A good piece in today's
Washington Post discusses a few issues that
Barack Obama has been highlighting on the campaign trail:
Sen. Barack Obama is delivering pointed critiques of the African American community as he campaigns for its votes, lamenting that many of his generation are "disenfranchising" themselves because they don't vote, taking rappers to task for their language, and decrying "anti-intellectualism" in the black community, including black children telling peers who get good grades that they are "acting white."
The achievement gap between races is a major, major issue for our country, and one that isn't being adequately addressed by any other current candidate. Of course, race itself is one reason why. Can you imagine the outcry if
Rudy Giuliani or
Bill Richardson approached this matter as directly as Obama while standing at the pulpit of a black church? Not everybody in the African American community, however, is thrilled to hear Obama's thesis.
The gap is "not because black 7-year-olds are holding back other black 7-year-olds," said Melissa V. Harris-Lacewell, a professor of African American studies at Princeton University. "This black pathology argument is appealing, but I think he's wrong empirically."
But Obama's call for self-examination is, by and large, being very well received as he travels the country. It's no wonder, really, given the disparity of
incarceration and
infant mortality rates between blacks and whites, that people want change and have grown weary of waiting for others to give it to them. In fact, more than a century after slavery, nearly every
economic,
educational, and
physical health indicator puts African Americans at a marked disadvantage. As Obama puts it, "There's an old saying that if America has a cold, we have pneumonia." What I like about Obama is that when he speaks he doesn't seem much like an actor at all.
Reader Comments ( Page 7 of 7)
91. www.DUMMYTV.com supports obama in his quest for the presidency. not sure who we are voting for just yet---still have a ways to go. but good luck to the young man. and he is on target with what we've read of his comments about black american kids chasing the wrong role models. regardless of how much the princeton professor wants to deny it... actin' ignorant, crazy, to form per a slate of idiotic sterotypes is IN! it's a damn shame when to be reasoned, open, curious, educated and speaking the language of this land well---is to be "actin' white". listen to some of the coolest jazz musicians of the past and recent past... they did not talk like they just came from a snoop dog/li'l jon kronk party... be nice to start seeing some of the disciplined, academically achieving, non-sterotype-talking acting kids being spot-lighted--- they're out there. unfortunately, they get shouted down for the rap minstrel clowns--even by some in the black community who are "denyers"---go obama---keep telling the truth. the kids with integrity and class who are fighting to stay true to their task---even in the face of names, ridicule, being ostrasized---they need you to remind all that they are there and should be appreciated for taking on the hard work of maintaining dignity, respect...and being healthy role models for the kids--pursuing law, medicine, science, education, business--and the arts... good for you.
dummytv.com at 5:26PM on May 30th 2007
92. Mr. Obama is a family man.
He don't only talk about black people,he talks about
all americians. He's the only one talks about the poor.
The candidates talk about the middle class and the rich.
Maybe this election won't be fixed this time.
ph
PH at 5:33PM on May 30th 2007
93. Obama realises he cannot make it on his own merits and is now using riots as a scare tatic to win his way to the top.
NIck at 9:02PM on Jun 5th 2007