Tavis Smiley, Drs. Julianne Malveaux and Cornel West
Princeton professor and Bennett College president debate the Democratic Party acceptance speech of Sen. Barack Obama.
Watch the full interview.
Archive for Campaign Trail
Democrats choose Obama in historic acclamation
DENVER - Barack Obama stepped triumphantly into history Wednesday night, the first black American to win a major party presidential nomination, as thousands of Democrats transformed their convention hall into a joyful, shouting celebration.
Michelle Introduces Who the Obamas Really Are: Just Like All
Michelle Obama gives an inspiring and intimate introduction to her family’s all-American success story. And: Ted Kennedy passes the torch.
Dead Prez Protest outside the Democratic Convention
Listen or watch at Democracy Now!
JEREMY SCAHILL: Perhaps more than any candidate in history, Barack Obama has seen an impressive array of celebrities line up to support him. Many of these figures are flying into Denver to cheer on Obama, as they have with high-profile advertisements.
The Brooklyn-based political hip-hop group dead prez was not among those artists invited inside to perform at the DNC, like Kanye West, Wyclef Jean and Black Eyed Peas. But the duo of M1 and stic.man is here in Denver performing at rallies and evening political gatherings. And they seemed right at home among the crowds in the Denver streets.
M1: Their political objectives are limited, and we know that they are surface, surface. We’re looking at a government who’s a paper tiger and someone who wants to participate in a paper democracy.
JEREMY SCAHILL: What do you make of this major embrace, as it seems, not just of hip-hop, but the whole entertainment industry, of the Obama camp?
STIC.MAN: It’s lack of understanding, the lack of political clarity, you know what I mean? And it’s marketing, you know what I mean? It’s like Barack is hot. He’s, you know—he’s the [blank] right now, so throw him on your jacket, you know what I mean? And, you know, it ain’t really deep. It’s just people riding the wave, you know what I mean? And that’s what hip-hop is being used for, is, you know, to sell products, to sell [blank] to us, stuff [blank] down our throat that might not necessarily be good for us. So some of the hip-hop people, you know, who do hip-hop, and this is our culture, we have to speak from the vantage point of people who want real power. And hip-hop is part of that. Barack wouldn’t even be in the position he’s in without the support of hip-hop. You know, and we—
JEREMY SCAHILL: So are you guys going to vote?
M1: Hell no.
STIC.MAN: Yeah, yeah, I’m going to vote.
M1: OK, cool.
JEREMY SCAHILL: Who are you going to vote for?
STIC.MAN: I mean, I’m voting with my art.
M1: Yeah.
STIC.MAN: I’m voting with my participation in rallies like this. I’m voting—you know what I mean?—in raising my son, you know what I mean, to recognize the truth about this system. I’m voting in so many ways, I don’t even got time to go to the booth in November.
M1: I’m voting for Mumia Abu-Jamal. Free ’em all. Feel me.
Black Agenda Report: New York Times Attempts to Define and Dictate Black Politics
The Sunday magazine of the nation’s most influential newspaper predicts that Black politics as we know it is headed for extinction, that Barack Obama’s “brand of ‘race-neutrality’ shows Black politics is obsolete, and should be abandoned.”
Read Glen Ford’s analysis at Black Agenda Report.
Uhuru Movement Spokesman on NPR
Hear Tony Cox interview Diop Olugbala about Uhuru Movement’s recent action at an Obama rally here.
Uhuru Movement Heckles Obama For Not Addressing Black Issues
QUESTION: “In the face of the numerous attacks that are made against the African community or the black community, by the same U.S. government that you aspire to lead, and we are talking about attacks like the sub-prime mortgage…and it wasn’t just a general ambiguous kind of phenomenon but a phenomenon that targeted the African community and Latino community, attacks like the killing of Sean Bell… and the Jena Six and Hurricane Katrina and the list goes on, in the face of all these attacks that are clearly being made on the African community, why is it that you have not had the ability, to not one time to speak to the interest and even speak on behalf of the oppressed and exploited African community in this country?”
Thanks and praises for the Brother’s eloquent and very valid question. In the face of a void of outspoken Black leadership, and while Obama side-steps Black issues for political expediency, it was only a matter of time before the members of Black community began to speak for ourselves. We must ask ourselves what we gain in the long run by not holding Obama accountable now, before he’s elected. Should we accept less from him than any other politician? We would expect any politician to at least pay lip service to our issues. Yes, it’s a political reality that Obama must be seen as “America’s President” to win the election. But it’s also a political reality, that if we allow our issues to be forgotten, they will be. While he may be one example of the fulfillment of Dr. King’s dream, and we do support that, we still feel the void of Black leadership that uncompromisingly addresses and acts on our issues and struggles.
Props to these Brothers for bringing to light the reality that we still have a Black agenda and it should still be addressed in a direct, uncompromising and eloquent manner.
Visit Uhuru News.
Obama’s Speech in Berlin - “A World that Stands as One”
OBAMA SPEECH TRANSCRIPT:
Remarks of Senator Barack Obama (as prepared for delivery)”A World that Stands as One”
July 24th, 2008
Berlin, Germany
Thank you to the citizens of Berlin and to the people of Germany. Let me thank Chancellor Merkel and Foreign Minister Steinmeier for welcoming me earlier today. Thank you Mayor Wowereit, the Berlin Senate, the police, and most of all thank you for this welcome.
I come to Berlin as so many of my countrymen have come before. Tonight, I speak to you not as a candidate for President, but as a citizen - a proud citizen of the United States, and a fellow citizen of the world.
First All-Women-of-Color Presidential Ticket in US History
The Green Party made history last week when it nominated the first all-women-of-color presidential ticket in US history. Former Democratic Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, who was the first African American woman elected to Congress in Georgia, won the Green Party’s nomination last Monday. She named longtime community organizer, journalist and former director of the Hip Hop Caucus, Rosa Clemente, as her running mate earlier this month. They both join us for a wide-ranging discussion on the 2008 race, the media, the impact of the hip hop generation and more. [includes rush transcript]
Paterson, at N.A.A.C.P., Warns of Racism’s Power
CINCINNATI — David A. Paterson, in his first major speech to a national audience since becoming governor of New York, said on Thursday that even as black Americans rejoice about the possibility that Senator Barack Obama could become president, they cannot lose sight of the serious social and economic ills that plague their community and should remain mindful of the racism that still exists.
A voice of reason.
Mumia Abu-Jamal: The Outsider’s Road Within
Mumia breaks down his take on Barack’s campaign and raises questions about its future.
It should surprise no one the candidacy of Illinois senator Barack Obama has evoked fascination, not least because of his presumed outsider status as a man at least partial African descent. It is this racial inheritance that accounts, to a considerable degree, for the fascination among both Blacks and whites posed by his candidacy. But as ever in America, race often hides as much as it reveals. For if Barack is an outsider to the American body politic because of his Blackness, he is too an outsider to much of Black America precisely because of his direct East African heritage, one unleavened and unmitigated by the 500 years of Black bondage, resistance, repression and rebellion that is at the heart of the African American experience and identity. In this sense Obama is a double outsider and has had to work out his own way into what being Black in America means.
Listen to the full commentary here.
More from Mumia
Obama to Bernie Mac: ‘Clean up your act!’
Bernie Mac made a surprise appearance at a Barack Obama fundraising event Friday evening — but given heckling from the crowd and a rebuke from the Illinois senator’s campaign for an off-color joke, the comedian may wish he’d just stayed home. Obama told Mac: “Bernie, you’ve got to clean up your act next time,” he said. “This is a family affair.”
Is it just me, or can Black men say anything that the Obama campaign won’t call inappropriate, unfortunate, Old School, etc, etc….?? I guess Obama, although being his good friend never knew Bernie Mac was so “hood”. This is getting a little ridiculous. He’s a comedian!! And a damn funny one.
It’s Jackson vs. Jackson on ‘Ugly’ and ‘Demeaning’ Obama
“I’m deeply outraged and disappointed in Reverend Jackson’s reckless statements about Senator Barack Obama. His divisive and demeaning comments about the presumptive Democratic nominee — and I believe the next president of the United States — contradict his inspiring and courageous career,” wrote Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.).
Jackson further explained his remarks, saying, “My appeal was for the moral content of his message to not only deal with the personal and moral responsibility of black males, but to deal with the collective moral responsibility of government and the public policy.” — Word!
Jesse Jackson Disparages Barack Obama
The Rev. Jesse Jackson issued an apology to Barack Obama Wednesday for making what he called a “crude and hurtful” remark about the Illinois senator’s recent comments directed toward some members of the black community.
