Dear Cornell: Raise Your Paradigm . . .

Cornell West: "Al Sharpton Is "Still On The Obama Plantation"

CORNELL WEST: "Yeah I wish and pray that it were forthcoming, but I don't think it's forthcoming either though brother. I think they just its just smoke and mirrors at this point and it's going to be on to the next issue as soon as they think this thing settles down. Now the good thing is it won't settle down and I think it's going to create some kind of division within our black political class because it's just too humiliating it's too embarrassing, you see it with Brother Sharpton; Sharpton probably deep down wants to be critical of the President, but he can't because he's still on the Obama plantation. Ah so he can't say a mumbling word no matter how radical he wants to act and act as it were and deep down in his soul I think he really does feel a fire, but he cannot allow that fire in any way to spill over toward the White House. Why? Because he's still too tied he's too uncritical he's too deferential he's too subservient as it were and as long as that's in place we're going to find ourselves unable to tell the fundamental truth. (July 21, 2013)"

Cornell and others are simply wrong and, at the very least, are afflicted with short-sighted paradigms on many levels.

Doing Things ‘Your Way’ is Not ‘Good Politics’

Cornell and Al are Civil Rights Activists. 

Their ‘way’ is pretty much straight forward and transparent, predictable and their ‘fealty’ is on their respective ‘sleeves’ as it were.  They have to be that way, so they may be effective at their work.  They are instantaneous in their reactions to events or statements, etc.

The President is a Politician.

Being so ‘quick on the draw’ is NOT the ‘way’ of the Politician.  Many criticized the President for ‘taking too long’ to respond to the Zimmerman verdict, but that is misplaced as far as I’m concerned.  That is not to say that he isn't a good man or a feeling human being or that he doesn't understand what ‘being Black’ is all about in this country(as some have ‘charged’ unbelievably). His job, however, is a political one, when you 'boil-off' the Personality, Swag, and rhetoric etc.  Politicians ALWAYS react only AFTER they ‘see where things are going’ . . . it is political suicide to ‘jump out in front’.

Folks need to understand that and accept that fact before we go on. The Right has been goading Obama to ‘lead on this . . .!’ Or 'He needs to lead on That . . .!', knowing full well how ‘easy’ they will be able to turn a ‘pro-active statement or declaration’ into a political boon for their party, if things were to go south with the issue at hand.  They have MORE money than the Democrats do.  They are much more cohesive and brazen with their messaging than Democrats are.

It’s always about politics for The GOP and yes:

The President has to operate in this realm as well.

The peculiar situation, in which Barrack Obama finds himself, is that he is a ‘Black First’ of extreme significance and power – The American Presidency. That makes him ‘catnip’ for civil rights activists. They ‘can’t help’ but make ‘demands’ of him in terms of rhetoric, tone, and even for exclusive, targeted, legislation to ‘quench’ the activist’s long sought-after ‘goals’ as it were. The frenzied urgency that we’ve seen folks like West and others descend on the President for redress is understandable . . .

Because he’s ‘Black First’.

“. . . when will we get a chance like this again?!”

The problem is this:

These sorts of obligations, in content, in terms of 'directions given' for ‘application’ of the same, are in the 'spirit' of an Activist, NOT for a POTUS.

Not for a Politician.

They are, in their very nature, TOO specific and exclusionary . . . on the ‘surface’. That is not the way the POTUS operates or should. These goals CAN be met, however, they cannot be done in the up-front way that West and others are insisting on. They must be tackled and ‘folded-into’ a larger, broader effort, in at least nomenclature, as well as, how they would prospectively be ‘rolled-out’.  This way, which is the way Barrack Obama has been trying to ‘right that ship’, is Good Politics . . . whether you like it or not.  It’s not immediately or openly ‘gratifying’ in terms of Black Social Justice, as it were, but when one looks at the details of the policy prescriptions, they have undeniably-beneficial effects on our communities . . . AND America at large; a must-have component for any such proposal.

He is a ‘Black First’

“Why can’t he just advocate out in the Open?  Is he scared to say ‘Black’!?”

The answer to this question was broached in the previous section:

He’s a ‘Black First’.

As any awake person has seen over his first term, and continuing into this one, the country is NOT quite post-racial.  Now, it would be a ‘natural thing’ for folks to ‘look-out’ for ‘their own’, but historically that has been met with collective wariness and fear from society and her institutions, should the ‘protagonist’ be of African Descent’ (Anyone remember the wildly-popular ‘Birth of Nation’ and the scenario that the post-Civil War reality the precipitating events were immersed in?).  A double standard obviously, BUT, not for nothing, it is not considered ‘strange’ politically or ‘bad’ for a Jewish legislator to push for pro-Israel policies and even for funding of the same, for example.  Hispanics pushed for policies, like bilingual signage and instructions that uniquely benefit their constituencies. 

However, it is not ‘ok’ for Blacks to do the same.

The perceptional precedent that would be set and its guaranteed utilization as a ‘weapon’ by the other party is that:

". . . when you put one of Them in, they only take care of Their Own!"

Some of that is in play already.  Consider the challenges to Affirmative Action that have conspicuously popped up now.  Consider the recent rolling back of a key part of the Civil Rights Act.  The message:

You people now have ‘too much’.  You need to be reigned-in.

Politically that is suicide, if the president or his administration, let’s itself get boxed-in, with a cloud of ‘ethnocentric avarice’ hanging over him and his administration; the ‘rain’ of which ‘tastes like’ a specific exclusive, benefit to ‘His People’(more on this issue later). If Barrack Obama acts overtly the way West and others would like, it would make his job as president POLITICALLY IMPOSSIBLE. I say again: We are not quite post-racial . . . it isn't fair but it is a FACT. All the ‘Good Intent’, or ‘What Who Deserves or Doesn't’ will get lost in the too-easily, ginned-up fears of ‘Black Retribution against Whitey’

Remember: POTUS is a Politician.

West and others rightfully do not give a damn about the politics . . .

“Blacks DESERVE this ‘preferential treatment’ and exclusive redress due to history!”

Unfortunately, they are so caught-up in the rather ‘narrow’ opportunity they fail to see the LARGER one:

A successful, competent First Black President with a ‘Good Legacy’, by ‘Mainstream Standards’, will guarantee that the NEXT Black POTUS will have an easier time(relatively speaking in comparison to this one), in terms of not having to deal with the ‘visual shock’ (and fear of ethnically-specific proclivities) of being in the position.  This person would face far less ‘subconscious’ resistance by the Majority and the System because that President and his ‘ilk’ would then be a ‘familiar constituent’ within that sacred and esteemed role.

As a Black First, Obama is breaking new ground in terms of Black Competence at such a high level, which is invaluable to the Black Image and our ‘Intellectual Competency Index' on a global scale, if you think about it.  THAT ‘Mission’ Barrack Obama can fulfill amply and the dividends will pay-off for generations to come.

Now here’s where the difference between Sharpton and West becomes all too clear:

Sharpton can SEE the bigger role Obama has to play . . . West is a little more shortsighted and narrower in his ‘vision’ . . . like his now famous glasses.

So call it “On the Obama Plantation” if you will, Sharpton does NOT want to be used in any way as an agent, wittingly or unwittingly, to interfere with Barrack’s elevating precedent.

The ‘Ghetto’ Effect

What does ‘acting ghetto’ mean?

I’m not just talking about mannerisms and speech.  I’m talking about how such a person operates when suddenly doused in wealth or an abundance of purchasing power as in winning the lotto.  They go crazy ‘grabbing all they can’ for them and theirs.  They spend this new money on them and theirs, with not a thought for the long-term viability of their present ‘ease’.

How does a dog act when tied up for say a week without exercise and it’s suddenly ‘let go’ or the chain or rope breaks?  It sprints and gallops back and forth across the yard or street like a bat out of hell, giddy about its freedom . . . and not paying attention to the truck that is bearing down on it . . .

These metaphors and perceptions are part of what it means to be ‘ghetto’.

Blacks have been ‘tagged’ with this stereotypical, racial proclivity within society for centuries now.  It is still a very potent, political force to this day.  (Another ‘variety’ of this ‘fear’, is feeding the present gun craze and stockpiling.  I call it the fear of ‘Black Retribution’, and I have written about the ‘gun hoarding’ issue, where that is concerned, here.)

Barrack Obama walks on a 'Knife's Edge' that Dubois would recognize as another persistent, permutation and combination of Barrack Obama’s ‘Dual Black Soul'.

Think about this for a second: 

What if a White President did, in tone and nomenclature, what Cornell, Tavis and others are insisting Obama do?  How would America react to that?

Here’s what I think:

If a White President were to overtly call for legislation, favoring Blacks there might be ‘grumbling’, in ‘some corners’ but it would ultimately be a political boon for the candidate and the party that decides to back the POTUS up.

Why is that?  Anyone care to posit a reason?

Some of us in the Black Community have our own feelings and I’ll try to wade through, what is, a very, nuanced line of reasoning on this:

It may be, for all of the decent gesture such a ‘call’ is, that it ‘fits-in’ with an unspoken, ‘expected/accepted’ societal ‘balance or power’.  The Majority through ‘mercy, pity, decency or guilt’ (pick your self-deprecating noun), etc. have chosen to impart ‘opportunity’ and benefit to the disadvantaged, that is, Blacks.  Frankly, it has always been so.   Progress on Civil Rights Laws, would never have been made without the participation of Whites.  The fact was that back in those times, in perceptional ways and reality Whites did control that ‘spigot’ of opportunity/possibility for change . . . for imparting of Rights.

If this happens with Barrack Obama, all of a sudden, the perception is that the Blacks are no longer ‘controlled’ in what they can do, or what they can ‘take.’

“Help!  The Savages are loose . . .!”

With Barrack Obama at the ‘helm’ so to speak, IF he decides to be like Cornell West, the perception of control shifts, for the first time in centuries, to a Black Man OVER the White Majority . . . even if, in reality, Whites still DO control that fabled ‘spigot’ I mentioned earlier.

Like I've said before, most of political power and machinery works on perception.  This ‘new’ perception runs counter to the one society and its institutional ‘subconscious’ have grown accustomed to, have grown to expect, have grown to see as ‘the way it should be’.  This ‘nervousness’ implies that there ALSO is an institutional ‘acknowledgement’, even if only at the subliminal level, that members of Obama’s ethnic group have been excluded, whether deliberately or not, from enjoying the ‘spoils’ of the American Dream, so to speak.  This ‘wringing of hands’ that seems to spring up from the ‘image of Barrack Obama at the wheel’, implies that ‘possibly’, should we ‘finally’ get to ‘see and partake’ of the ‘cake and bread’ on the ‘table’, so to speak.  It suggests that we’ll go ‘crazy’:

We’ll go ‘stuffing ourselves’, like a starving, wild animal, with no regard for anything or anyone else . . . because we won’t be able to ‘help ourselves’.

This ‘fear’ ALSO tacitly confirms that Blacks and Others have been ‘feasting’ on whatever bits and crumbs that happened to ‘fall’ or were ‘thrown’ to us by the Majority.  This uncomfortable ‘emotion’ implies that society ‘likes’ or prefers this historical status quot, balance of power, perceptional or otherwise:

That 'control' over the fortunes of other ethnic groups in this prejudicial way is the quintessential essence of racism in this country.

Jesse Jackson and Al set-off that protective ‘trip wire’ where all other groups are concerned.  They seemed to be overtly partial to Blacks when they ran for office . . . so they went nowhere.  Barrack Obama, for all the frustrations of Cornell, Tavis and others, has largely avoided that ‘booby trap’ . . . that seems to have been specially made for Blacks.  Barrack Obama traded tapping into the righteous, pure and ethnically-emotional ‘timbre’ ever present during his time governing, for a more pragmatic, nascent, realistic, non-sensational pursuit of concrete, legislative achievement.

West and others favor an approach, ringed with an unabashed, rhetorical flourish, which ‘loudly’ answers the question ‘Who are You With, Obama?’ to which the answer is expected to be ‘With Your People’, that is, Black People.  West wants a reckoning NOW with the bellicose, fiery urgency and frustration, of . . .

". . . a people stepped on for far too long!"  

Bless his heart: 

He’s right . . . but that modus operandi isn't practical considering all the nascent circumstances.

‘Clan West’ demands advocacy for a legislative posture borne out of a sense of ethnic, social justice, coupled with the fierce, highly-emotional significance of the racial milestone of a Black Man ‘finally’ in the White House, as well as the ‘worry’ that such a feat might never ‘repeat itself’. West and others like him think such an approach will produce real-world results, totally ignoring the present intransigence and racially-tinged opposition to the President.  Barrack Obama knows that a less-flamboyant, and racially androgynous policy prescription and proposals, will ‘slip by’ these ‘sensors’ and has and will produce tangible results.  So he does what he must to get ‘something done’ not just for US, but for the majority of the country.   He chooses areas to focus on where the majority of those afflicted happen to be so called minorities, but stays away from uniquely minority afflictions and resists attempts at categorizing any of his efforts as one ‘for His People’ for the same reason: 

Avoiding the learned, racial sensors – "The Runaway Slave" Ethos aka "The Ghetto Minority".

History has plenty of documented evidence to show how the runaway slave was dealt with.  It isn’t fair that such impressions still exist but history again shows that once a Slave has been deemed a runaway, everything they have done to that point seems to disappear and the whole ‘crop’ of slaves ends up facing ‘sanctions’ by an enraged Master.

We cannot afford such fear and rage, at this point, to derail what has taken centuries to build.

Think about it.

Why has Obama been so frustratingly (according to some), ‘measured’ in his emoting and even legislative perception where race is concerned?  He does not want that potent but misguided ‘lion of resentment’ to ‘raise its head’ and obliterate the shaky progress and/or progressive but nuanced agenda he’s trying to enact . . . especially with respect to minorities.

Dubois would smile ruefully, knowingly and hang his head.

Yes the other side is trying their damnedest to invoke this age-old catalyst for their benefit but THE ONE reason that they fail and have failed has been due to the Obama’s measured, poised, ethnic identity averse, way they carry themselves, their political tone and the overt, non-racial timbre of his policies.  Again, the fact that this is actually a necessity speaks volumes to how far we still have to go in terms of acceptance of ‘the Other’.

This is pure speculation on my part to be sure, and may rub some the wrong way.  However, in pursuit of the truth we owe it to each other as a country to examine if this point of view espoused here is worthy of consideration, and not let the energy get shunted-away by any incidental, but not intentional, perceived ‘slight’.

Are the CBC Worthless?

It would seem so but it doesn’t have to be.

Now, West and others are insisting that Barrack Obama do something in a position that isn’t the best suited for it . . . but are ignoring other positions, of more consequence, where a black face is no longer ‘strange’:

The CBC and other Black Members of Congress!

They, although dealing with similar restraints that I ascribed to Barrack Obama earlier, can push for whatever they want, without anyone batting much of an eye.

Why?

They are NOT ‘Black Firsts’

THEY have MORE change-effective power than the President has, and have been in power and ACCEPTED by the larger public in those positions for decades now, but they have NOT been using their influence towards this end!

They are members of CONGRESS: The most powerful body of government.

Many of them ARE former or current civil rights activists so they should know exactly where West and others are coming from.  Why haven’t they used their position to ‘help out’ as one would say?

THAT is what I find is just crazy about this whole thing! Take your anger out on members of the CBC and let Obama break the new ground and level we need him to. We’ll need it if we’re to truly advance as a people. Nudge those already there and who have been there into shape now so they can work WITH a definitely sympathetic president to sign things into law! Lobby your colleagues, get it to the POTUS and he’ll sign it! However, sitting on your behinds, expecting the sky to open after decades of not doing anything is not going to cut it.

I respect the Cornell deeply, but I think he’s a bit short-sighted and even comes off ‘petty’ and ‘small’ where Barrack Obama is concerned.  He insists on a type of behavior from Barrack Obama, that to this point, most black people in similar positions of authority have at least given lip service to:

Black Liberation Theology.

These black leaders become ‘preacher politicians’, ignoring the ‘rules of The Game’, sermonizing constantly and lustfully about the omnipresent unfairness of the system.  They propose and pitch, legislation, and policy proposals that are transparently ‘for Their Own’.  When such efforts inevitably fail, they use the failure to ‘rail’ again, keeping the ‘cycle’ of loud, plaintive, but dismally ineffective legislating going to the detriment of their, mostly of color, constituents.  These sort visible histrionics ‘feel good’ but produce nothing, at the end of the day.

Why?

These efforts were not followed-up with a concerted effort to change the voting culture and participation within the communities.  Only through this avenue can you really affect change.  There still is a sympathetic figure in the White House now that will make your efforts finally real.  Cornell and others you need to do the hard work first and stop wasting energy barking up the inappropriate tree.

Look a bit ‘Lower’ Mr. West for your 'cake'.  Call Maxine Waters and see what she and others can whip up for you in the 'Congressional Kitchen'.  Barrack Obama has to take care of the entire ‘Development’ with the ‘Upgrades’ necessary to bring the ‘Complex’ irrevocably into the Future.  It’s not just about the Kitchen.

Conclusion

I have railed against Cornell West countless times and have gone-in on some others viciously too.  Truth be told, despite my vociferous, accusatory ruminations at them, I ‘get’ them (Tavis Smiley, as an aside, I find to be a hollow charlatan, a fame whore to be blunt, so I won’t talk about him too much more.  He is however an exception to how I feel about the rest of Barrack Obama’s black detractors, except perhaps those ‘minstrel imps’ on FOX . . .).  Cornell is a brilliant mind, to say the least.  He is a world-class thinker of nation-moving caliber, who is earnest for the most part, and consistent with the timbre and scope of his message.

However, even the brightest among us can be wrong sometimes.  I believe Cornell is wrong on this one.

Like I said, there are still some residual, subliminal, and insipid racism coursing through the veins of society at large and in the subconscious of many, otherwise well-meaning members of the majority; they feel uncomfortable and will recoil, and coalesce around any ‘voice’ that relieves them of that, which could be a bellicose Rush Limbaugh or Hannity.

These folk must see ‘for themselves’ ‘what we are capable of’ when given ‘the chance’ . . . like Barrack Obama has.  Only then, will they slowly start to combat the subconscious dictates of an ethnology-superiority, which all forms of media have continuously inseminated them with, since their dawn of recollection.  The sometimes the forceful, but highly nuanced rhetoric of what is Black Liberation Theology can be off-putting to these same folks. It is not by choice, for the most part, that they simply do not and cannot relate to the issues we face in the black community.  Those alive today, don’t know any other way of functioning or have no living knowledge of things like the ‘White Flight’ that took place all over this country from the inner cities, decades ago when Blacks and Others were finally granted equal rights in the 1960’s, that inevitably precipitated the dismal conditions in some portions of the major population centers, for example.  In short, they have no idea about the construction of a Racial Infrastructure, built by their forebears to benefit them and their progeny.

That reality, with all its built-in privileges, attuned to them is all they’ve ever known.  It is Their ‘Sea Level’.

It is not for the rest of us though.

Although the injustice and great wrong done for them to now exist on this ‘artificial plateau’ still burns many like lye on bare skin, no good will come from aggressively throwing the ‘dirty entrails’ that have constructed their world in ‘their face’ and commanding them to ‘eat’.  They will withdraw, and this scourge will persist for another century due to the lack of will in the majority to deal with it, which is essential to its demise.  Therefore, we must take a more measured and demonstrative approach of showing ‘what we can do’ when given a chance, as I said earlier.  Barrack Obama, by his very presence, has the opportunity to elevate the ENTIRE group to levels of expectation, long-since denied and stripped away in the eyes of the world.

He MUST complete that quest.  Very few, have ever been given that sort of opportunity, and it would behoove us, as a once-downtrodden people, to NOT stand in the way of that.

Cornell . . . Al Sharpton understands this.  I hope someday soon you do too.  I hope someday soon you’ll raise your paradigm.