Friday, June 6, 2008

The Fire This Time


This is an update to an essay I wrote last December. The original essay can be found at: https://eee.uci.edu/07f/20070/riseup_fire_dec07.html


Please read that first for context. This update deals more specifically with the history just made in the democratic primary nomination....

As always, I'd like to begin by offering peace and respect to my sisters and brothers all across the globe living the best they can; and respect to all souljahs working to serve our people and their interests worldwide.

As I argued in the initial essay, there have always been oppressive dynamics throughout history, and concurrently, resistance to that oppression. But I argue in the essay that while oppressive dynamics have not changed, times have…and as the saying goes…timing is everything. We have been seeing a movement in the making: youth mobilization, or as I argued in the essay...hip hop is growing up.

This movement is grassroots based on people power, and in the new world order of YouTube and MySpace, people power has more ways of getting its message heard. Result: The largest mobilization of the community in years for a rally in a small rural town with people coming from cities all across the country (Jena 6 rally) to yes, the very first black candidate to get a major party nomination. In truth, Obama should not be credited for organizing this movement, but is more accurately the beneficiary of it. He has tapped into something that has been growing for some time...the crossroads where the technology revolution met community based organizing. There are a number of other examples of successes like petition drives, online network and organization building, fundraising, etc. This movement is creating new spaces to learn, live, and grow.

As I watched Obama give his speech Tuesday night after securing the democratic nomination, I could not help but feel the weight of the historic moment. As an insurgent campaign, it demanded respect, and to add the racial narrative, made it even more unbelievable. To be honest, I thought Obama had a better chance of being the next American Idol than American President. lol. I already knew the strategy from his national speech at the convention in ’04 when he blasphemed that this is the United States of America…I have discussed with my classes the fact that Obama was starring as Invisible Man and was hoping to pull it off long enough to win the election. Thanks to Reverend Wright, that became impossible and race came to the forefront in the form of black liberation theology. So Obama had to prove he was "safe" to middle America because the truth is America is not ready for a unapologetically black president but may be (and that is a very BIG MAYBE) ready for a candidate that happens to be black, or biracial.

I’ve told my students that if Obama got the nomination it would ONLY be due to them – the youth – and the movement they are just now nurturing. I work closely with hip hop activists and this election in my mind is seen differently from a youth perspective…this election is about past v. future and grassroots v. establishment...There are many hip hop activists that are critical of Obama for some of the reasons that have been discussed in the Black Agenda Report but they don’t want to get into policy discussions, they want to empower the people…and the people want to be inspired…so here we are.

While intellectually I can agree with some of the critiques of Obama that the BAR and other dissidents offer, I think many are missing a much bigger picture. What he will do is still in question but my gut says he is not the puppet of corporate interest BAR believes he will be. Obama just knows the game and knows he won’t win any other way. Period. Come out black and proud?? His chances would have been somewhere between “negro please” and “never gonna happen”. Challenging a politician for being political is basically like being mad at a dog for barking. It is not only wrong because it won't change reality, it is also a bit self-righteous.

If I can keep it real for a minute, there’s a reality we all know and live daily in the institutions we work in. Yes it would be nice if he could be forthright about race, class, fascism, etc. but structurally impossible in politics…and everywhere else on this planet. As I like to say, we may be anti-capitalist but we cash our checks monthly to pay our bills so we can fight another day. We may speak truth to power in our writings and classes, but we work at institutions that perpetuate the VERY SAME inequalities we fight…hierarchies in society …credentials…status…or just look at student enrollment or faculty numbers/status/salary by race, class and gender…and I can go on and on… if we expect Obama to change the structure or not be a part of it…we must hold ourselves to the same standard…are we ready to quit Corporate University because they do not practice what we preach? No, because we need some space to reach youth and challenge structure even if it alone doesn’t change it. And quite honestly there is NO space on this planet where we are free to live out our convictions completely in this social structure...yes some have died for their convictions, but that is the price, let’s be clear. And then what about those left behind? So we do what we can with what we have…And I think Michelle Obama and her children deserve our support for the sacrifices they are making to try to do just that.

On a personal note, my vote in the California primary for Obama was about two things. I no longer believe in that “do not choose between two evils” argument. If voting strictly on conviction I would “go green” and support Cynthia McKinney's candidacy but will not in the real world, and can't in good conscience. I’m sure millions of Iraqis now dead and displaced, thousands of dead, mostly young GIs, thousands more badly wounded GIs and many many thousands more suffering from post traumatic stress disorder would give anything to have seen an Al Gore presidency. Ralph Nader be damned.

But my vote was also about standing with my people. As far as I’m concerned being with the people is where I need to be. Are they always on the right side of intellectual answers to racial and class issues that face them? No, but what they do is survive anything and everything so I will go with their spirit over all intellect. With them I know I’ll be okay. Without them, I’ll be miseducated and lost. So keep hope alive…or in 2008, we say…yes, we can. Obama is only as good as he makes others feel...energized and engaged...and in this day and age...that's pretty damn good.

“ALL POWER TO THE PEOPLE!”

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have to agree. There's a bigger picture, but change is inevitable. We're looking at history in the making where a new time is upon a new generation to take control. This is a healthy post. Worthy of being in my imeem group. Look me up under "compilation of old n new". Ace of Spades

Anonymous said...

Hey, congrats on your website! I just read your Obama essay. I watched his acceptance speech last week, and the commentators were so frustrated that he did not give them the usual words they were expecting, touting himself as the first black democratic nominee, etc. I think that is a big difference between him and Hillary Clinton, she was too quick to pat herself on the back about being the first woman before she was in fact the first woman candidate. It became too much about her, which then became her condescension essentially about being beaten by Obama, because she was the First Woman, clearly with a sense of entitlement. Even her supporters are mad at him for running in the first place because they see him as taking from her constituency, instead of that she just got beaten by a more appealing candidate, which is an inherent risk in running for office. She was a poor loser, really showed her colors, so to speak, in these last couple of months.

Anonymous said...

Whatever we may think of Obama and his politics, he will undoubtedly inspire millions who will in turn go on to impact the world in a positive way. That in itself is revolutionary!

Anonymous said...

What i love about Blogs is that i can say, 'What Dome said... peace.'

Lol.

Peace and Blessings.

I would concur with that, but also... Its a trip, on the air i have yet to officially endorse a candidate (i am close enough to important at the station that the PD feels it would get twisted as the station endorsing a candidate), however, its looking like Senator Obama. The trip i speak of is that his candidacy is deep on so many levels.

So many wrote him off at the DNC. Not that he didn't show the charisma, eloquence and vision for which he is now known. More that he was a relative unknown who... well, as our host mentioned above, has an enhanced melanin count. So his campaign to date has reminded me at several turns of Chris Rock's film, 'Head of State.'

Sharron Srone's cousin (read properly, 'Hillary Clinton') had a bunch going for her, but Obama is just THAT much more formidable. We can talk about her sense of entitlement and how she and her husband were the first to throw Reverend Wright out of their office when it was politically expedient (he was apparently one of Bill's spiritual advisors when his was the oval office). However to me, what left the worst taste in my mouth was how quick Bill was to relinquish his hood pass to get Hill on the Hill. Despite (and i guess to an extent because of) his personal drama, Bill was someone i wanted to believe. His cabinet filled with the best candidate, to hell with their ethnic background or sex. He was willing to sacrifice his legacy for her future. Romantic as that sounds... man, did he play himself.

As for the Senator from Illinois... He has the ear of the youth and every elder who wants to at least appear to be willing to put the past to the side. Like Tina said, it comes largely down to what he will do once in office. I hold out hope that he will continue to be the anti-candidate and ACTUALLY follow through on his promises. I am not completely confident of that because, like she also said, he is a politician. However, coming from and through all he has, i am optimistic. That said, for those generations who make me look like a young pup, Obama comes across as the camelot of JFK mixed with the oratory of MLK. I too have to step back at times and try to not get caught in the emotion of it all.

Time will either prove him to be the realest, most eloquent, most influential, most successful President and agent of progressive change that we have seen reside at 1600... or Bill Clinton, the 2008 remix.

I hope for the former because Bi-Racial people, Black people, American people... hell, humanity, needs that. But even if he's the latter, he will be light years better for this world than Alfred E. Bush.

I took up too much of your time.

One Love,
Curry Kid

OFFtheTOPradio.com

Tina said...

much appreciation to you all. thanks for taking the time to read this blog and share some good thoughts...with politics being just that - politics - it'll be interesting to see what happens this fall...it won't be pretty, but one thing I know for sure is grassroots organizing is playing a very important role.