and most humbly, I appreciate what you've said here and I agree that the church is not soul food for Black people. In regards to Obama, I would like to say that Liberation will require a strategic movement, one that is calculated and precise. As you acknowledge he could not be in this race if he did not hold allegiance to Jesus the Christ of America. This is where I believe the Rev. Wright enters the picture. To deliver the message that the Jesus of Obama's church is not the White savior of the oppressor . However, in order to appeal to the masses of Blacks still indoctrinated by the church, is it not strategically wise to be an ally versed in scripture that the wage slave can understand? You have seen the reaction of white media and some blacks to the messages of Rev. Wright, can you imagine how your remarks or many of the truths discussed on Destee would inflame the tension in America, and how many sleeping Black minds would be lost in the War?
I believe that deliverance and liberation must be a process, otherwise you will lose many souls to traumatic shock. It's like in the Matrix when Morpheus states that they have a policy of not waking people up after a certain age because the mind finds it too hard to let go. This is true Elder... a dramatic change in reality is difficult for older minds and ones that have been serving the system without question. Is it not better to allow their lives to improve in other ways, like Healthcare, Employment, etc... and acknowledge that their spirits may not be returned to their true source?
The message of allegiance to the church, (albeit a different twist on the white church) was delivered and whether you think Obama sold out after placing distance between himself and his spiritual advisor for 20 years, is beyond the point. Look at the whole picture. Friends for 20 years! Let us not so quickly villify the first man who may be able to position himself into a cockpit of power and make changes that improve the future for many many people.
There will be things that Obama will do, that Black folks will like, and there will be concesssions he makes that Black folks will not like. To make a Christian allegory let his own people not crucify him by selling him out to the real oppressors.
The question here is what are we willing to do and to sacrifice to get what we say we want? After 400 years, which is really a drop in the bucket of African history, Americans have proved that some Black people can play the game and be rich, powerful and influential. Allow Obama the space to continue the this political arm of the movement.
An overnight revolution is not practical, or even plausible in the current conditions. Therefore, the strategy must be deliberate and patient. Let us not make hasty decisions that lead to self-sabatoge. This bi-cultural man, with allegiance to Jesus is the collective manifestation of strategy. Why are so many of us not willing to acknowledge that? In order to move amongst these sharks, he must know them inside and out, and that means growing up amongst them. His language must equal theirs, his movements, dress, etc... isn't this the Art of War?
Calling him out before he succeeds, villifying him before he wins, this to me is self-destructive. America would not vote for the honorable Malcolm X, or Elijah Muhummed, or Steve Biko, or any man wearing locks, wearing an Ankh, and speaking Swahili...
However, America is home to millions of Black people whose voices need to be heard and represented in decisions that affect their daily life.
So... instead of saying we can't win this game let us overstand that we are playing it now, and yes we have a chance to win. Or maybe it's the fear that our success may come delivered through the hands of an icon we don't really like that bothers us the most.
Sister:
Why not call him out....
If you can't be who u are and represent urself as such... then the basis is that of a lie... why should one have to look or be what someone else dictates you should be in order to acheive...
what's the use in having a sell out represent us......
patientce is a virtue.. but it is my feeling that we have been patient and accepting and quiet and submissive for far to long...
without a revelation how can there be revolution...
with regard to all the same.... once elected what difference does that make to our communities... to those jailed... to those who can't eat.... to those that are merely holding on by a thread....
all the statistics that are right in our faces, and we still somehow hold on to the notion that change is going to happen..
change happens when we make it happen...
and we can win this game.. no doubt.... but I for one don't want to win a game.... I wanna make the game.... make the rules.... and make it a fair one......
It really doesn't matter to me which is speaking... the Rev. Wright or Baraka... the lessor of two evils ....