A few KTS members sound off on Obama, his potential for change, and what he represents for the Pan-Africanist world agenda.
Chigozie Onyema: I can't speak for anyone else, but I for one am not for Obama. As a black nationalist I can appreciate a black man in the highest office in this country. However, it has become increasingly clear that while a black face enters that office black identity, which is infinitely more important, is left outside. Obama declared his allegiance when he not only distanced himself, but eventually denounced Rev. Wright and his words. While I am not a member of the black church, it has been a stalwart in the black community since its inception. For Obama to join the church as a Harvard student when it was conducive to his political ambitions in Southside Chicago, then to leave it when its conducive to his political ambitions now speaks to his political opportunism and how his relationship may be with the black community if/when he is in office. Lets be very clear, I prefer Obama over McCain. One reason I prefer Obama over McCain is because if McCain and the Republicans assume the White House the masses will say that if Obama was in things would be different. I'd rather the masses have a front row seat and observe how it is about the way our society is organized and its resources distributed and not about which party or person assumes office. Obama's foreign policy plans, while not as overtly destructive as his predecessors, will be consistent with what we has been institutionalized as the norm by the Council on Foreign Affairs and white nationalism as a whole. We will remain in Iraq for decades, because we built one of the largest bases known to man there. We will continue the blockade on Cuba, because the Cuban American elite in Florida largely determine who receives its 25 delegates in the Presidential Election. We will continue to stand by apartheid in Palestine, because AIPAC and the Israel lobby contributes to Obama's campaign just as it contributed Bush's and everyone before him. The Congolese will continue to suffer, because the world needs her resources and not her people. We must understand the geo-political implications of our support for Obama, because he will only be a black face on the white nationalism that destroys "us" around the world. With all of this said, that does not mean that we should or should not vote for him. That is a personal decision that requires much deliberation. As of right now I will be supporting Cynthia McKinney (as someone once said the black candidate that loves you back). I'm supporting her and the Green Party, because the best chance at having an honest conversation that transcends larger society in this country is by having a third party. If a third party receives 3% (I think that number is correct) of the vote then it is eligible for real funding. I doubt that the Green Party will get that this time around considering the hype around this election, but we must continue to dream. Below is a response by Fidel Castro to a speech Obama made in front of the Cuban American National Foundation, created by non other than Ronald Reagan. Perhaps it will give us some insight to what true leaders think of Obama. I hope all of this makes sense.
Ava Wilson: As an African in America, I can say that I personally don't feel Obama is Black. I saw a bumper sticker once with Obama's name on it but it had an apostrophe between the O and the B: O'Bama, Irish/Scottish style. While it was probably just a cute marketing ploy to sway Irish descendants for possible Obama support, the lingering reality of that bumper sticker resonated with me. O'Bama (as I will now be writing his name) can not be culturally identified with the Black experience. What do I mean by this: white mother raising him, all-white neighborhood, sure white people "see" you as Black but no cultural identity is being reinforced in the home. Why is this important? Because I would suggest that it probably wasn't until he graduated Law School, moved to Chicago, joined Trinity United Church of Christ (which in my opinion was a political ploy) that he understood a culturally Black identity. O'bama or No Bama, it really doesn't matter to me. I don't care to even get in debates or discussion over this whole thing. The only thing that I feel is at the heart of my opinion is the fact that he used this American (Euro) idea of Blackness (i.e. just being present) to transcend our own (Black people's) ideals of what Blackness is. And for that we should not get our hopes and dreams up about him; all he knows about Africans is what he read or saw somewhere. Yet, we fell for it. And Europe continues to define for us what leaders are, what success is, what government is and what culture is via race. O'bama is just "white supremacy in Black face" to quote Dr. Watkins-Beatty. In my opinion he is not the first Black anything, and why should we care about a Black president of this place? WTF is the right expression to have at a time like this! If I go on more I will just be rambling and Chigozie's point struck a much deeper cord and really got to the core of the issue and what we as Black people need to focus on. As I said on Facebook, only the Maroons knew about change because they knew what freedom had been which afforded them the ability to transcend the slave dungeons, middle passage, and the entire institution of slavery. O'bama ain't nobody's Toussaint, Boukman, or Capiten so in my opinion he don't know the 1st thing about change. The only change that's gonna be going on is us becoming more white, becoming more assimilated in this fake ass virtual reality. My final question would be: What are Black folk gonna do when O'Bama can't change a damn thing? Chigozie, your piece was on point.
Josh Myers:There's really not much more to be said. I would add that we need to be careful who we consider to be allies. Is Barack Obama an ally? We know he is not an ally for Africans abroad as Chigozie related. Is he an ally for Africans in America? I think his treatment of the black church is evidence of that relationship. Not only that he is not a member of any organizations that are our allies in struggle? Why? Because his loyalty is with machine politics. Investment banks, lobbyists, and other groups who are behind American politics. So when we support Obama, we support AIPAC. When we support Obama we support Wall St., and its relationship with Africans is less than favorable. So if not obama, who? Along with the implicit fallacies of integrationist ideology came this notion that if we don't vote, we are not political. This is not true. American and European hegemony has taken the word "political" to mean what it needs it to. The fight for the right to vote was predicated on our organization of political power bases to effect the change we needed as people. Group solidarity not individualism. But because our concept of integration was once again hijacked by the power structure to mean individuals " do what you please", it has left a vacuum concerning how we must organize politically. Because we are oppressed as a group, our concerns must be voiced as a group. So with that said the candidate that is closest to that worldview is probably Cynthia Mckinney. But I don't wanna let that overshadow my belief that we have to have a political organization that does not seek to exploit our people. To your other point, Barack Obama is not opening a door for anyone, except his benefactors. We, whose goals are on the nationalist side of what Cedric Robinson calls the two competing views will not benefit from an agenda emanating from a President whose conception of liberation is putting more blacks in jobs. We cannot afford to fool ourselves. I have my reservations as to whether he would even work for that. I do not think he will inspire kids or anyone for that matter to do nothing more than aspire to assimilate as he did, and that's damaging in terms of what we're are trying to do, which is liberate them from oppressive ideology. What are kids need is not to see a black face president; they need rites of passage, to reclaim their identity, to conceptualize themselves as who they are and not what capitalist media portrays them as. Lastly, this accomplishment is undermined due to the fact that he is considered black only because we can see his skin color. I would like to further echo the sentiments of Chigozie and Ava. And that was my 2 cents. Ohh yeah, Kwame Ture said, we cannot fight for integration as articulated presently, because it is unhealthy to repeatedly deny one's self. And that's precisely what Obama represents (although as Ava pointed out this may be who he really is ). He is creating the illusion, and essentially saying that you must first deny yourself and your culture then you can do whatever you want, this not a change. We've always known that assimilation was possible.
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