The Black Informant | African American Commentary, News and Community Building

“Mr. Kunta, tear down this fence!”

Not Reagan’s exact words. But heck, I’ll take the credit.

Apparently, the fence that divided people in the Black community as “haters” and “authentic Black folks” is starting to come down. From day one, I told people that at the end of the day, Obama is just another politician for one party: The Washington Party. I also pointed to city after city after city where the hue of the mayor (although historical depending on the district) did nothing to make the political process LOVE Black folks any more. Winning the White House by far is a very historical achievement for Black folks. But so was renaming streets after civil rights leaders at one time. “Moments” do not always translate into “movements”. But in the world of politics, moments can translate into great gain at the ballot box.

The following is from the article “Obama-mania won’t create jobs” written by David Squires

“The discussion centered on a theme of whether the Obama presidency represents a “movement” or a “moment” for African-Americans. And can African-Americans expect their lives to be greatly affected, to the extent many people expressed after the Nov. 4, 2008, election, or with the Obama inauguration a couple of months later?

The brutally honest truth — and there was a great consensus on this — is that many black people are so intoxicated by Obama-mania and to such an extent that we don’t want to hear any criticism of him or his policies.

And if we press him too hard, we might find ourselves ostracized, like television commentator Tavis Smiley, whose feuding with Obama played a role in his leaving a nationally syndicated radio spot on the popular “Tom Joyner Morning Show.”

[...]

Mary Frances Berry, a longtime civil rights activist, who has worked in both Democratic and Republican administrations, said African-Americans, in fact, expect less from Obama.

But that’s not to say it’s not important to us that he is in the White House.

‘Most black people, including my own family, throughout the campaign, did not even know what Obama’s promises would be,’ Berry said. ‘Not only did they not know, they did not care. They just wanted him to win.’

And as far as that black agenda, Berry said: ‘People don’t care whether he has one or not — black people don’t. … Symbolically, it is very important for us to see him there.’

In fact, Berry said that many black people are in such ‘deep throes of passion’ with the idea of the Obamas in the White House, they don’t want to hear any negatives.”