came up in political discussions. Furthermore, he said he didn't know much about race and race relations because he was raised someplace in America where race was not an issue. The African-American Examiner, while not telling him directly her concern, wondered how anyone with no grasp of race relations in America could assert fluency in discourse on domestic politics.
Race matters. How can one be "astute" in American politics but know little about government policies within the context of African-American history in this nation? Like it or not, both the enslavement of African-Americans and their quest for freedom and equality shaped this country.
With Saturday night's resignation of Van Jones, Obama's "green czar," a decision tainted by racial unrest, with the rise of racial propaganda in the health care reform debate, old stand-by allegations of socialism and communism being shouted again at not only President Barack Obama but his associates, the Jermiah Wright flap in 2008 and many incidents with racial angles that America saw during the presidential race, it's clear the rise and election of President Barack Obama has not hurled us into an age of post-racial equanimity. In fact, it may be more important than ever that literate Americans who want to understand politics in this nation also understand the influence of race on public policy.
Here is a short list of books to get anyone started who has a genuine desire to understand race in this country and how it affects not only politics, but also economics, education, and distribution of resources.
The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. Du Bois, a classic:
One of the most widely read and influential works in African American literature, "The Souls of Black Folk" is W.E.B. Du Bois's classic collection of essays in which he details the state of racism and black culture at the beginning of the 20th century. Often autobiographical, "The Souls of Black Folk" takes the reader on a history lesson of race relations and the state of the African American from the emancipation proclamation to the early part of the 20th century. A founding member of the NAACP, Du Bois, through his writings, laid the foundation for the debate that would become the civil rights movement.
Up From Slavery by Booker T. Washington, another classic:
Nineteenth-century African American businessman, activist, and educator Booker Taliaferro Washington's Up from Slavery is one of the greatest American autobiographies ever written. Its mantras of black economic empowerment, land ownership, and self-help inspired generations of black leaders, including Marcus Garvey, Elijah Muhammad, Malcolm X, and Louis Farrakhan. In rags-to-riches fashion, Washington recounts his ascendance from early life as a mulatto slave in Virginia to a 34-year term as president of the influential, agriculturally based Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. From that position, Washington reigned as the most important leader of his people, with slogans like "cast down your buckets," which emphasized vocational merit rather than the academic and political excellence championed by his contemporary rival W.E.B. Du Bois. Though many considered him too accommodating to segregationists, Washington, as he said in his historic "Atlanta Compromise" speech of 1895, believed that "political agitation alone would not save [the Negro]," and that "property, industry, skill, intelligence, and character" would prove necessary to black Americans' success. The potency of his philosophies are alive today in the nationalist and conservative camps that compose the complex quilt of black American society.
This next book is heavy, a text book: American Politics and the African American Quest for Universal Freedom (336 pps; 5th Edition, Paperback, Longman). However, it offers insight into why race comes up so often in America, how the quest for freedom in this nation is tied to the struggle of African-Americans. For instance, many of the freedoms people of all races assume they have today, such as the right not to be discriminated against in housing practices, were crystallized in policy addressing the African-American struggle.
Can We All Get Along?": Racial and Ethnic Minorities in American Politics by Paula D. McClain and Joseph Stewart Jr. (336 pp.; Fifth Edition; Westview Press) is another book used in college courses. The authors wrote it with the riots that erupted after the acquittal of police officers who beat Rodney King, a black man in California.
By journalist Gwen, The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama (304 pp; 209; Anchor):
... broadcaster offers a stellar analysis of the black political structure and its future in American politics. President Obama is featured but does not dominate the text; Ifill focuses more intently on such figures as Rev. Jesse Jackson and Newark, N.J., mayor Cory Booker, as well as Gov. Deval Patrick of Massachusetts. (Readers) will be rewarded by a well-researched ... take on the implications of President Obama's election on the strongholds of African-American political power. (Publishers Weekly)
With Hurricane Katrina, America began to re-examine its progress in race relations. This book, Seeking Higher Ground: The Hurricane Katrina Crisis, Race, and Public Policy Reader, editors Christine Clarke and Manning Marable (336 pp; Palgrave Macmillan, 2007) is a collection of critiques about what some people learned from that disaster.
Between Barack and a Hard Place: Racism and White Denial in the Age of Obama by Tim Wise (120 pp; Open Media; 2009):
In this timely new book, Tim Wise explores how Barack Obama's emergence as a political force is taking the race debate to new levels. According to Wise, for many whites, Obama's rise signifies the end of racism as a pervasive social force; they point to Obama as a validation of the American ideology that anyone can make it if they work hard, and an example of how institutional barriers against people of color have all but vanished. But is this true? And does a reinforced white belief in color-blind meritocracy potentially make it harder to address ongoing institutional racism? (From a synopsis at Tim Wise's Red Room blog)
Slavery By Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black People in America from the Civil War to World War II by Douglas A. Blackmon (496 pp; Doubleday; 2008) is a shocking, historical exposé documenting tricks used to intimidate and re-enslave African-Americans through crooked laws and greased palms. It's the 2009 Pulitzer Prize winner for general nonfiction.
And obviously, the sincere student should study black history, what African-Americans have achieved in the face of unrelenting hardships. A book such as African American History For Dummies by Ronda Racha Penrice could come in handy.
Many other authors and well-known public figures such as Martin Luther King, Jr., Sojourner Truth, Cornel West, Michael Eric Dyson, bell hooks, Melissa Harris-Lacewell, Vernon Jordan, John Lewis, and Barack Obama have contributed to the library of the black experience and how it impacts American politics. This list of books is meant to be only a nudge in one educational direction.
Nordette Adams is not only the African-American Books Examiner, but also a BlogHer.com contributing editor. You may subscribe to her examinations on this page and also see more of her writing via www.Her411.com.
The recent outburst by Congressman Joe Wilson made it clear that South Carolina is the state that hates Obama the most.
Did you know that Obama receives 4 times the amount of death threats than any other president in modern times?
Read the article below and let us know what you think about this issue.
Race Matters: No to Obama at schools, Van Jones saga, divisive rhetoric on health care reform
September 7, 2009 African-American Books Examiner Nordette Adams
Yesterday, a man on Twitter decided to engage the African-American Books Examiner in a political discussion, specifically a discussion about conservative parents protesting President Barack Obama's upcoming September 8th speech to school children throughout the nation. After telling this Examiner that he was "astute" in politics, he invoked states' rights and expounded on his belief that the federal government should not be so involved in our lives.
When he was told that often the invocation of states' rights has been used to fight Civil Rights, in particular integration and freedom for African-Americans, he said that he was surprised how often race came up in political discussions. Furthermore, he said he didn't know much about race and race relations because he was raised someplace in America where race was not an issue. The African-American Examiner, while not telling him directly her concern, wondered how anyone with no grasp of race relations in America could assert fluency in discourse on domestic politics.
Race matters. How can one be "astute" in American politics but know little about government policies within the context of African-American history in this nation? Like it or not, both the enslavement of African-Americans and their quest for freedom and equality shaped this country.
With Saturday night's resignation of Van Jones, Obama's "green czar," a decision tainted by racial unrest, with the rise of racial propaganda in the health care reform debate, old stand-by allegations of socialism and communism being shouted again at not only President Barack Obama but his associates, the Jermiah Wright flap in 2008 and many incidents with racial angles that America saw during the presidential race, it's clear the rise and election of President Barack Obama has not hurled us into an age of post-racial equanimity. In fact, it may be more important than ever that literate Americans who want to understand politics in this nation also understand the influence of race on public policy.
Here is a short list of books to get anyone started who has a genuine desire to understand race in this country and how it affects not only politics, but also economics, education, and distribution of resources.
The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. Du Bois, a classic:
One of the most widely read and influential works in African American literature, "The Souls of Black Folk" is W.E.B. Du Bois's classic collection of essays in which he details the state of racism and black culture at the beginning of the 20th century. Often autobiographical, "The Souls of Black Folk" takes the reader on a history lesson of race relations and the state of the African American from the emancipation proclamation to the early part of the 20th century. A founding member of the NAACP, Du Bois, through his writings, laid the foundation for the debate that would become the civil rights movement.
Up From Slavery by Booker T. Washington, another classic:
Nineteenth-century African American businessman, activist, and educator Booker Taliaferro Washington's Up from Slavery is one of the greatest American autobiographies ever written. Its mantras of black economic empowerment, land ownership, and self-help inspired generations of black leaders, including Marcus Garvey, Elijah Muhammad, Malcolm X, and Louis Farrakhan. In rags-to-riches fashion, Washington recounts his ascendance from early life as a mulatto slave in Virginia to a 34-year term as president of the influential, agriculturally based Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. From that position, Washington reigned as the most important leader of his people, with slogans like "cast down your buckets," which emphasized vocational merit rather than the academic and political excellence championed by his contemporary rival W.E.B. Du Bois. Though many considered him too accommodating to segregationists, Washington, as he said in his historic "Atlanta Compromise" speech of 1895, believed that "political agitation alone would not save [the Negro]," and that "property, industry, skill, intelligence, and character" would prove necessary to black Americans' success. The potency of his philosophies are alive today in the nationalist and conservative camps that compose the complex quilt of black American society.
This next book is heavy, a text book: American Politics and the African American Quest for Universal Freedom (336 pps; 5th Edition, Paperback, Longman). However, it offers insight into why race comes up so often in America, how the quest for freedom in this nation is tied to the struggle of African-Americans. For instance, many of the freedoms people of all races assume they have today, such as the right not to be discriminated against in housing practices, were crystallized in policy addressing the African-American struggle.
Can We All Get Along?": Racial and Ethnic Minorities in American Politics by Paula D. McClain and Joseph Stewart Jr. (336 pp.; Fifth Edition; Westview Press) is another book used in college courses. The authors wrote it with the riots that erupted after the acquittal of police officers who beat Rodney King, a black man in California.
By journalist Gwen, The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama (304 pp; 209; Anchor):
... broadcaster offers a stellar analysis of the black political structure and its future in American politics. President Obama is featured but does not dominate the text; Ifill focuses more intently on such figures as Rev. Jesse Jackson and Newark, N.J., mayor Cory Booker, as well as Gov. Deval Patrick of Massachusetts. (Readers) will be rewarded by a well-researched ... take on the implications of President Obama's election on the strongholds of African-American political power. (Publishers Weekly)
With Hurricane Katrina, America began to re-examine its progress in race relations. This book, Seeking Higher Ground: The Hurricane Katrina Crisis, Race, and Public Policy Reader, editors Christine Clarke and Manning Marable (336 pp; Palgrave Macmillan, 2007) is a collection of critiques about what some people learned from that disaster.
Between Barack and a Hard Place: Racism and White Denial in the Age of Obama by Tim Wise (120 pp; Open Media; 2009):
In this timely new book, Tim Wise explores how Barack Obama's emergence as a political force is taking the race debate to new levels. According to Wise, for many whites, Obama's rise signifies the end of racism as a pervasive social force; they point to Obama as a validation of the American ideology that anyone can make it if they work hard, and an example of how institutional barriers against people of color have all but vanished. But is this true? And does a reinforced white belief in color-blind meritocracy potentially make it harder to address ongoing institutional racism? (From a synopsis at Tim Wise's Red Room blog)
Slavery By Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black People in America from the Civil War to World War II by Douglas A. Blackmon (496 pp; Doubleday; 2008) is a shocking, historical exposé documenting tricks used to intimidate and re-enslave African-Americans through crooked laws and greased palms. It's the 2009 Pulitzer Prize winner for general nonfiction.
And obviously, the sincere student should study black history, what African-Americans have achieved in the face of unrelenting hardships. A book such as African American History For Dummies by Ronda Racha Penrice could come in handy.
Many other authors and well-known public figures such as Martin Luther King, Jr., Sojourner Truth, Cornel West, Michael Eric Dyson, bell hooks, Melissa Harris-Lacewell, Vernon Jordan, John Lewis, and Barack Obama have contributed to the library of the black experience and how it impacts American politics. This list of books is meant to be only a nudge in one educational direction.
Nordette Adams is not only the African-American Books Examiner, but also a BlogHer.com contributing editor. You may subscribe to her examinations on this page and also see more of her writing via www.Her411.com.
Views: 31
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Madhatterat60 on
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I hear so few real Conservatives these days.....Oren Hatch and Mitt Romney types...who have always struck me as honest, sincere gentlemen doing their best. The problem for the cRyght is that there are so very few of these men...and women....and because they're gentle people, polite and well mannered....they haven't got the stones it'll take to tell the fringe to sit down and shut the fug up! And the HATE spewed forth by the repuglycant leader, oxyRusty Limpballs....and Wild Bill O'Lielley and Beck the Brick overshadows all else. Until those yammerheads can be brought to heal, the tatters of the GOP will continue to shed. While Middle America may not be pleased with everything happening in the Obama administration, I don't believe they're ready to turn back to the GOOP....especially when all they hear is hate and fear. We've been down that road long enough.
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In spite of LOUD protests, (methinks the man doth protest overmuch!) I think there are a great many of the cRyghtbabies who are finding it difficult to face up the the reality of their racism.
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Permalink Reply by Westerly_2 on
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Mad - most people don't even admit their prejudices to themselves. Of course, they don't. For they treat their gardeners with respect, don't they? Pay them well. But it's so different looking up at a guy of color in a suit, raised on a dais, Harvard graduate, smarter than you are, and ain't that a kick? Man's a decendant of slaves, isn't he? Wait! Maybe not. Pop's from Kenya! Whoa!! Foreign. That ain't ourt kind of people. Where's my antibodies here? Repel the invader.
It's like they have to employ some powerful antibiotic to get rid of the burr under their saddle. -
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Permalink Reply by Just-a-Writer on
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I think the simple answer is, YES, it's based on race. And it saddens me to say that, but given the displays of utter disrespect shown this past week, there can be no other, logical explanation. I mean, the back to school speech. What were they afraid he was going to say to students? Something political? It isn't even as if they tried to mask it with, "We learned our lesson from when Reagan fed his political views to students."
Nope, just flat-out nonsense, fears of communism, socialism, brain washing. I wanted to round up these piss-poor parents and tell them that just because they're soft between the ears and easy to manipulate doesn't mean their children are. Since their suggested fears are so utterly outlandish, that only leaves racism. -
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Yes, Jaw. it's bald. It looks like a decendent of plantation culture dissed his prez. That's what it looks like. It looks as if he can't cotton to his prez above him on the dais, in a nice suit, a Harvard grad smarter than he is, out-thinking him at every turn, aand rising above his station.
Hell. he's decended from slaves, right? No, wait, Kenya? Foreigner! Worse.
The southern gentleman, whose name is fancier than Joe, treated his prez like a shoe-shine boy, b/c that is how he is used to treating" them."
Who didn't get that? -
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I have to agree with Bill Maher on this one. Obama needs to take a page out of Bush's book and be an asshole. Just do it and let them see that the world doesn't end after he does. Even if we're the silent majority, we're still the majority, and in a democracy majority rules, right?
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right!
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Permalink Reply by Mark Mentzer on
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OMG Ronald, That is LOVELY!!! NOT!!!!! How disgusting is that?
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