by Ron Kipling Williams
Despite some decline in his Black approval rating, most African Americans that voted for President Obama behave like “tourists star struck at the vision of the micro palace on 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.” In this period of deep crisis, we must “remove his black face and peer into the actions of Obama.” He is not our champion, or even our friend. “No president – black or not – should ever be juxtaposed to Dr. King if he himself does not oppose war, and does not call for the radical redistribution of the wealth, and does not fight vigorously for poor people.”
The Falling Veneer of the Great Black Hope
by Ron Kipling Williams
“What must be assiduously studied is the role the President plays in presiding over the #1 gangster nation in the world.”
It is not as simple as drinking the Kool Aid. Or is it?
It was a magical night that November 2, 2008, as thousands gathered in streets throughout America, in candlelight celebrations. They gazed upon a slender black man and his family with tears of joy and adulation.
Reality still has not hit them.
That night of high emotion has moved into high justification for the actions of the 44th president of the United States.
Most mainstream blacks who voted for Barack Obama strongly believe that it is all about the Republicans that are out to get him – from the Tea Party to conservative radio talk show monarch Rush Limbaugh proudly stating that he wants Obama to fail.
Of course, all of this while glossing over the gross mismanagement and malfeasance of former president and chief executive officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and current Secretary of the Treasury Timothy “Goldman Sacks” Geithner.
Let us remove his black face and peer into the actions of Obama, shall we?
This is what must happen if there is ever going to be an in-depth mainstream analysis of this current administration, its repugnant foreign and domestic policies that resemble that of previous administrations that are at the core of the world’s largest imperialist empire.
“Most mainstream blacks who voted for Barack Obama strongly believe that it is all about the Republicans that are out to get him.”
In other words, fill the war chest, privatize natural resources, elevate social welfare for the rich, put civil liberties under a microscope, demonize poor and working class people who rely on social services, pit people of color and immigrants against each other for the sake of oppression and postmodern eugenics, and transform the entire world into their own playground, and essentially their own pimp game.
What folks fail to recognize is that to blame Obama is to actually have expectations of him in the first place. They fail to become dispassionate analysts instead of being merely tourists star struck at the vision of the micro palace on 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
One does not get to the White House without comprehending what is inscribed in the Oval Office playbook, constructed by the Pentagon and the corporatocracy.
The speculation of Obama’s membership into secret societies and his blood ties to George W. Bush aside, what must be assiduously studied is the role the President plays in presiding over the #1 gangster nation in the world.
It is no accident that Obama referred to Venezuela as a “rogue nation” during his campaign. It is no accident that he retained Robert Gates as Secretary of Defense, as well as 190 of the 250 Bush appointees to the Pentagon. It is no accident that former CIA director Leon Panetta is now Defense Secretary. It is no accident that Obama did not instruct US Attorney General Eric Holder to indict anyone in the Bush administration for war crimes.
It would have been the same trajectory if it were any other president, even Bill Clinton, the first “black president” according to numerous black folks.
“It is no accident that he retained Robert Gates as Secretary of Defense, as well as 190 of the 250 Bush appointees to the Pentagon.”
As Obama delivered his inaugural address, and strongly asserted that he will not apologize for our way of life, a flashback to Bush’s “Bring it on!” speech after 9/11 attacks appeared to sweep over Capitol Hill.
For as we know, might over right is an American mantra that is nonpartisan.
But then again we always pick personalities over politics, as we pick figures over systems, and never seem to recognize the republic for what it is.
For citizens to be disenchanted with the government now means they have little recollection of the history of this nation, or perhaps, they wish to deny her ugliness.
For this nation was never founded on freedom and democracy. It was founded on the stolen land of the Native Americans and the stolen labor of the enslaved Africans.
The corporatization of America began when corporations were declared as persons. Since that time, the nation has been methodically bought and sold little by little. Corporate coffers have grown exponentially, and the ruling class has been given governmental immunity.
As of now, it is nearly impossible for citizens to successfully sue the government for damages due to improper searches and seizures – another wonderful byproduct of the War on Drugs; the US Supreme Court just raised the bar for class action law suits (i.e. the recent Wal-Mart decision); and corporate agro-thugs like Monsanto have the muscle to ensure that when we shop at the grocery store, we have no idea whether our food is organic or genetically modified.
Now, generations later, as the ruling class has amassed their monumental wealth on the backs of the average citizen, playing the golden rule over and over again – the one who possesses the gold makes the rules – they still believe one man can change it all?
Yes, that’s what they voted for – or did they?
“Corporate coffers have grown exponentially, and the ruling class has been given governmental immunity.”
Actually, Americans did vote for change. They just did not see what change they were actually going to get.
They voted for the change to the definition of bailout, from the needy to the greedy.
They voted for the change of the definition of compromise, from both parties walking away from the table satisfied, to one party having substantially gained, while the other walks away dreading the next time negotiations commence.
They voted for the change of the nature of entitlements – from being on solid ground to being on thin ice.
They voted for change all right. They voted to put themselves on the train to depression, to riots, and eventual martial law.
No, it can’t be that serious – or is it?
The ACLU warns that the federal government right now is tracking us via our cell phones. Of course, for those of us “conspiracy theorists” – I tend to call ourselves conspiracy realists – we already knew this was coming.
Did you ever watch the 1998 film Enemy of the State, or did you think it was just a movie?
Legendary comedian/activist Dick Gregory would often say that movies tell us three things: what happened, what’s happening now, and what’s going to happen.
But I digress.
True champions of the people have never come from the suites. They have always come from the streets, whether they rose from southern Baptist churches, from Harlem neighborhoods, from Louisville boxing gyms, from Oakland street corners, or from Michigan ghettos.
Whether they were Martin Luther King, Jr., or Shirley Chisholm, or Muhammad Ali, or Huey P. Newton, or Malcolm X, they all had a common thread – they came out of our struggle, our pain, and our will to persevere.
So no president – black or not – should ever be juxtaposed to Dr. King if he himself does not oppose war, and does not call for the radical redistribution of the wealth, and does not fight vigorously for poor people.
“True champions of the people have never come from the suites. They have always come from the streets.”
We want all elected officials to have the color of transparency for all the citizens to see, and to fight in the darkness of capitalism and imperialism, and the viciousness of Manifest Destiny, knowing that the North Star that held the luminescence of Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass would be their guiding light.
It is imperative that people understand that the veneer of the great black hope of Obama has not just fallen; it simply was never there. It was unfortunate that Obama’s “change” slogan was created in the first place. It was great advertisement, an outstanding strategy by David Axelrod and the gang, but one that simply was not based on realism.
It was not based on the realism that while below a Mohican statue inside a white domed building, rich white men with rich white friends continue to pimp immigration and other issues for every midterm election in front of disenfranchised citizens and a fleeced economy.
It was not based on the realism that most congresspeople resemble NASCAR drivers with corporate stickers on their backs with names like Halliburton, Bechtel, and General Electric – one of many giants who make billions of dollars and pay zero taxes.
It was not based on the realism that despite the warnings by Dwight D. Eisenhower against the military industrial complex, “The Military and the Monetary,” as Gil Scot Heron said in his pivotal song:
They turn our brothers and sisters into mercenaries,
they are turning the planet into a cemetery.
The Military and the Monetary, use the media as intermediaries,
they are determined to keep the citizens secondary,
they make so many decisions that are arbitrary.
Election night 2008 should never have been about giving Obama a chance to change, it should have been about the people across the nation creating fundamental change so that we could guarantee a chance for anyone stepping into office to transparently represent us.
The only hope, however, is what we do as citizens, every day, to dismantle this system of few, and create a system that serves the many; to break the two-party system and to throw out the strange bedfellows along with the soiled sheets.
Ultimately, this is not about Obama. This is about us, who we are, and what we want to be. Just as it is our responsibility to sweep our streets, we need to sweep out the suites. Otherwise, as Jackie “Moms” Mabley would say, “If you always do what you always did, you will always get what you always got.”
Until that happens, Kool Aid will always be in fresh supply.
Ron Kipling Williams can be contacted at [email protected].