Speak Out!
Changing the Politics of Race
Sun, 01/25/2009 - 22:41 | Tavis Talks
An article in the Los Angeles Times frames the politics around the selection of Roland Burris to fill President Obama's former U.S. Senate seat as an example of how racial politics have changed with the results of the presidential election:
Many black leaders, including Obama, have declined to back Burris, even if that leaves the Senate with no African American members. Some view his appointment by Illinois' embattled governor as an odd playing of the race card. Others are renouncing the style of politics that highlights racial grievances and inequality, saying it can no longer work now that the nation has elected its first black president. "It is another statement on how black politics is now -- that the old regime, the old outlook, the old perspective has been displaced," said the Rev. Eugene Rivers, a black pastor from Boston and senior advisor to the Church of God in Christ, the biggest Pentecostal denomination in the country. "You can't use 50-year-old ideas in a new political era." Even the Rev. Al Sharpton, known for his confrontational style of politics, is distancing himself from the Burris matter -- conferring privately Monday with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid but refusing to join critics in denouncing the Democratic leadership in racial terms. "You've not heard a lot of the usual names in the civil rights movement say anything, and that's not an accident," Sharpton said in an interview.Will President Obama's victory diminish the nation's appetite for addressing lingering racial inequality?
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Comments
The appointment of Roland
The appointment of Roland Burris was the final snow job by former Illinois governor Blagoevich, who used Mr. Burris to divert attention away from the corruption allegations, which also may impact Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. Contrary to the uninformed opinions expressed a couple of weeks ago by Tavis Smiley and Dr. Eddie Glaud about Obama "disappointing black people," the real disappointment is that you fell for the Blageovich hype. You talked about Chicago and Illinois state politics without doing your homework. Even Mr. Burris initially and publicly suggested that the governor step down and not fill then Mr. Obama's seat until
he was the nominee. You and the rest of the national media got "punked" -- Focusing on Mr. Burris's appointment as a "racial issue" rather than focusing on the brazen, arrogant,and narcissitic corruption allegations at the root of the controversy gave Mr. Blageovich a "hail Mary pass" that won't keep him from being indicted, but stirred up a big smoke screen under the auspices of "racial inequality." Did you bother to look at Mr. Blageovich's record on racial justice/racial equality before he made this "noble" act? I imagine Mr. Blageovich got a big laugh while the media, community, and Senate squirmed around the appointment of Mr. Burris, and the biggest losers will be all the people of Illinois who did not have a vote in the matter. Frankly, your reaction was disappointing, but not surprising as of late. Instead of the probing and insightful positions you used to take, the Burris issue also afforded you an additional platform to continue your not so subtle digs at now President Obama.
Hi Tavis. I don't believe
Hi Tavis. I don't believe that it will totally diminish the appetite for addressing the continuing racial inequalities of our nation. I do think however that right now most people are still on a high of the excitement of electing our first African American President, but that will die down before long and the Al Sharptons of the world will continue to fight racial injustice as it arrives. In the case of Roland Burris, I believe that he was put in a very bad position by Governor Blagojevich especially since he asked somebody else before he even asked Burris. I think that Blago used him for the simple fact that he knew because he was black that it could cause some controversy if he was not seated. I would not have wanted the job under those circumstances, because if he is convicted, that cloud is going to hang over him for the next two years, and I highly doubt that he will be reelected.
I'm really glad President
I'm really glad President Obama is the man with a different vision. Nothing ever changes without a starting point. “Write the vision and make it plain” Okay for all the pessimist people who see yesterday’s trouble as a floor plan for today, let it be known that people that can look beyond this nation's faults to reach for solutions, that man/woman is a true man of God. Why are you dancing around the same old dirt? Okay let me guess, we still have inequalities in this nation. We still have prejudice in this nation. O.MG. I thought that President Obama would free us from all our sins. Yeah sure, we are just that naïve! My goodness when will some people really let go of their hurts from this nation and heal their wombs? This nation will never change under some leader’s mentality. Let’s try for the goodness of all people to move forward, keep fighting for justice, but keep hope close to the heart.
We all know what happen in the nightmare of this nation but when will we move forward. When will we reach for something different? Why do people keep doing the same old things but hoping for different results? Surely the soles of your feet are screaming for a new path. A path filled with love, hope and forgiveness.
Yes. It gets everyone off of
Yes. It gets everyone off of the hook, or so they think.