Jackson and Obama: Political Blackness Redefined

"97% in fact, Iowa, rural white, farming state. Barack Hussein Obama, a black man, wins this for the Democrats. I have been watching him. I watched him on Meet the Press. I watched him on your show, watched him on all the CNN shows. He never brings race into it. He never plays the race card. Talk about the black community, he has taught the black community you don't have to act like Jesse Jackson, you don't have to act like Al Sharpton." Bill Bennett on CNN (link)
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I agree with Tammy Johnson but only to a certain extent. I do wish Barack Obama were more forceful in terms of talking about racial inequalities and injustice. Too many Americans of all racial stripes want racial reconciliation without having to change or redress structural inequalities and injustice. Too many Americans accuse the Black community of playing the "race card" without knowing or even considering the facts. Too many Bill Bennetts want to ignore the legacy of racism and continuing racism. Too many Bill Bennetts want to act like race doesn't help whites and hurt blacks; this while saying that aborting all Black babies would lower the crime rate in America.*


Whites still enjoy certain unearned privileges just because they're white; blacks still face unearned disadvantages just because we're black. Until the color of a person's skin truly has no effect on his/her opportunities, relationship to police, wealth, etc, etc racial reconciliation is just a dream of the privileged. When African Americans can be "proud" without resistance, meaning Oprah can joke about melanin content being a least one benefit blacks enjoy without being accused of racism, then maybe we can start talking about racial reconciliation. Until then, blacks and others concerned about justice will speak out.


But why should Obama be the only candidate held to the standard of speaking forcefully about race? Hillary Clinton had a nice line about AIDS cases among Black women and the lack of societal/governmental response, but that was at a Black debate and I can't recall her saying much else since. They should all say more.
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And before some ignorant comment about continual Black support for Democrats, I'd rather have a Democrat who said nothing during the campaign than a Republican who continues to blame the Black community for its social ills. It's the difference between a hamburger without any toppings and a burnt bun bottom.

* Black violent crime rate is higher, but you have to take into consideration, economic conditions. Moreover, castigate all African Americans, you also have to consider crime rate when it comes to nonviolent crime. This is what Tim Wise has to say:

First, as for the disproportionate rate of violent crime committed by blacks, economic conditions explain the difference with white crime rates. According to several studies, when community and personal economic status is comparable between whites and blacks, there are no significant racial crime differences. . . .

Secondly, to claim that blacks are more dangerous than whites because of
official crime rates, is to ignore that when it comes to everyday threats to
personal well-being, whites far and away lead the pack in all kinds of destructive behaviors: corporate pollution, consumer fraud, violations of health and safety standards on the job, and launching wars on the basis of deceptive evidence, to name a few. Each year, far more people die because of corporate malfeasance, occupational health violations and pollution than all the street crime combined, let alone street crime committed by African Americans.